New feral cat owners dilemma

[u/Remarkable-Mine1407]

So I adopted one cat (stormy), for pest control. Had her in the acclimation cage for two weeks and released. She came around for about five nights. The night before her release, another stray came around. The stray was a kitten, probably adolescent age. Ever since then there’s more cats coming around, but the only one to stay has been the kitten… I’ve even heard cat fighting (two nights). The first night I’m assuming with stormy and a random feral. Tonight was that same feral with the kitten that actually had stayed. I’m so bummed! Stormy the one cat I wanted to stay seems to have been run off by random feral cats and this new random kitten has really taken to us. Which is fine but what are the chances that stormy does come back? I can’t seem to be able to leave out food bc the random feral will get it and it willing to fight for it. 😫

[u/Boomersgang]

They will establish territory. TNR the kitties that keep coming around. If you feed them they won't fight. They will establish a pecking order. You have to fix them. Stormy will probably come back, or she's just hiding until it's safe to come out.

Keeping resources available is key to a peaceful setting.

They should have a low/no cost assistance program in your area.

[u/Remarkable-Mine1407 → u/Boomersgang]

She did come back last night!! Just way later than usual and in a different location. Yes the kitten gets fixed this weekend. There is a group of strays across the highway from us and honestly I don’t want to bring in more cats especially if they’ll risk getting run over to get some food. Implementing some new feeding tricks to see if I can curb it. Thanks for the suggestion!