I just want to vent (cat rescue related)

[thecatneuterer]

I can't sleep. I'm actually shaking with anger and despair. And I've just had a large glass of wine to calm my nerves (and I don't drink). I'm so fed up and rather drunk. It's actually a rare cat rescue job that isn't buggered up by horrible, horrible people.

So this particular one that's causing this upset. Last Summer I had a call from someone who had seen posters I had put up asking for info on another cat colony. They said they knew people who were feeding a colony in their garden and could I help. So I put a note through their door, and heard nothing, for two months.

Then I got a call from them to say that they had my note and that they had 10 kittens that had been born to two mothers in a kennel in their garden and could I take them away. So I took the kittens and trapped the two mothers plus one extra pregnant female. But there was a large colony (probably around 15 cats) so I said I would need to come back to trap and neuter the rest. I kept trying to arrange it and they kept saying they were busy. So eventually I gave up, but it gave me sleepless nights wondering what had happened to all those cats.

Then yesterday they called out of the blue to say that one of the cats was injured and could I come to get it. When I got there I saw there was a heavily pregnant cat, plus quite a lot more unneutered females. They agreed I could come back that evening to try to get the pregnant one. Which I did but she didn't go in the trap. I talked about making a plan to get all of the cats once I had her, and they agreed.

I went again tonight. Again I didn't quite manage to get her (all the others had gone in the trap but I had to get her first so as not to scare her). And then they said that I couldn't come back as now they would be 'too busy' until August. All they have to do is to open their front door and let me sit in their conservatory. That's it. But that's too much trouble and now there will be approximately another 20 kittens born in a few months time, and probably another 40 by August.

They feed the cats. They care enough to do that, but they don't care enough to open the front door for me occasionally. Fuck me I hate people. This sort of shit happens all the time.

Only a few months ago I was 'kidnapped' by a maniac who didn't believe in neutering but had wanted me to trap the (feral) cats in his garden to give to his friends and refused to let me leave with the cats (Police were called and everything). I won that one by shinning over a very high fence with a trap full of cats. To this day I don't know how I did it.

Another job recently. We put leaflets through letterboxes asking if anyone was feeding a cat colony as we wanted to neuter to 'stop numbers of cat multiplying out of control'. We got an answer that a man was feeding but was 'happy for them to breed for now'. Then what? When there are 50 cats then he wants us to come to neuter them? So we have to spend the time catching 50 cats rather than 20? So we have to pay for 50 rather than 20 to be neutered?

I fucking hate people.

Another recent one - again feeding a colony. But they believe that all the females should have at least one litter. So they refused to let me take the young females. I pointed out that most of the litters born in those gardens were eaten by foxes, but they wouldn't believe me.

I fucking hate people.

I love the trapping jobs that are in public places, were people can't obstruct. But most are in back gardens. Those terraces that are all one big lump of back gardens with no access but through houses. Then you have to rely on people's goodwill. And people are selfish, stupid, thoughtless fuckers. Well the ones I seem to meet are anyway.

I fucking hate people.

Well done, TCN. You're doing right by the cats and kits

Where is this? Roughly? I’m wondering if I’m naive...

I remember this thread, thanks for the update, glad you got there in the end.

pickle East London. I think we have probably had to deal with either a colony, or a pregnant stray, or a mum cat having given birth in just about every single block of gardens at some time. And then lots of industrial estates, factory sites and just about every waste dump has colonies too.

At the moment our list of jobs is far too long to do everything.

Places in Greater London/Essex like Dagenham and Romford are dreadful for this too. (I have spent a ridiculous amount of time hanging around the bins in Council estates in Dagehan). As is a lot of North London such as Seven Sisters, Tottenham and Haringey generally. And there is also a huge problem in West London in Hounslow particularly. That is really too far away for us to deal with, although we do some work there, but there really aren't any other charities that deal with feral cats in the London area so the situation there isn't being controlled at all.

We have another clinic/rescue covering South London, and they are busy but the situation there isn't as bad.

Basically in any area of social deprivation you find feral cat colonies.

I’m shocked. I am naive. I was hoping you were going to say Greece or Turkey or Italy... places I remember having a huge feral cat population. I really thought this had been dealt with in the U.K.

So many obstacles to overcome and yet you've done it. It's a never-ending task though, as you've sadly had to tell us

pickle you're not naive. If you're not actively involved in cat welfare then the problem isn't obvious. I lived in one of those areas myself for many years without ever noticing anything.

It all happens in back gardens. You very rarely see big colonies of ferals on streets. And of course in factories and industrial estates which most people don't see. And in all the waste treatment sites the ferals all hide during the day, when the public are around, and are only seen at night.

Without intervention what limits the numbers in colonies is starvation and predation. In my experience approximately 75 per cent of kittens born feral don't make it to 12 weeks old - normally because they are eaten by foxes. But even if only 25 per cent make it, a colony can quickly get out of hand, and we frequently see colonies of 50 or more.

The cause of all this is people not neutering their cats. Many are abandoned unneutered (we get at least 5 calls a week from people reporting neighbours who have moved out and left their cats behind) and of course a female in heat if often chased for miles by toms and she (and often the toms too) then find themselves lost even if they did in fact have a home. And you only need one unneutered female and in a couple of years you have a huge colony.

You do such an amazing job
Sadly there are many fuckwits out there, like my neighbours who don't think it is 'fair' to neuter tom cats

I’m constantly shocked by people's stupidity. What a shame. Thank you for what you do!