Mom has been mentioning that she thinks one of the crappy neighbors that moved out of the neighborhood, left behind a cat. The poor cat has been fending for itself for months. Well, the vicious cold and blasting winds we've been having are a real threat to any animal left outside...especially one that is not meant to live outside.
I remembered that I had seen a video about making feral cat housing and I'd spoken to a friend of mine that has started a feral cat non-profit recently. I felt I had to do something to help this cat and I thought I could make some housing....so that's what I did.
When I went back to Mom's house the next day it was with two cat houses in tow. (There had been some discussion about 2 cats but Mom thinks one has a home and just shows to up mooch). I also brought cat food and a couple of bricks. We were expecting another blasting cold spell and I couldn't sleep the night before because I couldn't get these cats out of my head.
I set them up and supplied a couple of dishes of cat food and hoped for the best. The thing that bothered me the most was the foot prints I was seeing in the snow all around the side yard looked like raccoon prints. If this is the case they will eat anything they find and the cats would get nothing and probably be scared off as well.
The next day I went back and all the cat food was gone.....no surprise there. But more importantly the houses had not been disturbed and had not been blown away by the wind. That was a relief at least. Ok, so I think the raccoon's are taking advantage here....we had a steady supply of raccoon's (and all the problems they can bring) the whole time I was growing up there. I see no reason why that should have changed. I need a new strategy.
The best I could come up with is that I will move the cat houses to the other side of Mom's house.....much closer to where the cat has been seen trying to get her birds. She has decided to start feeding him and she can do that in the morning which will effectively cut the raccoon's out of the picture. This way the cat will hopefully grow to trust her and the housing. If the cat can become tame enough, my friend may be able to take him in and eventually get him a home.
Fingers crossed!
