If you stop feeding the cats, they will likely stay in the same area but be forced to expand their search for food. The large number of hungry cats can create conflicts with other cats and humans in the area. To remove feral cats from your property, be sure to remove any sources of food or shelter. It's great for the cats to socialize and play, but if you haven't gotten your pet spayed or neutered, then you'll be caring for a surprise litter soon. It becomes a terrible cycle of more cats on the loose until someone finally places the call.
Feral cats are usually missing various shots and checkups. They can have diseases that you don't want to be in close contact with. Think about the residents who have cat allergies or children. Feeding feral cats imposes a situation on you and your neighbors who may not want to deal with an animal.
There have been many times that we came home at night to see a cat or two around our door. We are not feeding them, but they have found a great new location to get shelter from the rain. One of the cats must have gotten sick or something overnight because the next morning we had some type of ugly slime outside of our door. It was in the exact location where the cats were hanging out. It was so gross, even the porter hasn't cleaned it.
It has since dried up and is very unsightly each day we come home. My daughter is curious about the cats because she has never had a kitten, but we don't let her get too close in fear of the cat feeling threatened and attacking her. One group of occupants that are not complaining is the ants. They are overjoyed every time a cat is finished with a bowl of food.
They enter the bowl, eat the crumbs, and no one seems to care. I'm not thrilled to see ants or step over their lines to get to the grass. The flies and fleas are other unwanted pests that I don't want to bring into my home. So Clark and other volunteers set up feeding stations in the woods on the opposite side of the complex. Some scenarios call for more creative solutions or some inexpensive technology. Richmond describes a situation in which a Brooklyn resident was irate about cats coming into his yard.
The cats came from a colony of six who were fed in a neighboring yard. This is your home. It all started in when Markwood spied a group of feral kittens outside her local post office. Pretty soon, she was seeing cats everywhere: outside a Pizza Hut, a supermarket, an auto repair shop, a strip mall, the rusted shell of a long-closed laundromat. She discovered that the laundromat cats were being fed by an elderly man who lived next to the property.
Two women had been feeding cats at the other locations for nearly 20 years. Still, no one wanted her help. Fortunately, she persevered and eventually won the trust of the longtime caregivers.
She met with the owners of wooded areas near where the cats were living and gained permission to place feeding stations and shelters in these more discreet spots. She made friends with employees at nearby businesses, and she recruited more volunteers to the effort by placing ads on a community website. On a Saturday morning, as she makes her feeding rounds in a white SUV stocked with cat kibble, cans of Friskies and gallon jugs of water, the results of her efforts are obvious.
The post office and Pizza Hut colonies no longer exist; those cats have since died or been adopted. The colonies are located in a commercial district, yet the cats are nearly invisible to passersby. There are none loitering on sidewalks or hanging out on the edges of parking lots.
Feeding stations and shelters are tucked back into the strips of woods adjacent to developed lands. That assumes you're in an area with no nocturnal wildlife, like raccoons or skunks.
If feeding at night is not an option, then try using a feeding station with pigeon flaps over the doors photo. Cut a heavy piece of plastic in strips, leaving a one inch border on top, then attach above the doorway with duct tape. While pigeons are not normally hesitant to walk into an open feeding station, they are often deterred by the plastic strips - which don't bother the cats at all. There are also ant-proof bowls for sale, using the same idea.
Another trick to keep ants away, as well as slugs, is to make a circle around the feeding station or bowls with chalk, the kind used to mark lines on athletic fields. Or crush some soft Crayola sidewalk chalk into powder. The chalk feels smooth to human hands but is made up of sharp little objects which ants and slugs won't cross over. Instead of chalk, you can use diatomaceous earth which is also sharp on a microscopic level - just make sure you use food grade.
Copper tape too, will stop slugs in their tracks. Flies are tougher. They're most attracted to wet food on hot days, so limit the amount of time this food is left out in hot temperatures or use dry food instead. Training the cats to eat during a certain window of time daily and then removing all food will minimize flies.
Also, flies are inactive at night, so you can avoid them entirely if the cats can be fed after sundown. If you want to get fancy, stop flies from getting on the food by using a food bowl with a lid that automatically opens and closes when a cat comes and goes - while it doesn't appear this product is being manufactured any longer, limited supplies were available as of February at Pet Clever.
Find other sellers by searching for "auto open cat feeder" or "pet bowl feeder touchless sensor.
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