I feed a small colony of ferals in my apartment complex. I've hit some hard times financially lately and had to go a few weeks without food for them so I would put my leftovers out for them. I found out then that there is at least one other person in my building feeding them so I didn't feel absolutely horrible, but I did feel bad whenever they would meet me at my car and I had nothing to give them. My neighbor's grandson wound up buying a bag of cat food for them and giving it to me so I could start feeding them again.

 

I fed ferals at my work last summer but it didn't have a happy ending. There are always one or two for some reason but you can't get close to them at all. Last summer there were kittens though, which is what made me start feeding them. We had just found Tiger Lily and I thought it would be great if I could tame the kittens and keep one as a companion for TL, but I never could make any progress with them. First mom kept moving them, then by the time they were moving around on their own, they already seemed feral and I could never get near them. My coworker ended up calling animal control when one turned up injured and the bad part is the mom ended up having rabies. I didn't ask about the kittens.

 

Well, looks like I have another to feed(maybe 2). Momma cat(she is known for producing lots of kittens) brought one up on my porch last night. I might set a trap and try to catch the kitten. He/she looks the same age that Fat Albert was when I got him and now he is the tamest/laziest cat ever!! If I can catch him/her I will try to tame it, get it to the vet and re-home it. It is colored like a calico and VERY pretty. If it shows up again I will try and get a pic.


Oh and FLUFFY!! I love fluffy kitties.

 

That's so nice of you to feed/water the strays.
Are you able to get them spayed/neutered so more cats/kittens don't keep showing up? There are low cost spay/neuter centers around. Alley Cat Rescue or Alley Cat Allies have lists of them.
I feed/water a cat colony in my condo complex. Around ten regularly dine at my restaurant (also known as the dumpster). I feed cheap canned and wet food, and I know the cats also dumpster dive. I feed my own cat, Ritz, raw, and the feral/stay cats in the colony get to eat her leftovers.
In 20 months, I've trapped/neutered-spayed/returned around 30 cats. There are a lot of evictions/foreclosures where I live, and sometimes when people move out, they leave their cats behind. So sad....

 

If I trap momma I plan on getting her fixed. I am a minor though, without a real job so would have to wait till I get paid for baby sitting. She has around 2 litters every year and has had up to 5 in a litter. So if you take 5 times 2 that is ten cats then multiply that by 2 if her kittens have litters that is 20 more kittens!! That is a lot of cats.....

 

If you talk to your vet or the local animal control, they will be able to help you find low cost or free neuter/spaying. Or a local cat rescue may be of some help.

My husband donates the cost of a spay to our local animal control for someone who can't afford it. I know one of the AC officers and she makes sure the money is used as intended.

Thank you for helping the cats.

 

I have neighbors that TNR and feed the neighborhood cats. When we moved in, two of them appeared to be living under our garage. There was also a lot of cat poop in the garage (detached, more like a potting shed/workshop), as if cats had been kept in there without a litter box. Maybe whoever lived here before left these "neighborhood" cats behind. No one has mentioned that and I talk to one of my neighbors a lot who has been here 8 years, so who knows.

 

I manage a colony of strays downstairs in the public garden. About 15 come to dine each night.

In summer I keep putting fresh water everyday but they don't drink it because they much prefer the cold, flowing water from all the A/C units pipes in the buildings around.

Apart from that, they're spoilt brats who hunger-strike on me if I don't bring them fresh meat for dinner, so I'm angry at them now. One of them has gums disease, so I feed her only meats with a little water in the blender. Three of them nowadays live in my apt. because they hated the street life. So you can imagine I do little with my life other than care for cats. It's an enormeous amount of work, money, responsibility, worry and fights with cat-hater neighbors.

I just had to purchase a Havahart trap for when one of the strays is sick, to take them to the vet. Due to the cat-haters, I can't provide any kind of shelter in winter, except hide a couple cushions and rags among the bushes. Luckily the winters here are very short, dry and mild.

I feed a high-quality kibble for strays (costs double the regular kinds for strays) as default, and constantly bring them meats I find at special offer prices here and there. Occasionally also very fat yoghurt, fat milk, raw canned and chicken-meat stock I make from the big ones of the bones and the attached meat remaining from chicken wings.

Shopping, carrying heavy bags, calculating prices and searching for special offers, trapping, vet appointments, watering, cutting meats, feeding, petting, brushing (the ones that let me touch), giving attention, teaching them to get along and not be afraid of each other and of me, washing dishes after meat meals, planning online food purchases and ordering and receiving the food, bargaining with retailers, not to count all the work with the 3 former strays living in my apt. which takes even more time than the strays, taking them down for a stroll each time they feel like, going downstairs to ask if they're ready to come back home every half hour, petting non-stop and cheek-scratching, separating them and reassuring them when they fight between them, playing with wands, and all that house cats entails and more because I'm very devoted, I hardly have time to go to the office and come back. It's good I eat in the office, because I don't have time to eat or prepare food for me at home.

Oh, and it's worth all the trouble. Just seeing them go from starved, suffering creatures to pampered, spoilt-rotten sweet kitties makes my life worth living.