I had a nice stray cat appear- but now there is another - with kittens?

Question

last winter a beautiful, clean looking cat kept hanging around my yard (rental property) he would come to me and i offered him the odd scrap food. well didnt take him long to know where to get some attenetion. i thought he was dumped off. so friendly, great with my 2 year old, wanted attention...and lol food. well after a short time i found out he belonged to my landlord across the road.

about a month ago, another stray male appeared-same thing..i thoght maybe landlords as well. very clean, friendly, hungry etc. well it's not his. then this other female started showing up....not so well groomed, more timid, but it would come up to my deck and hiss at the nice cat to get his scraps.

i tried shoo-ing mean cat away...spray with water in water gun.....go away. then i seen she had kittens in the shed...so i felt real bad, and started setting out any scraps in 2 separate dishes so they wouldnt fight. they didnt get scraps all the time...just when i had...l.o from fridge, crusts from daughters sandwich etc. and water on alot of days.

she was still nursing so i figured she needs sumthin too. she become much more friendly but i still dont care much for her..she is a little pig!

now her 3 kittens are up on my deck constantly and now i spread the scraps even thinner because i want kitties to get something too.

do i have sucker written on my forehead- yeah i suppose. so now the 1st nice cat- isnt getting much- and is growling and hissing at the kitties like the mom used to...what have i started here.

i would love to have one in the house-but not practical-as i have 2 toddlers under 3 and am due with new baby in 9 weeks.

it would be nice if 1 kitten or 2 hung around-out in the shed-but that is still leading to more eventually isnt it?

i walk out on my deck and 2 cats come running to my feet so i can hardly walk, the kitties meow, and come close- but they not quite ready to be pet or touched. very close but not yet.

walking thru my yard with the toddlers today i couldnt believe the amount of cat p**p-Everywhere. omg i was so disgusted- and now thinking i can't feel comfortable to let my 3 year old go outside alone for fear of stepping or falling in a pile. yuck

what do i do? the girls love to watch them, and pet/play with nice male-only with me there...never alone-

i can't bring any into house, or take any to vets or anywhere else. my landlord in interested in catching a kitten for his shop

can i deter them from pooping all over around kid's outdoor play equipment? should i stop feeding them scraps and wait thill they venture elsewhere? they have some shelter out in back shed and under my deck for winter but that surely wont keep them warm enuf by any means

i want to slurge and get a bag of dry cat food- but money is so tight as it is

any suggestions without sarcasm is welcome. ty in advance

Answer 1

They will hang out wherever you feed them. So if you start taking the food to the shed, they will spend more time there than on your deck.

If you want to keep them, check with your local pet lov, they usually have a low cost shot clinic and spay and neuter. Remember that the mother cat will hunt for food for her babies, so if you buy some cheap food, ( 15 pounds at dollar general 6.75 ) and feed them that maybe once every couple of days to supplement what the mother will find.

Also, the other male cat will continue to hiss at the babies, this is normal behavior. If one comes too close to him, he will either run or swat it, very rare for anything in between.

Answer 2

still give them food but less and less everyday eventually they will go a way and if one or to r left give them food when the others gone but if more cats come repeat the process.

Answer 3

You rang the dinner bell.  And as you are finding, there are a lot of feral cats roaming around, and getting pregnant, and having kittens who soon will have kittens of their own.  They are looking for a source of food, and you have rang the bell, and they have 'told' everyone they know.

You need to contact animal control to capture the feral cats.  Now, if you really want to feed some, once they are spayed/neutered, that is known as catch and release.  Once a certain number of cats establish in an area, further increases rarely happen.

Hopefully, the shelter will be a no-kill shelter.  But living on their own is a miserable life, and often a short and painful one, so trapping them is really doing them a favor, even if it seems cold hearted.

You know which cats have an owner, and which ones do not, so if a cat that has an owner is trapped, it can be released.