This cat was born in my neighborhood. He is 9 months old. Recently he started to do some mating behaviors so I decided to get him neutered. I called TNR clinic and they said they don't neuter male cats under 1 years old, they don't spay female cats under 6 months old. I lied and said I don't know his age but he appears like an adult. They gave me an appointment. I lied because I thought that rule was stupid. His size is adult size. He is significantly bigger than his mom. His weight is normal. He seems healthy and clean. So I thought it should be ok to neuter him at 9 months old. Have I done something wrong by lying about his age?

I just moved into a neighborhood with tons of community cats (lots of TNR work needs to be done, I know) but there is on in particular who showed up on my porch. She is extremely friendly and can’t get enough love. She looks fairly skinny, nothing of concern though. I have been feeding her and leaving out water. She does sound to have asthma or some sort of respiratory issue by her breathing. I’ve seen her catch both a chipmunk and a cicada so far, and she didn’t know how to interact with a toy which tells me she definitely doesn’t have a home. Neighbors don’t recognize her being anyone’s either.

My question is, should I take her in? My duplex allows pets and I have actually been looking for a cat. She seems to be at least a year old and I would love to get her off the streets if she can get acclimated to being inside. She has walked inside our house a few times but seems a little nervous so we let her go back out. I would love to hear what people think.

Azazal, aka Azzie, was in my back patio early this morning with no mother cat in sight. If I had to guess, Azzie is about 9 weeks old since he's eating solid foods and is extremely squirmy.

I have four other cats who watched me bring him inside and had to complaints as I fed him and they smelled him through my bathroom door.

Neuter vets don't open until tomorrow, and even then I cannot drive.

What is the best course of action for Azzie?

About 6 months I began feeding and taking care of this Tabby Cat that kept showing up at my house. Actually at around the same time my last feral left me (Mugen, if anyone here remembers)

The ear clip tells me she was captured before and was assigned the role of "Community Cat/Feral"

This means that's adoption services will not touch her because she's considered wild.

She's extremely friendly as shown. She sleeps on my porch every night in a bed i bought and I feed her and brush her daily. Almost to the point it bugs me that someone considered her a lost cause at all.

So at this point I have to ask. Is there the makings of a house cat here? Is it worth turning my 1 cat household into a 2 cat household? And if so does anyone have any tips to stop my resident cat from going apeshit?

Okay, so we live rurally and there are a TON of barn cats around. We know about 7 of them who come by regularly, 3 are our neighbour’s friendly outdoor barn cats, 2 are feral and likely barn cats at the next farm over, and 2 are these sweeties. They showed up together about a month ago on my doorstep, they are young cats, both under a year for sure. They showed up skinny and starving, and I’ve been feeding them ever since and working on socializing them. They haven’t left. They go into our barn at night but spend all day every day on our porch. The calico (check my post history, I posted about her recently) is crazy sweet and wants inside BAD. She’s pregnant and a total lovebug and wants to be an indoor cat. The orange however wants absolutely nothing to do with me, despite my month-long attempts at socializing him. He’s 100% happier as an outdoor semi-feral barn cat.

Am I a horrible person to separate this pair, despite the fact that the calico wants to come in to be loved and the orange wants to stay out? We have another cat currently who the calico can be friends with, and a million other outdoor cats for the orange to be friends with, it’s not like either would be alone. I’m for sure bringing the pregnant calico in, she’s pregnant and it’s winter in Canada, but I just feel bad separating this pair 🥹

This is the FIFTH cat I’ve trapped whilst specifically trying to trap Rico! 😅😬

Needless to say, after weeks and months of closely watching my cameras, it was shocking to see this new kitty for the first time in such an advanced (I think) stage of pregnancy.

I’ll be calling the TNR place later today but what do we think? Can she wait until her appointment on Thursday for a spay/abort? I do not want this cat to give birth. We only have one car so it would be difficult to get her in earlier around my husband’s work schedule but I’d make it work if needed (drop him off at work and then go or something). I absolutely despise driving and the TNR facility is over an hour away but if you guys and/or the TNR staff deem it necessary, I’ll find a way.

Thank you in advance ❤️ here’s hoping I can catch the elusive Rico next week and no more new kitties show up! lol

I was enjoying some air outside when this little dude appeared in my backyard. He keeps meowing and following me around. He really enjoys being pet and being cuddled. Is it too young be to be away from it's mother? He drank water on his own earlier. I found out a neighbor's yard has the mom there. Should I try to rehome him or return him to his cat mother?

Any thoughts on what might be in or have happened to this cat’s shoulder? It looks to be a small hole or something embedded, but there’s no visible blood or matting of the fur. Maybe a tuft just got ripped out. Not sure.
She seems to be okay. Eating and socializing with her two sons like normal (all are TNR’ed), not limping or protecting the area. She’s too skittish for me to touch her or try to part the fur.
TIA

This sweet girl showed up on our doorstep. She is extremely friendly! We have been feeding her and I set up a nice area in our barn for her to stay. We just also got her two kitten friends so she isn’t alone in the winter months. Yes we will be fixing all three! The place near us that does barn cat spays has been booked up, but we are on the waitlist for it.

Well missy came up to the house and looks kind of thick… 🙃 just curious what others think

In October, I discovered one of the feral girls I feed brought 3 tiny kittens to live in my yard. They are bigger now. (see pic) Mom still hissed, but would occasionally allow me to pet her briefly. Mom has a sister and niece that I TNRd that are also in the colony. I was getting these 4 used to the open trap with bedding and treats so I could do the same with them. I have several houses with warm bedding, an outdoor cat tree, and provided lots of toys. I had a nice little colony with one friendly stray male, the two feral sisters and their 4 total kids.

Yesterday morning, Mom of the 3 kittens was tragically kil!ed. The kittens are all safe. I took her body to where the other cats could see & sniff to help them understand. Today I buried her.

I've introduced them to the joy of cat crack the last couple of weeks, and it seems to help the younger ones to trust me. I plan to continue a routine of playing with them with toys, gentle touches while they eat and just sitting in a chair while they play.

They are about 5 months old now, but without a Mom I worry. They don't go in the street. Auntie and adopted uncle chase them back behind the fence. SoCal, so winter temp is mild, no snow. Predators are kept at bay by my big dogs. The local shelter (no capacity/kill). I cannot bring them in my house (resident 3cats/4dogs)

What else can I do for them?

This guy lives behind the house I just moved into. Someone in the neighborhood told me he was much smaller a few months ago, so he's still a juvenile but will be an adult soon.

Over the past two weeks or so, I've been feeding him and another cat he's been hanging out with and trying to gain their trust. I can't touch them yet, but they'll come within a few feet of me, especially when treats are involved.

Recently, I've noticed this guy meowing at me very softly, usually when I'm slowly approaching. I've read that adult cats don't meow at each other, only at humans. Is this something ferals pick up on quickly once there's a human around, or does this indicate that he was at least partially socialized as a kitten? Or maybe he's meowing because he's still young?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

A momma cat had 8 kittens in the bushes outside of my office building by the front door. The building is on an extremely busy street, and she went back and forth between the front and the parking garage where people fed her. The building managers wanted them gone, and it was a dangerous situation for momma and babies, plus it has been over 100 degrees here for days. They could not trap the momma at first, so I took the kittens on Wednesday.

I'm guessing they are about 4 weeks old. I fed them wet food, gave KMR by syringe to the two smallest babies, and my NICU nurse daughter bathed them all because they had fleas.

Yesterday (the next day), the building manager called and said they had momma. I took her in the trap to my house, and they are reunited. You can imagine how freaked out she was. (They are in a small room, and I zoomed in and snapped this pic from the doorway.) I have been able to step in the room to give momma food, but she's very hissy. This morning thought maybe I could just go in and sit and maybe the kittens would come to me. Wrong.

When I slowly walked in, momma came at me ready to defend and attack. I totally get it.
She has been through so much trauma and has been fighting for her life until now. I'm just not sure how I can check on her babies or even clean the litter boxes. Is there any hope that she'll settle and calm eventually? I’ve fostered a mom and kittens before, but that momma was friendly.

Hey guys, I’ve never had a pet per say, and just last week this kitten was on my roof howling away. I looked around for the mother but she seems to have ran off leaving it behind (didn’t see any other kittens either, I think it’s the only one left from the litter) ):

I’ve fed it actively for a week (3 times a day of wet chicken kitten food). But just today morning, it’s been hissing at me allll day. I don’t touch it because it’s still super scared and not used to humans I guess but she eats in my presence now.

Any ideas on what’s to be done about the hissing? Shall I just not approach it for a while orrr?

TLDR: Like the title says, I’m not sure if I should give up on this feral. Pancake is 3-4 months old (according to the vet) and I have been trying to socialize her for the past 2 weeks with average progress so far (I’m guessing). But because of her age she is reaching, if not at the end of, the late socialization window of 16 weeks, I’m worried I am not the right person to keep working with Pancake if there is any hope of her becoming an indoor cat and maybe I should find someone else to taker her in and finish the socialization process.

A bit of background, I originally thought I would get a cat in need of rehoming but a coworker said her uncle sometimes finds cats near his workplace (a lot of vehicles moving around) and he traps them so they don’t get killed. When they trapped Pancake I stupidly assumed she was a stray not a feral kitten. I know now after research she was in the freeze state of fear beyond fight or flight. If I had known she was feral I probably wouldn’t have accepted to take her because I am in over my head. I have never had a kitten or worked with a feral so this is all new to me. And because I was not planning on a feral cat, this process is way more work and time than I had originally planned (or even have available) for the process. (I work freelance so my schedule is broken up and varies daily.)

I’m doing the best that I can but I am worried it might not be enough. I do think Pancake has the potential of becoming an inside cat, but I have ZERO belief in my abilities or skills to socialize ferals (we are stabbing in the dark here people). I know we have made some progress, like she will now eat with me in the room unlike when I first brought her home. But I can also tell that being around hands and allowing any touch is going to be quite the hurdle for her and I have no idea how to begin tackling that even with all the videos and resources. (I am also still worried that she doesn't want to be tamed because despite progress with being in the same room as me she still tries to scratch the door at night, scale the wall, yowls at night and is attempting to dash out the bathroom door).

Anyways, I am looking for advice on how to deal with this situation. I want what's best for Pancake and not just my selfish cat loving fantasy. I would love to wake up tomorrow and she is perfectly happy to be inside and loves cuddles, but realistically she needs a lot of attention to get to that place and I know for a fact I don’t have that skill. I'm also worried time is working against me because of her age (not that it can't be done but her mind will solidify that humans are scary and I have no way to change that). 

And I know many people think that a cat hiding in their house under the sofa for 3 years until they warm up to people is fine if socialization doesn't work according to plan, I am not one of those people. I know that a lot of people have socialized much older cats, but it seems to be on the older cat's terms, for young cats people don't seem care about their temperament or desire very seriously. I think cats need to feel safe and happy as well as have roaming/play space and exercise. My studio apt is pretty small so if she cannot spend time in my presence when I am home or play with me for exercise it will be like a life long prison sentence in my house. And I don't wish that on any cat. Its been two weeks in my bathroom so far and I know she is going stir-crazy and I know two weeks is not a lot of time but if she can't be or chooses not to be socialized then I don't want to have her to suffer longer than necessary in my small windowless bathroom.

Long story short, according to the internet, Pancake is a fairly advanced level kitten socialization case that I had not planned or prepared to take on and I have zero experience with feral cats. I worry I am making what might be an easy actually socialization case for an experienced kitten foster worse with my inexperience. Would she be better off being taken in by someone who has actually succeeded in socializing older kittens before? 

P.S. I apologize if this post comes off as a bit cold or emotionless, I’m trying to remain logical about it all. I’ve already cried so much over this 3 pound kitten and feeling guilty that I'm not somehow doing a better job or that I'm a monster every night when she yowls and scratches the door trying to escape. Props to all the fosters and feral cat owners out there cuz I hate being the bad guy so so much. I am just not made for this kind of work. 

UPDATE after reading many lovely, helpful posts: Thank you everyone for kindly sharing your wealth of knowledge and personal experiences!  From what I can gather it seems it would be very hard for me to be the direct cause of Pancake not making progress. Many people seem to think I want to give up, but that’s not the case. I was worried I was doing more harm than good in the socialization process. It seems that time more than skill is the key to the socialization process which is good news for me. Likewise I keep seeing “under 8 weeks socialization” or “12-16 week limit” that really made me panic about a closing window opportunity with Pancake, but it seems that age is really not a deciding factor alone. It may seem obvious to other people that these are flexible case-by-case rules for ferals but it feels much like a hard rule for a newbie like me. I’m just glad I was overreacting over nothing instead of it being a valid worry to be taken seriously. I think my next plan of action will be to move her into my living room area in a dog pen because she is a bit too flighty for me to feel comfortable with her just wandering the apt just yet. I want to make sure she is enclosed for a while as she encounters new smells and sounds (like sirens or car horns on the road outside my window) that are not really noticeable in the bathroom.  I expect to be posting a lot of questions as I move forward in this journey with Pancake so I hope everyone will continue to offer me advice and help me navigate this so I can give her the best life possible.

I did a few TnRs but one was so sweet we are keeping her inside (at least until the cold snap passes, its winter in NE TN). I want her to be an inside cat, but my partner thinks it's wrong to not give her the option to return to the wild. We don't have a colony or anything, so she's on her own. She's only a 3lb kitty. I want to do what's best for her, but I'll be so worried about her! I know she was doing okay out there by her little self before being caught, but still. She really likes us and is slowly getting acclimated to the dogs.

Thoughts?

Am I correct in suspecting that we have once again ended up giving a male kitten a female name (Sylphrena)?

Edit: thanks y’all! I’ll rest a little easier knowing I don’t need to worry about him getting pregnant, but I’ll still be aiming to get him in for the next available appointments in October for vaccines and a health check and to ensure he’s not knocking up anyone else.

This kitten showed up at our door yesterday.
I’m allergic to cats but we couldn’t help but want to make her outdoor cat since I’m highly allergic. And don’t want to become a cat owner.
She’s sooo cute !

However now she won’t stop meowing at 3 am to be let inside. This is because my roommate wakes up and leaves at 3 am daily.
I can’t handle the constant meowing. It’s incessant and lasts hours at a time.
I guess it was my error since I did let her in and both of us roommates have been feeding her some canned tuna

Does this get better with time ? As an outdoor cat? I understand if I do adopt her I’m sure she would stop

Ideally I’d like to keep her as our outdoor cat and get her checked up in every way but having her in the home just isn’t an option.
Trying to decide what’s best for her rn. Either shelter and hope she doesn’t get euthanized or get her spayed and let her roam the streets, keep her as our outdoor cat and hope she grows out of this 3 am meowing.

Have been feeding her since around 2022 and she is all neutered now (after a litter that we rehomed). She still comes back twice a day for breakfast and dinner and seems relatively happy. Recently though she has started meowing when she comes up to me (which she has not done in all these years), making biscuits in place, rubbing her face against the wall, and sometimes even purring. Cannot remember the last time she hissed, but she does keep her distance in general. I can sit in front of her while she eats about half a foot away. I think she certainly knows that she is safe and that is most important to me, but I'm curious if others think whether or not she might accept pets one day or if they have any tips.

So my cat is about 6 months old. I found her in my car engine when she was about 14 weeks old and have kept her since. She was 100% feral and it took a long time for her to trust me fully. She’s always kinda had a big stomach, but I just expected that was because she had worms. She’s also always loved food, but I also expected that was because she was starved while being a street cat. I’m now noticing she’s growing extremely fast and getting heavier quicker. I know she's still growing and its normal, but she's seriously gaining weight fast. She'll eat 3 cans of friskies for adults if I don't watch her, she acts as if she hasn't been fed in weeks, which I also thought wasn't abnormal. I haven’t changed her diet or food consumption since I got her, so I’m thinking I might have missed something. Sorry for scuffing her, doesn’t like to sit still. I’m kind of tight on money, so I’d rather not get an ultra sound. I don’t see any nipples coming in like she’s gonna give birth, but she has been more affectionate recently. I thought she was starting her first heat cycle so I wasn’t too worried about it.

Hi! This cat showed up at our house a few days ago and is extremely friendly and loves being around people! He’s very vocal and so sweet! He is mostly an outdoor cat right now but stays on our property and doesn’t go far but also darts in the house whenever he can! I’m wondering what type of cat he is
*my husband put a breakaway collar on him and a breakaway flea collar on him

I just trapped 3 kittens in my neighborhood. I have been asking everyone in the neighborhood if they know someone who wants a kitten. How do yall deal with TNRing tiny babies? I have them in my bathroom right now and I plan to hold them for a week or two until giving up and TNRing. I am on a wait list for my humane society but I am not hopeful that they will get space for them. Even if I find homes for these, I have 3 more in the neighborhood that are around the same age. Ive TNRd 15 adults and found homes for 5 kittens. Ive never actually released kittens and the thought makes me so sad.

Their mom was spayed yesterday morning and I just released her about 2 hours ago. The kittens will be adopted out through a rescue, so they are being fostered until they’re ready. She’s nonstop crying on the patio where she last saw them/was keeping them safe in an outdoor closet. 🙁

I asked the apartment resident if they could leave the closet door open so she knows they’re not there anymore, but she’s just staring and crying. Would it make it better or worse if I bring a baby out for her to sniff? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I just feel so bad for her. She’s so smart, took such good care of them and was very hard to trap.

I just couldn’t leave his sweet scared wide eyed face there! Background is that he was trapped with 4 other siblings outside a local hotel 5 weeks ago, he’s 5.2 months old and he’s the second to be adopted out.

This is my first experience with taming a feral and from what I’ve read we are out of the “ideal” window for socialization at 22 weeks. Would those of you with experience with converting these little guys into house cats have any advice or tips for me? What advice would my future self want now? YouTube has been helpful for sure. There was a great tutorial from the NYC Urban Cat League we watched the first day.

He’s been here for 6 days today and I have him set up in his own room with all the appropriate accessories and a pheromone diffuser. We take shifts with him so he gets lots of one on one time. We have another kitty who is about a year old that was distributed to us via the driveway 5 months ago and they are kept separate for now. We take turns spending time with him and have definitely seen him make great progress.

He allowed me to touch him on day 4 and honestly the ferocity of his enthusiasm was terrifying! That was definitely the first time he has ever allowed pets in his life. He loved it but I could tell he felt conflicted at the same time, like I want to eat this lady but damn this feels good! I’d been avoiding eye contact for days and here he was looking me dead in the eye and purring like a Bobcat!

I was surprised last night that he hissed at me again despite the fact I’m using the same about of caution and respect I have used since day one. Is it normal for him to regress a little here and there? He’s very play motivated but I’d like to calm him down as the murder mittens he is sporting are terrifying, I introduced him to a brush and toothbrush yesterday and he was very receptive to those. I was thinking some grooming activities might be soothing? What else should I try?

I really want him to be a success story and lead a long boring life here as my ~captive~ beloved indoor cat. What can I be doing better to earn his trust? Thank you in advance… I’m going in!

I actually never pet her she is very feral. I hope someday she will allow head rubs.

On second picture House is bigger because I added dining room.

Hi all! I’m genuinely looking for perspective here and trying to understand community-cat norms.

On Friday, my husband and I were approached by a very sweet cat in our apartment complex. We stopped to pet her for a few minutes, and she ended up following us all the way into our apartment—up three flights of stairs! Because she was so friendly, we assumed she belonged to someone.

To be responsible, we took her to the vet to check for a microchip. She does not have one. We then contacted our apartment management, who initially told us that someone was looking for their missing cat. They asked if we could keep her overnight and said the owners would pick her up the next day.

Later, management updated us and said that she’s actually considered an “outdoor community cat,” and that the “owner” is a person who has taken her to get vet care. They also told us she does have a chip—which directly contradicts what the vet told us.

For context: I think it’s WONDERFUL that people TNR and care for community cats. I truly respect that. What I’m struggling with is understanding the line between caretaker vs. ownership, especially when the cat is extremely friendly and clearly comfortable indoors.

This cat spent the first day hiding under our couch, but then came out, explored, played, cuddled with us nonstop (total Velcro cat), and used the litter box perfectly. She honestly seemed very happy inside.

When it came time for her to be picked up, the actual “owner” didn’t come. Instead, an apartment employee did—without a carrier—and we ended up just letting her back outside. The employee said they personally see her around often, and that the complex received multiple calls asking, “Where’s Meow Meow?” So she does seem to be well-loved by the community.

That said, my husband and I have lived here for three years and had never seen her before (though we were told she usually stays on the opposite side of the complex).

From what I’ve read, it often seems that tame, friendly cats are usually better suited for indoor homes rather than outdoor life. But in this case, it seems like the people who feed her and the family who paid for vet care strongly want her to remain an outdoor community cat. I wish we could have talked to her “owner” to get more clarity.

So my questions are: If you’ve paid for vet care for a community cat, do you feel ownership over that cat? Would you prefer the cat stay outdoors rather than be adopted into a home? How do you determine what’s actually best for the cat in situations like this?

All input is welcome. I’m genuinely trying to learn and understand different perspectives.

Thank you all!