cats! lots of them!

I'm putting this here in expat life because the fact so many cats are outdoor cats here in the UK - something I have a very hard time with.

Anyway.... DH and I have 3 cats of our own. All are indoor cats allowed out on leaders when it's nice. When we moved to our current house, we 'took on' the responsibility of feeding the outdoor cat (Murphy) who 'came' with the property (he'd been serially abandoned by cosecutive tenants). Originally, it was supposed to be our next door neighbor who was taking care of Murphy but they have outdoor, kenneled working dogs (they're farmers) and Murphy wouldn't go near them. And DH and I, being the soft touches we are, willingly took him on. He doesn't come in the house (just the garage) but we do feed him and give him cuddles which he loves.

So, after all that tranfer of care, the neighbor goes and gets 2 female kittens who live outdoors all the time. They, as far as we are aware, NEVER are allowed inside.

Well, cats ain't dumb. They've discovered that we feed Murphy and have a box/bed for him in our garage which is accessible via a cat flap. So now we have to monitor his feeding times to make sure he eats it all - otherwise the kittens will take over. Murphy is quite an old tom cat but he's a softie and doesn't have the energy to battle with the bossy female kittens. They also sleep in our garage sometimes. DH has tried to scare them off but we have a really hard time being horrible to cats. What makes it even harder is that the kittens are really goregeous with great personality - and they are a bit special - they have extra toes!! 6 each on their front paws and 5 on the back ones (there's a term for this and apparently it's not that rare, esp in this part of England). The front paws look more like hands - with opposable thumbs!

It's like they're looking at us, when it's been so bitter cold and saying 'please can we sleep in your garage? we're cold and have lots of extra toes to keep warm!'

Yes, I am a sucker.

OK, I can deal with all of this... we've got the feeding under control more or less and it's no skin off our nose if they sleep in the garage sometimes. They aren't there 24/7 and once it's warmer, I expect it'll be even less.

What I AM really worried about is that I suspect they will not be spaying the kittens. And I'm pretty sure Murphy isn't neutered. What can I do? We CANNOT have a garage full of kittens!!!

Argh!!!

How strange,, I thought only the cats that hang around in Key West had 6 toes.  I think it's a pain that cats are allowed to run around like that, not 'fixed' and not have shelter for them. What on earth did they even get them for anyway? I would be annoyed too B. I have two 'garden' cats that visit from time to time, but Bracken tends to be a good cat repellent,,lol.

We have a cat (Georgie) on our street that I took on for awhile. The owner will keep her out for days at a time and ignore her if she meows to be let in. She's the sweetest, lovliest kitty you've ever seen, however, she's got fleas. We've treated her ourselves but she keeps getting them and even worse, she's giving them to us! She doesn't come into the house but she sits outside the door and if one of us open the door, all the fleas bound into the house.

Elvis (our cat) can't handle the fleas and gets really sick everytime he's got them so we've had to stop taking care of Georgie and have to scare her off when she's near our door.  I also have to shake a bit of salt around our steps to try to ward off the fleas.

Plus, she's now taken to crapping in our flower boxes.

I hate having to keep her away but poor Elvis suffers. I've spoken to the owner about it before and he pretty much doesn't care.

See? This is what drives me insane? Why on earth would you get a cat if you aren't going to care for it properly?

Grrrrr. Mutter mutter mutter.....

Have you tried calling the local RSPCA? (that goes for your too Ashley). I am not sure how bad it has to be before they step in to help neglected animals but they might at least be able to give you some advice on how to deal with these situations.

I've thought about it, yes. We just worry b/c we have no other immediate neighbors. So if the RSPCA approaches them, it'll be obvious who contacted them.

Difficult one.  Have you talked to the owners about it?

Since there's no clear ownership of Murphy, I'd take him for neutering straightaway.  Just say he's yours.  I haven't been to a vet yet who asked for proof of ownership - I mean, how could they?  One of ours was a stray and the other dumped on us by a sad neighbour.  Neutering is also cheaper than 'dressing'/spaying a female.  

I'd get him an appointment straightaway.  Those kittens will come into season shortly.  

I'm a MAJOR sucker for cats.  Have two indoors-only ones ourselves and would have more if we had the space.

If money is an issue, and you claim Housing Benefit, PDSA may be able to pay for some if not all of the neutering.

Btw, if those are your two moggies in your avatar photie, may I just say they are VERY, VERY cute!

We want to expat, but we have very little spare cash and don't get benefits. I guess I should ring up and see exactly how much it would cost. I wasn't worried about ownership. We know we 'own' him now, but we hadn't expected to have to have an elderly cat neutered when we decided to do this.

Still, it may not solve the problem. There are other cats in the area.... just saw one today....

Thanks for all the thoughts!

BTW, the cats in the avatar are Poppy (b/w) and Bramble (tabby). They're our babies! We have one other who was in my last avatar - Merry Cloud. 

have you see this:


http://www.infinitecat.com/

Hey, I could do my own if we end up with 101 Kittens!

Run, Murphy! Run like the wind!

Do they do neutering for free in the UK?  I know in the US, even if you didn't have the cash, you could bring a cat to the SPCA and ask for neutering - they happily did it for free as they'd rather take care of one cat & pay for this, then the resulting hundreds that could occur as a result of not spaying.  Just a thought...

Yeah, I just got off the phone... Cats Protection League is doing a special for March where they will pay for some/all of it.

Now just gotta go see if he really does need it! Hey! I'm not in the habit of inspecting cats' nether regions! 

LOL...it should be easy...either he has 'em or he doesn't...snicker.