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Confident_Bridge9811 t1_iz0tamb wrote

We recently moved to an area with a lot of feral cats. Its not easy, but the county will lend you a trap to catch them, then you take them to get fixed, then return them to the wild. It's unfortunate how many people in the area who feed the cats are not aware of TNR. So the population gets out of control quick.

Happy that I found a wonderful person who fosters near by, since the shelters are so full. Feel much better about getting kittens to foster.

I have two cats, rescued from feral life. I haven't been able to get an appointment on the BARCS website or whatever for neutering for over a year. And you can't make the appointment on the phone? The slots get filled up so quick I guess. Tax time, we will go through our vet, which is a lot more. But I can't keep waiting to get this

petfinder.com is great

I want to add, since so many people are talking about how cats don't kill rats, I'm happy to report that the feral cats have killed a few rats in my area that I know about. Usually after the county treats the apartments or whatever near by. They say rats are intelligent, but these baby rats were culled short.

It seems more that their PRESENCE can keep rats away, not that they hunt them necessarily. Now I've seen the cats and an opossum eating from the same bowl, but never a rat. A feral/community cat living under your porch won't let a rat or other creature live near them.

Also, 8 kittens saved from feral life this week!

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TaterTotz8 t1_iz16nj5 wrote

Have you tried MDSPCA? Looks like they have spots for January: https://www.mdspca.org/veterinary-care/spay-neuter/

Vet staffing has been hit hard the last few years and seems like everywhere (across the country) is having trouble keeping up with all the pandemic pets and staff burn out.

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Confident_Bridge9811 t1_iz17me2 wrote

I will try. And I get it.

People bringing their feral cats in to TNR while they have covid and getting staff sick doesn't help trying to get all these cats fixed!

I think I read we need to catch about 75% of the population to be able to keep population under control.

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kosherkenny t1_iz5ujpd wrote

i just tried to make a spay apt yesterday for a cat that showed up in my yard a few months ago, and they emailed me back saying

>Unfortunately all of our female cat spots are completely booked at this time. Please email us again on January 1st when our February schedule is available. If you need other resources please see the link below.

best bet is to email january 1st i guess :/

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AmbyrPogo t1_iz2frgv wrote

If you miss the January slots, email them on the first of January. I managed an appt for my little girl. Unfortunately, it is very hard to get appts when you really need. There's a feral young tom I took over feeding but I can't rely on catching him in a trap a month or so from now to get him neutered. He's sweet and sociable, but no touch. He'd probably be a sweetiepie if someone took him in. But 8mo old black toms without house manners aren't popular.

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Confident_Bridge9811 t1_iz2g4go wrote

are you in middle river? we have one we call midnight. so vocal, seems like someone may have abandoned him.

I want to get my own trap, so i can catch when possible; there are more slots on a day to day basis in the baldwin md TNR place.

I'm so glad I rescued the two males in my area, each about a year apart.... there would have been SOOOOO many more kittens....

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AmbyrPogo t1_iz2iie6 wrote

No, Wilhelm Park. But it might be worth checking with them if they'll accept a "city" cat. Maybe my boss will be flexible for short notice. We call him KitKat...at least that's what he answers to.

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