Feral Cats......

Shadow Leader

Shadow Leader

At the Start
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Nov 9, 2003
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We have a robust population of feral cats in Gib and recently I have realised that boy, can they be annoying!! I have just opened my front door & run down the landing (open air as it is so anyone going to/fro the Marina could see too, if they looked up) in my PJs chasing a cat away..... :teeth: I identified the noise coming from outside that kept me awake for hours a week or so ago & opened my front door to see what the noise was - lo & behold, a feral cat was happily playing away with the rubbish bag placed outside my door (there are no communal bins - rubbish is put out late at night & collected by the bin men first thing). I wouldn't have minded so much but for all the racket it was making trying to get inside the bag it won't have found any foodstuffs whatsoever - only packaging! Unless he fancied a supper of a sprite bottle, squash bottle or various other packaging it will have been very disappointed! I'm always careful not to leave out food or perishable items for fear of attracting stray cats, rats or cockroaches so either triple bag them or carry them down to one of the bins in the Marina instead.

At least hopefully I can get to sleep now having chased the mog away without having to worry about it waking me up like it did last week!
 
Ah, cheers for that Griffin! :)

Colin, they're feral - not really suitable for rehoming. Besides, I don't agree with keeping cats (or dogs) in flats, especially studios!
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Feb 4 2006, 12:02 AM
I wouldn't have minded so much but for all the racket it was making trying to get inside the bag it won't have found any foodstuffs whatsoever - only packaging! Unless he fancied a supper of a sprite bottle, squash bottle or various other packaging
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Squash and sprite bottles ONLY . I assume that is because you recycle the vodka ones ?

Perhaps it was an alcoholic cat out for some Absolut Raspberri
 
Actually, I am keeping the 2 vodka bottles I have at the moment! :lol: Ask PDJ why - he bought me agreat book for Christmas called the Vodka Cookbook & I want the bottles to make flavoured types!
 
Originally posted by PDJ@Feb 4 2006, 04:40 PM
Drowed??? Cats are great. Loving creatures who are very easily pleased.
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But what is there perpose ? Atleast with a dog you can walk it.
 
I've got three dogs and eight cats. I much prefer cats. And some of my cats do come on walks with me. One of my boys, Zephyr, is missing at the moment. When I went out looking for him last night Brian and Annie came with me, trotting along merrily by my side. This mornings search took place with Joseph for company and this afternoon Annie has been out with me again.
 
Awwww, give 'em a break, Dom! We had loads of ferals in Saudi. My first cat out there was born to a very feral Mum, both of whom I fed outdoors. When Sammy had her litter, I kept the wee spastic, Kitty. The I adopted Sunny and her four feral babies, eventually keeping two, and homing two, at the same time as having Sammy and Kitty. At that time, I was also feeding 14 other ferals. They are, of course, humans reincarnated and if we don't look after them in this life, we become mice in the next - that's why it pays to be nice to cats!

Pro: what's the purpose of anything, one asks? We're born (without requesting to be), then we have to blunder around in the jungle of life until we die at some point. Gee - terrific. :confused:
 
Much the same story as Krizon, we were feeding nine ferals, eventually persuading them to come in to feed when the weather was bad.

Mam had another 4 kitty's and instead of hiding them, she put them on show. I came to the conclusion she needed help. So we took the four of them in, we still have them, they are now coming up to 12.

Not long after we took them in we moved and we were concerned about mam's (Monica) welfare. We contacted the local animal aid people and borrowed one of their traps. We set the trap but didn't take the bait until the very last day before we moved.

She lasted another couple of years with us in the new house but then one cold night she perished. :cry:
 
One of the minor (in the scale of things) tragedies of the Gulf War was the amount of animals dumped by fleeing Americans. What had been supposedly loved family pets were just turned out to fend for themselves, or were left with notes attached to their collars saying 'please feed me'. Abandoned dogs formed motley packs of strangley-mixed breeds, roaming the compounds (some 11 miles square, so not like a small estate). Most of Brits tried to catch them to take them in, but once the pack instinct had taken over, they were frequently unapproachable, ran wild, and disappeared. Whether they ran off into the surrounding desert areas, or whether the Police shot them, none of us knew.

The cats were more tractable, usually smarming around someone's house until fed, but the speed with which previously 'respectable' American families cut and ran, dumping their pets into the unknown, disgusted us on both counts.
 
Not for me, scabby, filthy feral cats (and they are filthy, believe me!) in the habit of rooting around in my rubbish bag & keeping me awake! Last week one of the bloody things started rifling through it at 3am (it woke me when the wine bottle in the bag crashed on the tiles outside) & carried on rifling trough it for a good couple of hours.

With a bit of luck they won't be much of a problem soon enough though - the GSPCA neutered them all the summer before last & I haven't seen any kittens since then. There's a whole colony of them live just outside the city wall, by the tunnel going through to Casemates.
 
Dom, they're only 'filthy' because they have to wade through the filth of an environment created by human beings - even those with soap and water. Why was the rubbish so accessible? We have things called 'skips' and wheelie bins in the UK, and I noticed that in Spain there are huge skips on every street, which have lids, precluding animals foraging.

All you have to do, to have peace of mind, is to set out a wee dish of your leftovers, or a chicken carcass, a plate of rice, and the animal eats and is gone. You'd be filthy if you lived on the streets, too!
 
P, Kri, can I direct you to paragraph one of my initial post?! :lol:

(there are no communal bins - rubbish is put out late at night & collected by the bin men first thing)
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I know they're filthy because of our waste, etc, etc, but it doesn't mean I have to like them! I'm certainly not going to put any food out for them either - I don't fancy encouraging a troop of feral cats to hang around & I doubt my nieghbours or landlord would either! If I did that I'd be lynched by my neighbours!
 
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