Strays and Ferals in Cambridge
Do you wonder what happens to the stray and feral cats of Cambridge?
Some of the work we do at Cambridge Cats Protection is described here. Summer
2014 had 2 - 3 ‘phone calls a week reporting stray or feral mum cats and kittens in
peoples garages/sheds etc. Of course part of this problem stems from owners not
getting their cats neutered, the cat then wanders and the start of a feral colony
begins! If you have one un-neutered female cat that has kittens, and you leave
them, you will have a feral colony of 50 cats within a year! If you really love
your cat it is kinder to have it neutered than to let it have a litter of kittens,
there are too many unwanted kittens in the world.
Kittens move into ‘digs’
Volunteers Niccy and Lynn were called to Gonville & Caius College after three
stray kittens were found in a concrete basement. They made two attempts to trap the
mum and kittens, which involved over six hours of patiently waiting. Many thanks to
St. Michael’s Cafe who provided them with free coffee during the stake out! After
finally being caught the kittens were made ready for rehoming, whilst mum was
neutered and returned as per Cats Protection’s Trap, Neuter and Return policy.
Over in Clare College, three kittens were also found and removed by our volunteers.
Lynn hand-reared the tiny babies to get them ready for rehoming.
A Sad Ending...
Our volunteers were called to find a tom cat looking after a group of small
kittens. As they couldn’t feed, the kittens were slowly starving, and on closer
look at the group, unfortunately two of the kittens had already died. The remaining
three kittens were taken to be rehomed and the tomcat to a vet to be checked over.
Unfortunately it was discovered he was ill himself and he did not make it through,
a sad day.
Cottenham ‘3’
Our volunteers were called out to Cottenham to three feisty feral kittens who
really didn’t want to be caught! After giving Niccy the runaround, they were
finally caught and taken back to her home where she set about socialising
them for eventual rehoming. The owner of two of them who were rehomed
together recently described them as ‘gorgeous’ and the third is adored by hers.
Catching strays...
Catching strays isn’t easy work. If you have a stray in your garden we can
show you how to use a trap so you can catch the cat, but in some places, our
volunteers have to give up their own time to rescue the cats. Sometimes they
are out at dawn to try and capture cats and kittens, sometimes to neuter and
return, sometimes to bring them in for rehoming. Here’s a few images from a
recent assignment! Sometimes trapping cats takes you to some unusual places!
Success! Lynn and Niccy manage to rescue the kittens, which were then fostered
then rehomed by our homing officer Ashley. We have a large number of kittens
waiting to come into our care, as we haven’t been able to rehome the ones we have
who still desperately need new homes.
First published in "Mews" (Cambridge CP newsletter), August 2014. Please
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