New kittens are a problem

Long story short my neighbor feeds feral cats. One had kittens and then was hit by a car. We took them in. We had an addition put on the house but it's not complete and we kept them in it. You can picture it like an enclosed front porch. Part of the house but not. The cats haven't been in the house. We have dogs, one of which is an 11 year old weim who has killed many cats. The cats cannot be in the house. We have 5, well had. I ran one over. It was an accident. Ok let me start out better.

So the cats were getting too big to be kept in the addition. Plus they appeared to be bored out of their minds. So I took them out to the barn where I set them up with their food, bed, a few heat lamps and such. They were fine out there for a few days but recently they've began coming to the garage. Then they sit outside the door crying and trying to get in every time we open it. They are asking to be eaten. So daily I take them back to the barn and feed them. On saturday I took them back in my car because I had bags of food to haul into the barn. I saw 4 of them eating but 1 was no where to be seen. Knowing it could have crawled into my engine I whacked the hood of the car and kicked the tires. I didn't realize I'd hit it until yesterday when I went to feed the animals and return the cats and there it was, squished. /sigh

What am I supposed to do with these things? If they keep coming to the garage they are going to die either by car or dog. I'm not feeding them in the garage at all but they just don't get it. HELP!!!





As to why I'm keeping them, we have a huge ground animal problem we are hoping they'll take care of when they are older.

Lost one to the dogs last night. They had been staying in the barn because of snow but now that it's melted they are back at the house. HELP!

Danielle Venegas : We have a new edition to our family a kitten abandoned by its Feral cat mother ! I worry about my neighbors dogs, for now she will be
an indoor kitty !

At one time we had a Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound Cross who loved cats to death ! (he was not very bright ) we had a feel that we removed the clapper from
and only had to show him that little thing for him to know he could go outside! He would stand there and we re-attached the clapper anklet him out!

This actually worked for us ! Y.M.M.V. Best Big AL

You could try spraying them with a bit of water when they come to the house. Might not be the best in winter though. I guess it would depend on your temps. Basically scare them away from the house.

Try not to pay attention to them at the house otherwise. No petting or anything. Always give attention at the barn so they learn to associate the barn with their needs.

They are probably attention seekers because of being orphaned so young, and for the same reason, might not ever be good hunters. They might be, but there is no one to teach them so it all depends on how good their instincts are. Some cats like to hunt and others like to mooch at human doors.

allen lumley wrote:Danielle Venegas : We have a new edition to our family a kitten abandoned by its Feral cat mother ! I worry about my neighbors dogs, for now she will be
an indoor kitty !

At one time we had a Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound Cross who loved cats to death ! (he was not very bright ) we had a feel that we removed the clapper from
and only had to show him that little thing for him to know he could go outside! He would stand there and we re-attached the clapper anklet him out!

This actually worked for us ! Y.M.M.V. Best Big AL

Are you trying to say I should train the dogs? Our weim is 11 and being a weim it is not likely that he will ever, ever, be good with small animals. We have a fenced dog run that our dogs cannot escape from. So long as the cats do not go into the run there should be no issue with them getting eaten. Unfortunately that cat was in the run.

Penny Dumelie wrote:You could try spraying them with a bit of water when they come to the house. Might not be the best in winter though. I guess it would depend on your temps. Basically scare them away from the house.

Try not to pay attention to them at the house otherwise. No petting or anything. Always give attention at the barn so they learn to associate the barn with their needs.

They are probably attention seekers because of being orphaned so young, and for the same reason, might not ever be good hunters. They might be, but there is no one to teach them so it all depends on how good their instincts are. Some cats like to hunt and others like to mooch at human doors.

We have done a bit of water spraying on them. It doesn't repel them very far though. It had been in the negatives when we got them or I would have had them in the barn from the start. Now we are dealing with this. /sigh I'd hoped feeding them out there and taking them back would help train them but so far it is not working.

I have seen them go after spiders in the room we had them in. I do have hope that they will be able to hunt. I did want to put them in the barn young in the hopes that they would see the poultry as something they don't want to hunt for. They do all seem to get along well. I figure if they ever try anything the roosters or peacocks will put them in their place. I've seen them do that rather well in the past.

They are attention seekers though. It's frustrating because while they want our attention they don't want us touching them overly much. They run whenever I try to grab them. Perhaps they know I'm going to cart them back to the barn. Bah!

Danielle : Some people are offended (as are the dogs ) behind putting a bell on a dog. belling a cat is cool but- - - -

So I was trying to tip toe around the idea, to let it sink in, after we belled 'Behemoth' nether we or the neighbors
lost any more cats, though we did have to remove the clapper for our peace of mind inside the house, showing the
dog the Clapper and his reactions were an unexpected side effect !

Hope I was a little clearer this time ! Big AL

That sounds promising. Our barn cats were always mostly wild. Not feral but definitely wild. Most of the time you couldn't get near them. Occasionally they would get scraps and we could get close enough to pet one if we were quiet and slow and gentle.

If they are skittish and stalking spiders, they will probably grow out of the attention thing. Probably. You never know with cats.

Maybe create a here kitty kitty call for them and use it when you go to the barn to feed them. Hopefully they will learn to come to the call and you won't have to chase them to round them up (when needed). They might be more receptive to it than being caught.

allen lumley wrote:Danielle : Some people are offended (as are the dogs ) behind putting a bell on a dog. belling a cat is cool but- - - -

So I was trying to tip toe around the idea, to let it sink in, after we belled 'Behemoth' nether we or the neighbors
lost any more cats, though we did have to remove the clapper for our peace of mind inside the house, showing the
dog the Clapper and his reactions were an unexpected side effect !

Hope I was a little clearer this time ! Big AL

Ah. I understand what you are saying. I would not be against belling the dogs but I don't know that it would help. You see the door in our kitchen goes out into a sun room which goes out into the fenced dog run. The cat was in the sun room. The instant we opened the door the dogs were upon it. We will do our best to check for cats before letting the dogs out. Totally unexpected last night. It had probably realized there was another door it could beg at.

Penny Dumelie wrote:That sounds promising. Our barn cats were always mostly wild. Not feral but definitely wild. Most of the time you couldn't get near them. Occasionally they would get scraps and we could get close enough to pet one if we were quiet and slow and gentle.

If they are skittish and stalking spiders, they will probably grow out of the attention thing. Probably. You never know with cats.

Maybe create a here kitty kitty call for them and use it when you go to the barn to feed them. Hopefully they will learn to come to the call and you won't have to chase them to round them up (when needed). They might be more receptive to it than being caught.

I really really really hope they grow out of it!!! My husband was anti cat to begin with any having to bury them hasn't endeared them to cat ownership at all. Plus having to whack his vehicle before driving irritates the crap out of him.

After the dogs got another one, though I was there and rescued it, I rehomed the kittens. It was a bit too much for the kids to see the dog trying to eat the cat.