How To Get Rid Of Feral Cats

What Happens If You Have A Stray Cat In Your Yard

If a stray feral cat is using your property and straying into your yard, you children and pets will be at risk of infectious diseases, parasites and fleas. Please see our page on Toxoplasmosis for the dangers of cat infections. These risks can all be passed on simply by contact with a stray cat, or fecal contamination.

What Can I Do To Help Outdoor Cats

• If you want to know how you can help community cats, go to our list of things you can do.
• If you’re interested in TNR or becoming a cat caretaker, find a community cat group or individuals who are practicing TNR or caretaking in your area to learn more.
• If you have been letting your cats outside, make them safe, happy indoor cats who only go out when supervised on a harness and leash or in a safe enclosure.

Reduce Flat And Soft Surfaces

Stray cats may be attracted to your yard because it is the perfect place for them to habituate. By redesigning your yard, you could deter cats from choosing to live in your yard.

• Use fences and garden stakes to keep cats away from your plants.
• Use lattice or chicken wire over your soil. Your plants can easily grow and adapt to this.
• Consider using stone hardscaping, reducing the amount of flat and soft soil surfaces where cats can use as a litter box.
• Cover the soil surrounding your plants with pebble landscaping. This can cover as much soil as possible and creating bumpy ground to deter cats from living there.

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Medical Problems Associated With Life In The Wild

Pet cats live longer than stray or feral cats due to good medical care and proper nutrition. Immunizations protect them against contagious diseases like Feline Leukemia, respiratory infections and rabies. Testing and isolation protocols, along with targeted vaccination, help prevent the spread of FIV . Parasite prevention protects them against heartworms, flea and tick-borne infections, and intestinal parasites. Good hygiene prevents ear mites and fungal infections. Feral and stray cats dont get good medical care and can suffer a wide variety of ailments.

“Lack of immunization, parasite control, adequate nutrition, and hygiene put feral cats at risk of many life-threatening problems.”

Lack of immunization, parasite control, adequate nutrition, and hygiene put feral cats at risk of many life-threatening problems. Plus, their lifestyle increases the risk even more. Feral cats live in close quarters that prompt the transmission of contagious disease and parasites. Lack of nutrition suppresses their immune systems, making them more vulnerable to a host of diseases. Random breeding and fighting with other cats exposes them to bacterial and viral infections such as FIV.

All of these problems shorten the lives of feral cats. They need help.

For Feral Cats Home Is Where The Food Is

Food is their anchor. If you leave food out for your own pets or providing unintended sources of food such as open trash cans, youre likely feeding them also. Your kind-hearted neighbor might also be putting out food they may keep their home in your yard and wander over for a nibble, then return to the safe spot theyve found with you.

Block access to food sources and nesting sites by covering spots under porches and holes with basement access, either with solid covers or wire mesh. Keep trash tightly covered and make sure that they dont have any convenient spots to stash their own food sources such as dead birds and small animals, which you may notice by smell as time passes.

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Can Stray Cats Be Domesticated

Having been without human contact for a significant time, there are few cases, if any of successful domestication. It will be a long process until they are successfully tamed and adopted.

However, it is easier to get rid of stray cats safely than domesticating them.

• Disease Transmission

This is most common among feral cats. Some of the diseases carried by them can be spread to humans too. However, domestic cats are the most vulnerable to these disease attacks.

Such diseases include feline leukemia, scabies, cat scratch fever, rabies, and feline AIDS. Exposing your cat to these can lead to serious health risks.

• Having Several Around

The more the number of stray cats around, the more unbearable it becomes. Some of the common reasons include the loud noise made when fighting. This is more often among a large stray cat population. The strong odor from liquid discharged by male members adds to the problem.

This is used as a form of territorial marking.

One of the reasons a large stray cat population will stick around a neighborhood is the presence of an adequate source of food. The presence of a good shelter is also responsible for such.

To save yourself the risks, there are several ways to get rid of them.

You Can Always Use Scram Away A Safe Harmless Way To Deter Cats From Hanging Around Your Property

At the bottom of it all, you should try to just leave cats alone if you see them out there and theyre not bothering you. If they are interested in saying hi, then sure, interact, but just if you notice one, dont chase it or try to bribe it with food, but instead, just let them live their life. Feral cats are not bad, and theyre not going to run up and attack you. In truth, theyre probably more afraid of you than you are of them, and theyll probably just dart the moment they see you. If they do come up to you, be responsible, and dont put a huge burden on yourself by feeding them. Theyre strong, and they can take care of themselves and have been doing so for thousands of years. If you really want to take care of a pet, go to a shelter and choose a cat there. You can meet a new furry friend and one that isnt feral.

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Contacting The Local Humane Society Or Animal Control

Are cats becoming too unbearable? You can start by calling for assistance. Animal control or your local humane society are those you should reach out to. They offer a range of solutions. What is most important here is that you donât have to sweat on how the job will be done. The use of humane traps as well as preventive advice is usually adopted by them.

Pest control services have technicians who are well trained to remove animals causing a nuisance to you. They will assess the situation to use the most appropriate control strategies.

This is your best bet if you prefer not to sweat it out yourself. Plus, the job gets handled professionally. But you must know that this comes with removal fees in most cases.

This is one of the easiest methods to use especially when faced with a difficult situation.

Cats Are Getting Into Your Trash

REASON: Cats are looking for food.

Quick Tips:

• Secure your trash can with a tight lid or bungee cords. This will protect your trash from wildlife as well.
• Find out if neighbors are feeding the cats. If they are, make sure they are following best practices. Learn more at alleycat.org/BestPractices.
• Consider feeding the cats yourself if you find no regular caregiver. Feeding cats using best practices will help ensure they dont get hungry enough to get into trash.

Feeding stations provide cats with a designated area to eat. Find tips for building or buying feeding stations at alleycat.org/FeedingStations.

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Put A Fence On Your Deck Or Porch And Keep Openings Closed And Sealed Off

How to get rid of community cats. They live in both cities and rural areas. Some articles quote 5,000, while others estimate up to 15,000 with some living where we live, work and play, in. Your gift of love will help rescue and care for needy kitties in a sunny haven of hope.

At first, simply knocking on our window or shouting out the door would scare the cats away. There may be areas in your yard that they can use as shelter. Since caretakers keep an eye out for these cats, the caretaker is most frequently someone.

Like other wild animals, they seek food and shelter wherever they can find it. The sound it emits is inaudible to human ears. This can include stacked boxes, the holes in your property, and other areas they can fit through.

One way to get the job done is by buying a cat scarer. Cats find shelter in a warm, dry place to ensure protection from the dangers of the outdoors. It is a term that describes the many different cats living outdoors who do not have an owner.

Wet coffee groundswhich you may be able to get for free from coffee houses and fast food chainsand metal pans filled with vinegar also deter cats. 10 ways to get rid of stray cats. There is no accurate way to estimate how many community cats there are on kauai.

You can save cats right now! The approach taken is to achieve this naturally, without the use of toxic substances. To get rid of the fleas inside your home, you are going to have to turn everything upside down.

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Reduce The Feral Cat Population

The Humane Society of the United States endorses trap and release tactics that include spaying or neutering feral cats. With this process, these cats are humanely trapped, taken in to sterilize, and then released. Contact your local Humane Society for help with feral cats on your land. While this won’t guarantee the cat won’t return to your property, it reduces the potential of future cats claiming your property as their own.

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How Is A Stray Cat Different From A Feral Cat

A stray cat is a pet who has been lost or abandoned, is used to contact with people and is tame enough to be adopted. A feral cat is the offspring of stray or other feral cats and is not accustomed to human contact. Feral cats are usually too fearful to be handled or adopted.

Stray cats may be reunited with their families or adopted into new homes, but feral cats will find it difficult or impossible to adapt to living as pets in close contact with people. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to improve feral cats’ health and quality of life.

Install Water Sprinkler Systems

Cats are less likely to settle down in your yard when you frequently have your sprinklers on. Install motion-activated sprinklers or sprinklers that can activate within a certain time.

If these arent possible for your home or budget, an ordinary spray bottle will do. Dont try to douse them in water, as this can be cruel for cats. A few spritzes to make them go away can condition them into understanding that your property is off-limits.

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Find The Right Scents

In addition to coffee grounds, there are many different scents that cats detest. One of the most effective scents for scaring off cats is moth balls.

However, they are toxic to small animals, so place them in a glass container. Poke holes in the lid, so the bottle emits a smell, and put them around your yard.

Cats also cant stand any citrusy smells. That means you can recycle your citrus peels by throwing them in your back yard to keep the strays at bay. Throw out orange or lemon peels, or sprinkle some citronella oil around popular areas.

You can also use cayenne pepper, though the furry critters have a much harsher reaction to the capsaicin chemical found in it, so we recommend one of the less potent options.

You can also make simple cat repellent sprays by mixing any citrus-based essential oil with water. Mix one part oil with three parts water and spray wherever needed.

Cats Are Killing Birds

Being predatory animals, feral cats may occasionally kill birds. However, the real cause for the decline in the bird population is the loss of habitat, urbanization, pollution and environmental degradation. Researchers estimate that in the U.S. alone, nearly 100 million birds die from collisions with windows and buildings every year, eighty million birds die from collisions with automobiles, and another 67 million from exposure to pesticides on crops. These figures do not even take into account the millions that perish due to pesticides used on golf courses, lawns, and gardens.

Solution:

Place all bird feeds high off the ground in areas where cats cannot climb to reach it or hide around it. Try limiting the amount of seeds that fall on the ground by using liquid bird food, putting smaller amount of seeds in feeders, or by purchasing cat resistant bird feeders.

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Use Live Traps Or The Tnr Method

One of the most effective ways to get rid of cats is through the use of a live trap, like the Havahart Live Trap. This is also one of the most humane ways to deal with unwanted cats in your yard and works best for those who are looking for long-term effects.

The TNR method consists of trapping, neutering, and releasing stray and feral cats. After youve caught the cats, take them to your local animal shelter and have them spay or neuter them.

Put bait such as tuna, sardines, or cat food in the trap and place the trap in an area that cats frequent. When youve caught a cat, leave the cat in the trap, because feral cats are known to scratch and bite, which could lead to a severe infection.

To calm the cat down, place a blanket over the trap. Once captured, relocate the cats to another area or take it to the humane society for neutering and releasing back into the wild.

What Is A Feral Cat

Feralcats might seem like theyre mean, but the truth is, its really just a cat that isnt used to humans. They may believe that since they are feral, theyll be feral to all the other cats around, but usually, they have interaction with other cats, but not with humans.

Usually, feral cats stay away from human interaction, and they usually go into hiding during the daytime. But, the problem is that at night, they come out, and you may see the cute creature, but then youll want to feed it. That can be a problem.

Usually, feral cats are quiet, avoid eye contact with humans, and are stealthy. But, usually, if theyve been socialized before and have been around humans, but then are unsocialized, they can act like this. Lots of cats that are rescued do act like this when theyre initially found.

So what makes a cat feral? Well, here are some qualities:

• They arent socialized
• Theyve never lived or been around humans
• They typically show distrust when it comes to humans
• They usually are wild and act like their ancestors, such as the big cats
• They usually have secret hiding spaces where they avoid interaction with humans
• They are a part of the wildlife of an area

There is a difference between feral cats and stray cats, and the difference is simple:

• Stray cats have been raised around humans, but dont live with them
• They can be feral but stray cats are more social
• They generally live outside, and they hang out with both feral cats, and with humans

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Won’t Removing Community Cats From An Area Eliminate The Problem

There are many reasons cat problems are rarely solved by trapping and removing a colony. Community cats live at a certain location because it offers food and shelter. If a colony is removed, cats from surrounding colonies may move in to take advantage of the newly available resources. The cycle of reproduction and nuisance behavior begins all over again.

If all the cats in a colony are not trapped, then the ones left behind will tend to have larger litters of kittens. The kittens are more likely to survive because there are fewer cats competing for food. The colony’s population will continue to increase until it reaches the number that can be supported by the available food and shelter.

Here are some of the other factors that usually make trap and removal ineffective:

• No input from the cats’ caretakers, who are the only people who really know the cats’ numbers and patterns and can control whether or not the cats are hungry enough to enter a baited trap.
• No volunteers to trap cats, who face an uncertain fate or death upon capture.
• Little to no animal control staff and money available to accomplish the task.
• No strategy for the difficult task of catching all the cats in a colony.
• No one watching out for pet cats who are lost or abandoned, aren’t spayed or neutered and quickly repopulate a vacated territory.

Identification Of Feral Cats

• Feral cats are similar in appearance to domestic cats however when in good physical condition, the feral cat has increased overall muscle development, which is especially noticeable around the head, neck and shoulders, giving the animal a more robust appearance.
• Feral cats are predominately short-haired with coat colours ranging between ginger, tabby, tortoiseshell, grey and black. White markings may be present, particularly on the chest, paws and abdomen, but completely white cats are very rare. Ginger cats are more likely to be found in semi-arid and desert areas, while grey and black cats are found in scrub and forests.

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