Need Advice: Feral Cat in Puppy's Yard

[DJ & Chance]

A feral cat lives in my backyard, and my puppy Chance is obsessed with its scents and droppings when we go out to play.  If I let him off leash, he runs to the various cat hideouts under bushes, and immediately picks up flees.  The cat has not scratched him, but he has found the remains of birds from kitty dinners.

 

I worry that Chance will be vulnerable to diseases from this cat and its habits.  But I don’t want to hurt the cat and so I am considering a live trap, a trip to the vet for spaying or neutering, flee control, worming, etc.  After that, I imagine relocating the cat because I don’t really want it in my yard. 

 

Cat lovers out there, can you provide advice?  Can feral cats be relocated successfully?  Are there organizations that can help?

[Lisa O.]

Alley Cat Allies has a website that has a lot of information you might find helpful.

[DJ & Chance]

Excellent!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Good luck with this--no new advice, just empathy as I have had feral cats from neighboring farms come to my yard for years and years--as many as 25 by now--some have been rehabilitated and spayed/neutered (by me on my dime) and the shelter then helped me place them--some have been too ill and just lived out a few years here in my yard and in the woods with me feeding them every day. At one time, I had 3 cats of my own and 3 that were feral--only my cats came inside, but the others found shelter in barns. I have just one of my own cats left (she is 19!) but two feral cats come and go--one is now tame enough so that I was able to get him neutered (FREE by my daughter the vet, thank goodness!) Just the other day, I drove past a neighboring farm and saw 6 or 7 kittens following the farmer around and thought "Oh, dear, I wonder how long it will take them to wander over to my yard..."

Luckily, all but one of the cats have stayed in a part of my yard that the dogs can't get to since the dogs do chase them. I have an invisible fence, so they do not really cross paths--I do have one brave guy now who is not afraid of the dogs and has taught them that cats have claws and can defend themselves. I guess I have been lucky that he is the only one over the years that hangs out with the dogs. I have befriended him enough to get some Frontline on him so he no longer has fleas--but it takes time to won a feral cat's trust and I would bet that it was 2 years before I could touch him and pet him. He is very healthy otherwise and I hope to get him neutered soon!!

But back to your issue--your pup should be on flea preventative--and if a flea from the cat gets on him, it will die when it bites him--also, an invisible fence may keep him on a part of the yard that the cat stays away from especially if the cat fears the dog as it gets older--that is an expensive solution but I thought I would throw it out there--hope you get some help.

[DJ & Chance]

Thanks, Ginny.  He is on flea control so luckily the fleas from the cat don't live long on him!  You have given me an idea, though, which is to check at work with a few people who live on farms and have barn cats. Perhaps  someone will be willing to add to their collection once I've trapped the cat and had it spayed/neutered.

[Ginny Nightingale]

If they do take him, make sure they provide food for the cat --at least until he feels like this is a good place to live!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Make sure your pup is protected from fleas, ticks, and worms.  We live rather in the country and walk all the time so my guys need their meds.  If you can trap the cat and have it neutered, that is a good first step, but it would be even better if you can find a home for the cat after it has been neutered.  We had a neighbor whose home was foreclosed and he left chickens and cats on his property.  Of course, they migrated our way and the dogs chased then off.  When somebody bought the house they said there were still "free-range chickens" on the property.  It is a bigger problem now than in the past.  All pets should be neutered if not for any other reason than there is no need for more unwanted kittens and puppies.

[DJ & Chance]

Thanks, Lynda.  He is protected.  

I've learned in the last 24 hrs that some "semi-feral" cats can be domesticated as pets--these are usually former pets that have been living in the wild for some time, or else very young kittens.  I won't know how "wild" this cat is until it is caught (but it is skittish around humans). And I'm not going to trap it until I know the best place for it to go after it is spayed or neutered.  The cat is a real nuisance, but that is not its fault, and I am determined to handle this humanely.

[DJ & Chance]

UPDATE

Caught the ferial cat in a live trap. It was a male, approximately one year old.   It spent a week at the vet--shots, worms, neutering, recovery--on my dime.   I then released the cat in an area recommended to me.  

Story over?  I wish.  24 hours later the cat has found its way back to my yard.

I need to research my options now.  Any ideas out there?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm out of ideas, but I wanted to say that was awfully nice of you to do all that for him, DJ. I'm sorry he came back, maybe he knows the person who lives there is kind and he is safe there.

 

[DJ & Chance]

He was "spitting mad" in the trap; and after neutering, etc., I thought he would not want to return to the "scene of the crime."  Sigh.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Would you be opposed to letting it in? Let me see if I can link the blog about the cat we let in. The previous owners of our house just threw their cats out and left them when they moved. At one time, we had seven cats (some feral) outside our house and eventually all but one left or died or something worse. We live in the country and people dump their cats and our neighbor is a total a$$ and always has cats giving birth. I trapped some and had them neutered, etc. and released them back on our property. Eventually, one white one remained and started standing up banging on our windows. I couldn't stand it and let her in. She will not go outside now under any circumstances. I think she is afraid we won't let her back in. It took us months to even see her in the house. She ate and went to the bathroom in a litter box, but hid under my DD's bed for months. She hates our dogs and won't go near them, but has come to love all of us. I never wanted a cat and won't have another, but I hated not helping her.  Good luck!

http://www.doodlekisses.com/profiles/blogs/how-do-you-know-if-you-g...

[DJ & Chance]

I am so allergic to cats that they can trigger asthma attacks.  They always seem to know that and love to follow me around.  Started when I was just a toddler (back in the dark ages).