I guess I started something now

I love cats and have always had one up until the last couple of years since it’s just not in my budget. So a few months ago I noticed a calico cat in my backyard a couple of times . I bought a can of food for the next time I saw it.
I saw it in my backyard again and set some food out for it. It’s very feral and runs if I go near it.
This time it had two kittens with it- the looked to be several months old, so I am assuming the calico is the mother.
I put a can of food out today when I saw them in my yard and they ran to the fence but watched me put the food out and they took turns eating a few bites.
A few hours later I looked outside and saw 3 more kittens- same colors- a calico a few months old, and then two more kittens much smaller than the first 3.
Apparently it’s a cat running around the neighborhood and obviously not fixed.
It’s fun feeding them occasionally but I can’t feed a whole litter of random kittens every day.
I have started something for sure.

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Elisbch · M

Your post made me think of some nice memories. 🙂
(I'm not suggesting you try to do the same thing, it's just memories that got brought back from your post. 🙂)

I once knew a gal that was my friend that fed 14 feral cats. Some of them would even come in her apartment occasionally for a short time and leave. She lived alone and those cats were her family.
It was really amazing to see how some of them actually trusted her a bit.... but still remained very feral. Periodically she would get one of these cats trapped and take it to a vet and get them fixed and/or checked over for any problems and get them treated. Then she released them and they keep coming back and she would keep feeding them. She did this for many years until she got too sick before she passed away.
I would have to venture judging from what she made at her job she spent most of her money taking care of these cats. She was a very caring person. Deceased now for quite a few years, I still think of her often and miss her. She was such a kind soul.
Thanks for posting your story. 😊

carpediem · 61-69, M

I guess I’m the grouch here. I catch feral cats and find a shelter to take them in, or release them far enough away where they can’t come back.

Why do I do it? Feral cats are an ecological nightmare. Besides crapping all over my lawn furniture, they’ve been catching and killing native birds like crazy. They sit by my bird feeders and pounce when seed falls and birds retrieve it. So no more wild bird feeders.

They’ve been breeding unrestricted and are the new masters of the area. Correction….were.

4meAndyou · F

I used to work with a lady with Alzheimers, who fed the feral cats right outside her back door, and adopted a stray from the abandoned house next door to her, also.

One thing she wasn't thinking about was fleas. Really, she wasn't thinking about much of anything, I guess, but her indoor stray became flea infested and licked off big stripes of his fur, and then he developed tape worms from the fleas.