Last year I wrote about setting up an outdoor cat shelter for the stray/abandoned cats in my neighbourhood. Over the winter we had one permanent resident - an older female - who lived in the shelter on the back steps landing all winter long. She has now been here for nearly a year. Because of the heating disc we put in her box every evening during the winter she was quite comfortable. She got regular food and water from a heated water dish. This is now her permanent home.
As of this date there are 2 other cats living in the shelter built up against the shed. One is a very pretty young cat who turned up about 4 weeks ago. She has a limp. We don't know what kind of injury she has because she won't let anyone get close enough. For the past 2 weeks a male cat has also been sleeping in the shelter.
None of these cats have been spayed or neutered. We contacted the Humane Society and were told they will not take them or help us capture them and there are no Animal Rescue groups in this town. We emailed a few of the groups in other towns around here but so far with no response. It is a sad, frustrating situation but with no low cost spay/neuter clinics here, and not able to afford the min. $400.00 per cat it costs to take them to the vet - assuming we could capture them - probably means more unwanted kittens. Even if we somehow got help to have them spayed, they would still have no real home. They are afraid of people. What we are doing is not enough to prevent another generation of feral cats, but with no resources or help from the Humane Society or rescue groups, so far it is all we can do.
As of this date there are 2 other cats living in the shelter built up against the shed. One is a very pretty young cat who turned up about 4 weeks ago. She has a limp. We don't know what kind of injury she has because she won't let anyone get close enough. For the past 2 weeks a male cat has also been sleeping in the shelter.
None of these cats have been spayed or neutered. We contacted the Humane Society and were told they will not take them or help us capture them and there are no Animal Rescue groups in this town. We emailed a few of the groups in other towns around here but so far with no response. It is a sad, frustrating situation but with no low cost spay/neuter clinics here, and not able to afford the min. $400.00 per cat it costs to take them to the vet - assuming we could capture them - probably means more unwanted kittens. Even if we somehow got help to have them spayed, they would still have no real home. They are afraid of people. What we are doing is not enough to prevent another generation of feral cats, but with no resources or help from the Humane Society or rescue groups, so far it is all we can do.
