Houston, We Have A Problem

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I volunteer for an organisation that helps animals find homes. We have kennels. We have a cattery. Rabbitry, ferretry, kittenry, and isolation units. Up until now I haven't done much other than help the Animal Care Assistants with cat and kitten care. 


So, to be asked to work on a very large feral colony, two weeks ago, came as quite a shock.


Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love feral cats. To me, they bring the best of two worlds; observation of the great outdoors, and cats cats cats! I love to spend a crisp quiet dawn, hidden in a bush, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, just watching feral cats going about their business.


Feral cats have really hard lives though. Born into a world of fluctuating weather, where there may be people who poison them, cars that may injure them, an unhealthy diet, and the risk of disease and parasites. When one cat in a colony picks up cat flu, most likely the whole colony will suffer. With no one to help them, feral cats will often live only 3 to 5 years. [Need to fact check].


The colony that I am set to manage started approximately 5 years ago. The gentleman who owns the land that the colony is on, Mr Jones, decided to take action when his mother died. I think the cats were very much her thing, and whilst the situation concerned him, he felt unable to act against her wishes whilst she was alive.


So, here we are five years after she took pity on a pregnant stray cat, with approximately 100 adult feral cats, because none were ever neutered. There aren't many kittens, as most this year surcumbed to illness.


Mr Jones, unfortunately, seems to have been somewhat mislead by a vet he uses. One of the cats tested positive for FIV, so he believes that all of the cats have it. He is also under the impression that there is nothing that can be done for cat flu, so the poor cats are simply suffering.


Mr Jones is doing what he thinks is his best. The cats are being fed well by him. He has large outhouses with pallets of cat food stored in them. He provides litter trays for the cats, though it isn't really necessary when they live outside. He has 9 feeding stations on the property. He knows nearly all of the cats by sight; their personalities, the problems they've had, who they're related to. He gave up naming them some time ago though.


So far, over the past couple of weeks, I have found nothing but resistance to sorting this colony out. Unfortunately, a large part of that is coming from within the organisation for which I'm doing this. The Animal Care Manager wants nothing to do with the feral cats. She doesn't want them to come into the centre, she doesn't want to treat those that are ill, she just wants it sorted out, and sorted out now. 


Encouragingly, the Centre Manager herself is a little more interested. She has liased with a local vet to have the cats tested for FIV and FelV, at low cost. She has a good rapport with one of the vets whom is planning to neuter these cats for us.


So, the progress we've made so far, is that myself and a colleague caught 6 cats at the beginning of last week. 5 of them were kittens; somehow an adult snuck into our kitten catching endeavour. This adult is Emma.


3 of these kittens have moved on to another rescue. The adult is isolating. When the vet FF tested her (she tested negative), she flagged that Emma was producing bloody diarrhoea, and recommended testing for Parvo. We're still awaiting the result of this test. The other two kittens, sadly, passed away. They were simply too ill, too full of parasites, too weak, and too young for their bodies to cope.


And sadly, that's the reality of this situation. There is likely to be a lot of death witnessed in the coming months. It'll hurt. I'll cry. I'll wish I had never got involved. But in the long run sorting out a feral colony will prevent a lot of suffering in the future. That's what I'm here for.





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