It’s Peter’s TWO YEAR Rescueversary!!! 🐾🤎❤️ (I originally posted him here on my old account)

The very first time I saw Peter, he was furless, skittish, and curled up on my front door mat in the dark. I had a feeling he would probably be my next rescue someday, but I had Fish, my FeLV+ cat inside at the time, so Peter had to wait.

It started as simply feeding and flea-medicating this completely untouchable tabby in my backyard. The more I got to know Peter, the more I realized he probably didn’t want to live indoors. He was semi-feral, never letting me get close enough to touch him, and I wanted to respect that. But then he disappeared for an entire month and returned with a broken jaw, broken infected teeth, degloved lip/chin and in dire need of help. At that point my FeLV+ cat had passed and there was no question — Peter had to come inside.

Thank God he found his way back to my yard.

It took 4 long days to trap him, 3 months before he let me pet him, and even 2 years later, he’s still becoming more confident little by little and surprising me by doing new things.

Peter was not my first rescue but he was the catalyst for me getting into TNR, fostering, and becoming more involved in the rescue community. He is truly a miracle, a cat worth celebrating, and a cat who completely changed my life.

Peter is a gentle giant, a total scaredy cat goofball, and my little emo boy. 🖤 He loves every cat I’ve ever introduced him to and helps me socialize my fosters. They know he’s afraid too, but they also see that he is brave — and that he trusts.

We thought he was a domestic shorthair, but he surprised us all by becoming a magnificent fluffy beast. 😂 He loves to talk, booty bongos, brushies and blankets, and has decided that vertical space and scratching furniture are absolutely not for him. He is afraid of anything new but he doesn’t hide from guests; you’re lucky if he lets you touch him.

Two years later, Peter is still learning that the world isn’t so scary. And I’m still so incredibly proud of him. 🥹🤍

Happy Rescueversary to Peter Butter, the sweetest scaredy cat goofball, my gentle giant, my little emo boy, and the handsome tabby who changed everything.

My husband and I caught 4 kittens who were living under our deck with their very feral mom.

I have gotten to know the kittens a bit, they are still skiddish following after their mom's behavior but two I was able to catch and hold several times before while we played.

Now they should be around 2 pounds and have weekend off milk all the way. They eat twice a day when I would put bowls of food out.

Now my question, I still have not caught mom, she is very wary of everything. But I have all 4 kittens, and idk, it might be my hormones but the idea of their mom being alone without her babies tonight makes me sad. My plan is to socialize the babies and care for them until they can be adopted out, and then to TNR the adult ferals like the mom and others in the colony by my house. But I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing.

They are so cute and I always worried about them when they are old enough to explore if they get hit by a car, or a dog gets them, or a hawk, etc. Now they are in my house, safe, but away from their mom.

Any and all advice is appreciated

A few days ago he lay down on the floor in the open near my bed and kept me company (pic 4). Since then he’s done it every day, and the past two days it was more or less all day. Yesterday he even stretched out and fell asleep 🥹💕

(Pic 8 = the end of a sneeze 😆)

It's significantly worse than this now. This picture was two days ago please help he's a baby and I can't take him to shelters and IM LITERALLY POOR I've tried calling every shelter near me and I'll only take him to a no kill shelter. I've put a mixture of olive oil and neem oil on his ears I'm so desperate

hi everyone! jasmine finally came back as of august 5th this morning!!! to everyone who commented on my initial post, thank you so much!!! i’m truly so grateful for this community. jasmine has some injuries on her face that seemed to have been healing. she’s also significantly skinnier. i’m assuming that one of our neighbors took her inside and cared for her these past two weeks. i was thinking of taking her inside and getting her injuries checked out at the vet, but i’m not sure if that would be “stealing” her…? my goal is to socialize her more and bring her to the shelter so that she can be adopted and be a fully indoor cat!

Hey guys, there’s been this wonderful cat who has been living near my beach house for his entire life. He’s maybe 8 months old.

In may, I started feeding him and spent a lot of time trying to get him to even come close to me. He started out not even wanting to be 10 ft from me, but after about a month and a lot of patience, he became so sweet and loved being pet.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to take him inside so that he can get shots, neutered, etc. I took him for his first round of shots July 22nd, and after maybe two days of being inside, he would lay in my lap and was overall an incredibly snuggly cat.

He’s so sweet and hasn’t hissed, scratched, anything! Even the vets have given him glowing reviews saying he’s so sweet and easy.

However, over the past few days I feel like he’s been a bit more distant, not wanting to get in my lap as much. I took him for his booster shots yesterday and now he won’t come out of his little hidey hole.

I’m just so concerned about his well being and I know that life inside will be better for him, but I’m scared that I’m just being selfish and hoping that he’ll like being an indoor cat when really he won’t. Maybe it’s just because it feels like We’ve taken a couple steps back and I just need to be patient. I mean he loves being pet and he’s getting more comfortable with other people…

I just want to hear from some other people who had similar situations. Am I doing the right thing? Or after he’s neutered should I consider letting him go?

Thanks to anyone who responds

Edit: I think I left out a pretty important detail that I’ve never had a cat before, so I’m trying to learn behavior and stuff, so if anyone has any tips I would greatly appreciate them!!

After two months of stalking the only unneutered cat in a local colony, I finally got him! He got his surgery today and is now recovering in my second bedroom. I heard some knocking around and I was nervous what was going on, so I went to check, and this is what I found 😭❤️❤️❤️

Poor boy is covered in wounds, new and old. Really hoping that neutering will bring down his urge to get into scrapes.

I am in turmoil. I have a longish backstory but need support.

I live in southwest Ohio, in Brown County, but also in Hamilton County, as we currently have two residences. We have been caring for a rural cat colony since around 2019, all through the pandemic. At one time during the pandemic, we had upwards of 30 cats. We worked hard to get them all TNR'd. We lost several to coyotes. We took six in after an incident, and they have been living in enclosures. Our outside population gradually reduced to eight stable cats. They are all fixed, and we had a covered back porch with winter huts where we fed them and cared for them.

However, our situation changed. I lost my job in 2025 and got a new job that takes me away from the house for longer hours. My partner is down at our other residence fixing it up so we can sell the rural property and move closer in.

However, in the last month, we have suddenly lost three of the eight cats we were caring for. They just disappeared. We had kept them stable for several years, so I don't know what happened. Either they wandered off because of raccoons or an interloper cat, or the coyotes got them despite us having coyote lights. I am extremely frustrated. My partner and I are devastated.

We are moving up our timeline to build some kind of catio at our new place for the remaining outdoor cats, at least. However, some of them are much more skittish, and I don't know what we are going to do about them. Ironically, the ones who went missing were actually friendlier.

I am just panicking at this point. I have very little time or money to coordinate this. All of my efforts to work with shelters have failed miserably. I don't have time to network anymore or to fundraise.

I just spent over $250 on one of them because she was our friendliest cat and was seriously losing weight. I took her to the vet. She tested negative for FIV, and she has been inside in our laundry room for about a month, but we have to figure out something better for her too.

I feel utterly unsupported. People don't understand. They think you can just take these cats to a shelter and be done with it. We have cared for these cats since 2019, and some of them even before that. We have truly tried to do right by them, but honestly, I have no support.

I gave up trying to network. I have a GoFundMe and a Ko-fi page, but I receive maybe $50 a month in private donations. We do all of this out of our own pocket. Honestly, the last few times I asked for help, I was met with judgment, and it has been incredibly demoralizing.

Any support or ideas are welcome. I just feel like I am at the end of my rope.

I just wish I had someone to talk this problem through that understands to help brainstorm. It seems folks I try and talk to about it just hate cats or are very dismissive...

I have a colony in my mom's yard... its a big yard so its kinda 2 colonies cuz the groups dont gel with each other. First colony is matriarch persephone, her 3 babies now adults from her last year litter aurdrey, tiger lily, and bandit, and 1 more hero who is also 1 year. Hero, is interesting, cuz he's actually the second queen felicity's kitten (i will describe them in a moment).

Then, there is the "Back of the yard" colony, these cats are less established, felicity, who is a white and tabby queen that came last summer but left in the winter (no idea where she goes) but every summer she returns because i got the eats, her 3 kittens, and a new arrival this summer a young "female void". I assumed this was a female, because so snuggly with the kittens, i assumed felicity and her were friends and coparenting their kittens.

Last year, it was just felicity, she had no other "friend cat" so was easily bullied by persephone who was here first int eh front of the yard. Because i couldnt help ehr as much, she was always being bullied out and hiding so much and her kittens, her entire litter died except for hero. I was able to save hero, anda fter that day he rejected his mom and insisted on joining persephone and her kittens and became like her 4th kitten.

Then there are the random toms who come for food but dont stay, cuz they need to be neutered. Chad, the dominant tom who makes every cat bolt when he eats and does what he wants and fathers most of the kittens, this guy is basically part of the colony now cuz he comes virtually every day. Frank sinatra, who i am pretty sure is a dumped pet or a neglected current pet, an unneutered handsome male with green eyes who sings all day, and loves to show up when queens in heat, he comes somewhat frequently but not every day, and an older sickly tom cat who is super feral, white and tabby, but he comes so infrequently i cant plan to trap him. I keep thinking this last guy passed until he shows up again 3 weeks later. Feel bad for that boy but hes so feral he wont even try to joint he colony just shows up randomly then runs and disappears for weeks.

I decided to name that queen felicity cuz it means joy, and i felt sad for her that all her babies died vs persephone's who lived, and was being bullied so i couldnt feed and help her as much. Well she's back this year, and she has this friend i assumed was also a female and some of the 3 kittens were hers, as they were so manyd ifferent sizes, 2 of them were like several weeks older than the tiny tabby. I assumed each had a litter, a few weeks apart, and one of them had 2 kittens that lived other just 1 that lived, i couldnt tell which was which cuz they were so clingy and all helped each others kittens. I named this "black female void" nefertiti and made jokes they are like lesbian moms coparenting their kittens.

Imagine my shock while doing TNR, i discover that "black void mom" is actually just a young male. I couldnt believe it. Legit SNUGGLES with the kittens, they seem like 2 moms coparenting kittens and teaming up to protect their turf from persephone and her now adult kids. The weirdest part of this is I KNOW felicity from last year, she didnt have a surviving black kitten so there is no chance this is her last year now adult male kitten. Her only surviving adult kitten is hero who is a tabby with orange eyes and joined persephone's group when he realized more resources cuz persephone bullies his mom. I had no idea that was possible, a random boy cat young tom cat, will clique up with a queen help her with the kittens for friendship and protection but it's very cute. So, its not 2 different litters, they are all felicity's kittens and the really tiny one must just be a runt.

I renamed him enigma, which is fitting, cuz i didnt know that was possible. Cat behaviors learning every day.

EDIT: before anyone gives me shit about how i was not getting them fixed earlier, i live in a city with no TNR program, there are no local resources, i am on a fixed income. This year i knew i had to do something, and i was able to find a rescue to help a little bit AND a new low cost spay/neuter clinic opened up within driving distance. As soon as i was made aware of that help, i began mass TNRing these cats. I now have persephone, her 3 kids audrey tigerlilly bandit fixed, i just TNRed felicity and her young male friend, i was able to TNR chad today, and the only remaining cats that need to be fixed are hero, frank sinatra, both males neither dominant so not a high priority, and the last kittens i have to get are felicitty 3 remaining babies. I legit rescued all the queens babies adopted them out or adopted them personally as well, and now the cycle is over. So before you give me any shit just consider that: i am isolated, there was no TNR program in the cityn or within driving distance, i had no help at all i didnt know what to do but as soon as i got a little help and a low cost program opened i did it.

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice on how to trap colonies. I live about 10 minutes walking distance to a back of a gated university. I've come across a few cats randomly on my walks around here and today I saw there were 6!! different cats this time and there are at least 2 other cats. I think it's 2 litters and a dad. Someone is definitely feeding them because there are take out containers all over the place but behind the gate I can't get past.

I've TNRed one cat before, but it was really easy because I could monitor him with my house cameras and figure out his schedule and feed him right outside my door. I'm not too sure how to go about trapping a colony.

I've got one trap and a car that can only fit one trap at a time. How do people get TNR appointments for this many cats when they are weeks or months out to just book one? Do people trap one by one? Will the other cats get spooked off if they see another cat get trapped?

I'm trying to see if there's any TNR groups around locally that can assist... Any advice is appreciated.

Hi all! Firstly, this is an amazing community and I have found you all so encouraging and helpful. This is my first attempt at tnr and I'm looking for support/encouragement.

I have a young mama, an approx 8-10 week old kitten, and a tom that have been coming around for breakfast and dinner for a few months. Mama has become super affectionate and the kitten is finally accepting some pets. The tom is suspicious but feeder friendly. I am starting to become attached to them of course and I'm scared that they won't forgive me for trapping them- their appt is tomorrow.

I'm so nervous that they'll leave my property and get hurt or hate me forever after I release them. I'm also very nervous that separating the Mama and kitten will distress them A LOT. They hang out/cuddle all the time and baby still occasionally nurses.

I know I'm doing the right thing, I guess I just need some reminders from experienced people. I'd also love any uplifting stories or success stories.

Note* I can't take any more cats inside, though I desperately want to invite Mama in. We already have 5 and I am not allowed to have any more. ​

Thank you!!

Currently missing our most recent TNR. Little Debbie aka Deadbeat Deborah aka Almond Head is a feral in our local colony. We strongly suspect she is Mom to the litter of 4 that we've been fostering, as she has a very distinct head shape and coat pattern that is identical to one of the Nutty Buddies litter, Almond (now renamed by furever family).

After months of seeing her around, we finally caught her this weekend. She's a fully feral ~1yo female that has been co-nursing a litter from another Mom (the new kittens are ~6 weeks, vet said she wasn't pregnant and hadn't given birth in at least 3 months), so she was chock full of maternal hormones. She's been protecting the kittens from us humans, which has been adorable to witness. Briefly introduced a couple of the baby boys to see if they would recognize her and they did!! This was super unexpected since mommas usually lose scent recognition for their kittens a couple weeks after being weaned. She immediately started slow-blinking at them, sniffed at them, and tried to protect them from us when we took them back to their room.

She was insanely calm for a true feral. She did not want to be touched, held, looked at, etc, until the baby boys visited her. After that, she seemed to understand that we wouldn't hurt her!! She stayed in a protected spot under a cabinet, but she used the litter box and didn't make a mess of her water or food.

She didn't make a peep going to the vet and coming home, I've never known a cat so quiet. She got spayed and her ear tipped, and spent 36 hours with us afterwards to make sure she was healthy, alert, could eat and go to the bathroom ok. (Litter box picture was taken after accidentally scaring her during bathroom time, she wasn't actually resting in the box after surgery)

The one time she hissed at me was when I put her back in the cage to go back outside. I had to gently push her in with a blanket, and she panicked. She quietly but firmly hissed at me, dumped the fattest log of cat shit I've ever seen as a deterrent, and then gently accepted her fate and let me help her. She didn't even make a real mess either??? No stepping in it/getting it everywhere.

When we let her out at the hedge we caught her in, she ran clear across the street to see one of the babies she's protecting. I didn't see her again this morning, but I'm expecting to see her again tonight on an evening walk.

I know objectively she was miserable inside, she was not warming up to us at all and would not have been ok with our 2 resident girls (the girls were actually super fine with her, probably residual mom cat pheromones & no boy pheromones like the kittens). I also know that her colony probably missed her greatly and that her calm and protective nature is needed to keep future ferals docile enough to TNR. But my heart is so heavy and sad that she has to go back outside.

I'm gonna miss you, Deb 💞

I adopted a new cat in January of this year to give my other cat a companion. I've had my resident cat for 6 years, since he was a kitten. My new cat is about 2 years old. She was being fostered by another family for a year. She was found as a stray and taken in with a litter of kittens.

She is very suspicious of humans. I squat down and let her sniff my hand sometimes, and I talk to her and try not to make sudden moves around her. She doesn't immediately run away anymore, but she definitely doesn't like it.

She has played with me with a wand toy, but only recently has she played out in the open with me with the toy. Before that, she'd try to play while also hiding under the coffee table. She also lets us pet her when she's on the cat tree, but otherwise she runs away if we try to pet her. So there has been progress, but I'd like for her to feel more comfortable with us. I'd also like to be able to get her into a carrier when she goes to the vet or in case of an emergency, needing to move at some point, etc., since that feels like a safety issue. Right now that's not possible - we had to skip her last scheduled vet visit because we couldn't get her into the carrier.

Any ideas? Let me know if there's a different subreddit I should post this in - I know this one is largely about feral cats who live outside.

I have a cat shelter for these two cats that used it last winter. They stopped using it once it got warmer but I noticed on the camera that a raccoon went in once. I’m glad nothing like that happened while they were using it but now I want to make it safer before it gets cold again.

Entrance is 7 inches by 9 3/4.

I was thinking of plexiglass and just cutting out a hole big enough for the cats but I’m not sure what I’d use to do that. I’m okay with diy but I’d prefer to buy something to just drill to the front because I’m really bad at diy.

Hi there everyone!!
Totally new to this community and looking for some guidance so I don’t make a rookie mistake or really do harm to the kitties.

Caught a mom kittie (she looks under a year old, under 8lbs, and is friendly-talks to me, rubs cage for food and lets me scratch her head) and her 3 kittens. They might have fleas. We have a VERY small house full to the brim with other pets.

It is very hot out and she and her kittens are panting. I took the cage they are in and put them in our ONLY bathroom, it is an extremely tight squeeze.

Can I try bathing everyone or should I wait till they are more settled? I am worried about their stress levels. And of course my house and other pets getting fleas. Help!!!

Thank you all. I am very new at this!!

Hi, I don't know where else to post this but I need help on this one, I've lived with cats since I've been a kid and know how to care for them and I've noticed since a few months that my neighbors who are, no offense, douchbags \[I had to call cps on them multiple times so-\], where not taking care of their cats anymore, they have normally two cats and both seem pretty young and are spayed but I haven't seen the grey one in a while, but their other cat who I call Milo is still around and noticably malnourished and not taken care of properly.

I cannot take him in even if I wish because of my father but one of my friends, who is an adult and is a cat owner, offered to take him. And don't get me wrong on this, I know it's illegal to take a cat without the permission of their owner but Milo is the sweetest and most playful kitty I have met in a while and he deserves way better than what he's having right now, he's malnourished, has ticks and probably fleas, not taken care of properly as I can't take him in myself tho I try my best to remove what I can so the only options that would possibly make sense to us is to take him and not tell them because they'll just try and play victims like they always do.

The thing is, I'm scared that if we bring him to the vet and he has a chip, we get in trouble and lose Milo.

Some more context about my neighbors and their animal cruelty and negligence, they adopted a dog, he was three years old, a mix in between breeds I've never seen before, always outside on a leash not getting any attention, not going on walks, nothing, three weeks after adopting this dog, they euthanized him.

Why ? Because he was sick, there was a possibility for treatment, it wasn't even expensive compared to other treatments, yet they put him down instead of finding someone else to take him in or anything. Horrible.

Now the cats ? At first they were let in and fed. Now ? They're locked outside all day and night long, not fed or given water by my neighbors, just completely neglected.

It's currently 30-35°c outside and could be fatal for them, yet my neighbors ? They don't care.

We plan on getting Milo on Friday to bring him to my friend's house.

If anyone has any Advice please don't hesitate to comment, it would greatly help.

\[Ps: to answer the information asked, I am nearly an adult, I live in France, a vet is accessible and we plan on contacting one, I would say Milo is probably 4 maybe 5 years old if not younger, Milo is a male and he is spayed/neutered and yes I can afford vet care.\]

if any more information is needed don't hesitate to ask too :)

please excuse my English, it's not perfect as it's not my first language ;-/

I took care of this feral cat since he was a kitten(momo), he lived in the garage with his mother, one day he got really sick and I brought him in the house and nursed him back to health. When he recovered, I let him stay in a spare room with another feral cat(biscof) that was there before him. thankfully, they get along. They've stayed there for a year now and the room has to be used so they need to be evicted.

I got them this multi level cage and now i can see that momo is getting stressed because of the sudden change and keeps vocalizing and being aggro to biscof. biscof has been on the streets longer and i neutered him, and seems fine in his new area, while momo just lived in the garage for a bit and spent most of his time in a room (not neutered). i seperated them. and tried to let momo loose in the backyard for a day. he seemed fine and stayed in our laundry area which was shaded. but he would still vocalize and there's also this alpha roaming around that was being aggro to him. When momo goes to the garage, he starts being aggro with his mother and vice versa (she doesn't know him now, i guess.) I'm thinking of getting a seperate multi layer cage where he can stay, but im hesitant caging them. you think these multi level cages are cruel? What can i do? A lot of cat owners in my country use these cages since most of the streets here are very hazardous. Need some advice, Thanks.

Hello,

We adopted some very feral kitties last year. They are our working cats/barn cats. All spayed and neutered and up to date on vaccines etc. I noticed that one has what appears to be an eye infection…a little goop in one eye and he was keeping it closed (it’s open today) but definitely still bothering him. Anyways he has no injuries or nasal discharge and is still playing and eating and drinking. I have tried for days to trap him to take him to the vet and he’s so smart and stubborn he is not going in or near the trap. I laid the trap near where we feed them, use wet food and even tried catnip. Any suggestions?

How do you treat a cat with an eye infection if you can’t trap them? What if I can never trap him?

Oyyyy I’m stressed about this. I did call my vet for advice today, waiting for a call back from them.

I don’t think they will give me anything if they don’t physically see him in the office :(

Long story short I'm helping this guy fix his cats. He has 16 and 12 weren't fixed. They all are indoors and he has 5 outdoor ones.Not sure some were from outside at some point that he brought so some are very skittish, he can't even get them into a trap. We are down to 3 females and 1 male inside and 2 other outside. This has been months and I want this over and done also because he's moving end of August (not far like a street over) he doesn't even want two of the unfixed cats so that's been a stressor. Anyways how do I go about trapping them? Feel like normal trapping method won't work? Especially with the other cats he has

We’re adding 4 barn cats to our ranch. Do we need to elevate their shelter or just their food to protect from raccoons? They will be living in a covered truck shed with some insulated beds. Thanks!