I used to have a problem with feral cats. I received a lot of helpful advice from Garden Stewers. I stopped having a problem after I planted lantana and strong scented herbs and mulching with coir mulch. Well, after not having any cats around for a long time, this morning I woke up and found a feral cat had decided she could stand the discomfort and she had seven babies in a corner of one of my wall planters. Here's the problem- I am very, very allergic to cats. I cannot trap and move her because of that and even if I could, I don't know where to take her. I am afraid to call anyone- Kuwait is a terrible place for animals. People try to run over animals here. There is a PAWS here but they do not have traps and they do not have room for 8 more cats anyway. So, any advice? If I scare the mother cat away, she may not come back for her babies. She is definitely feral- no collar, thin and she hisses and tries to attack if I even open my door. I don't want eight feral cats in my garden, which is really a walled terrace with containers and built in planters. I don't know what to do so any advice would be much appreciated!
This is not going to make me popular amongst the avid or sometimes rabid animal activists but this is a matter of your health. You need to contact someone who will come get the cat and kittens and don't ask them what they will do with them. There is no local organization that can handle the collection and care of them. The mother cat is threatening you and you don't know if she has rabies, distemper or some other disease that would cause her to act that way. Leaving them in your vacinity will cause you health problems. Coming in contact with them in the process of trying to catch them would cause you serious health problems. There really isn't another option.
Hi Toni, I really am worried about this. No one here seems to care. Kuwait has been in trouble with animal rights activists for a very long time. There are a lot of articles in the newspapers about camels and horses left to die out in the desert, dogs being kept in bird cages, cats being thrown in water tanks, etc. So I don't have anyone to turn to. I think the mother is very sick, she is just panting and has her mouth drawn back to show her teeth constantly. I am thinking about calling the haris (building manager) but I was worried that he would just kill them. At this point, I know there is probably nothing to be done for the mother and the last thing I need is to be back in the hospital, especially here. I looked online to see if there is anyone else in Kuwait and there is a animal friends league but they are not responding to any emails. I am sure they are as swamped with discarded pets as PAWS is. This is breaking my heart, I don't understand how people can take an animal in and then put it out on the street when they get tired of it. I have seen cats here that were obviously someone's pet go from being well fed and healthy to vicious, skinny animals that will bite you in a minute. I hope whomever was responsible for this cat is as hungry and sick as this animal is. Thanks for responding, I am really upset and it helps to just vent.
Sometimes you have to look at the situation as being one of compassion for the cat and kittens. The mother is obviously sick, she will not be able to properly care for those kittens and they will most likely die a horrible death from starvation or from the same disease the mother has or possibly being tortured by larger animal. Putting them all down is a humane thing to do under some circumstances. And you health is much more important.
Thanks for being there for me. I called the haris and he is supposedly on his way to try to catch them. I don't know where he plans on taking them but maybe he knows of someplace I do not know about that will put them down. The babies aren't moving much and the mother is definitely sick or injured. This has really gotten to me. I hate seeing any kind of animal suffer. This is really sad.
I know how you feel, because I am the same. But sometimes putting the animal down is the best thing to do. In this case I don't doubt it at all.
I know how you feel. I'm an animal lover but sometimes you have to do what you don't want to do. It will be better in the long run. The cats would not have a good life, you are doing the responsible thing. hugs Deanna :-D
I am one of those Avid animal rights activists that were mentioned. & I have to say the momma cat seems very hurt & in pain, maybe from the birth itself, she needs to be put to sleep. No animal deserves to be in pain or killed viciously just because they are a stray. The kittens most likely have health issues & depending on when the mother became sick they might be sick with whatever the momma has, be it feline parvo, rabies or just an infection from the birth. my advice is to ask your super to take the momma cat to a vet & ask to have it put down. Then vet may take the kittens & nurse them back to health then find homes for them or know someone who can help. If your super wont do this, make a phone call to a few vets & ask if they know anyone who will come get the cats, Vets know alot of people who do rescue by themselves. Just tell them that its a health issue & you dont want any harm to come to the animals either.
Stephinalta, I understand how you feel but Kuwait is not the U.S. There are no punishments of any kind for any type of animal abuse. There are a few vets but they will have nothing to do with this. Camels and horses were left to die- some shot in the legs- in the desert. They know who was responsible for the animals yet no charges were ever filed, nothing was ever done. Kuwait is second only to Saudi for human rights abuses in the Middle East. If they do not protect people, how can we really expect them to care for animals? The haris still has not shown up. I cannot go outside because the mother is so crazed. This cat is only one of many feral cats here. I can't risk trying to trap her and move her myself. I took pictures and plan to write (yet again) another article for the papers. I don't know what else to do to try to stop this kind of abuse. I am hoping that haris shows up and knows what to do. Believe me, I exhausted all possible sources of help before I called. Stratsmom, Droopy and Toni are right. There isn't hope for the mother cat and I doubt there is any for the babies. There isn't anywhere to bring them. The best I can do is find someone to get them somewhere to be humanely put down. There just aren't any other options. I really appreciate everyone answering me, it has been a really tough day.
Update The haris came down and after scaring the mother cat off a little, was able to box up the babies. He was going to take the box to the other side of the wall and try to coax the mother into it. Apparently, he knows where to take them for help. The story is worse than I had thought- he said someone in another building had seen her ready to have her babies and threw her over the wall. So apparently her craziness is not just due to giving birth, she was probably injured. Anyway, thanks for being there for me. It was a truly awful day and it would have been worse going it alone.
You've done the right thing, Traveler. I love cats, but it sounds like they would have no quality of life over there. You performed a humane act as well as protecting yourself. gardengater
Thank you, gardengater. It's really meant a lot to me that people have understood how awful this has been.
Thanks, Toni. I have been trying to make a difference by supporting the two animal rights groups here and writing about the plight of animals (and people). There are days I feel like I am wasting my time and nothing will ever change. And then I get up, give myself a pep talk and get back to writing, hoping that something, anything will make a difference.
