Anybody have experience doing this? Did you have to provide daily care? Did your neighbors cause problems? Did it WORK?

I'm fed up with just hoping that the huge outdoor cat population around my house will stay away from Tanner. He tangled with a cat who looked to be ill and have mange this morning.

My local animal control refuses to do anything about a cat population even after I told them that mange is transmittable to humans and is a human health risk. It gave them pause for a moment but then they told me they still won't do anything.

I left a message with the local TNR folks and will hopefully start trapping to at least get them some anti-parasite stuff(Revolution maybe?). My neighbor feeds the cats directly in front of my yard's wall so it shouldn't be very difficult to get them to come to traps in my yard. Some of the cats are in pretty rough shape right now. I'd just hope the colony would die off some but I don't want Tanner to be exposed to all their diseases. Most of my neighbors are fed up with them as well and are open to the idea of a managed colony.

I'm hoping somebody has a game camera I can borrow to get an idea of how many cats there really are. I've seen 20+ different cats but I think the resident colony is only about 15. Most of the others I've seen were single toms.

Oops. Didn't mean to put this in General Dog conversation. Should be in Non-dog Related

Some options we have in my area are TNR through the humane society but it's $20 per animal. We are also allowed to "manage" feral cats ourselves via humanely killing them ( if one considers a well placed shot humane) The last option is to trap them and turn them in as strays. Our ac evaluates them for adoption or farm homes and if either isn't feasible, they put them down.

I'm one of the people with the unpopular opinion that feral cats are pests. No, they didn't chose to live on the street and be unwanted, but they spread disease and kill millions of native wildlife annually. In areas with dense feral cat populations, native bird species have dwindled in numbers severely. The fact that these cats are being fed by your neighbor means they're killing for the kill and are most likely NOT eating what they catch.

If you really want to do TNR, that's up to you, but I urge you to consider the fact that these animals are no better than the feral hogs that destroy millions of dollars in private and public property and pose direct threats to pets, native wildlife, and humans. Feral cats often suffer to death, as well. They are also over exposed to rabies, since many of them are not vaccinated and fight with wildlife. There's a reason when I go to the shelter I see feral KITTENS locked in a cage with warning signs hanging all over the place to not touch them. If the kittens can pose serious health risks, imagine what the adults can do.

I would probably have to kill about 50 cats to completely clean out my area. It's a BIG problem. I would also have to find a way to humanely kill them. I'm in the middle of the city in a small block of condos. I'll look into an air powered gun for the nasty looking ones but don't think it'll fly legally. They make them big and powerful enough now to take a cat out humanely. Some of these cats don't even look like they'd survive anesthesia. They're getting plenty of food but are still rail thin, missing patches of fur, lethargic, panting excessively, etc

Maricopa County AC charges $96 for each brought in cat even though they should probably be paying me to do their job.

I'd rather deal with the 15 or so regulars around here through a TNR program and hope they defend their territory.

That's a ridiculous fee. What's it supposed to cover?

Have you complained to the human Health Department ??? First make a list of ALL diseases with Feline to Human vectors -- Next cross-check for symptoms of THOSE illnesses within your local Feral Cat population ... Then call the Health Department with your report (if there are kids who play outdoors in your complex, think about calling Child Protective Services as well) and also consider involving the News Media too, so that public outrage might cause enough embarrassment in City Hall to prompt someone into getting Animal Control to DO THEIR JOB which Your Taxes underwrite.

air rifle + night vision scope = end of problem .

maybe you have a local gun club that might be able to help .

make sure you dispose of the remains properly .

I was referred to the Arizona Humane Society who told me they're willing to take all the sick cats to euth and the few friendly cats for possible adoption. I'm going to have to bring a test feral down to them because I don't remember doing that.

 Quote: Cathy Goessman

because I don't remember doing that.

don't remember THEM doing that. Was typing on my cell phone and left a word out.

 Quote: SamanthaTopper

That's a ridiculous fee. What's it supposed to cover?

It's a deterrent so they're not flooded with cats. It applies to friendly strays and ferals equally. You can bring stray cats to the humane society and they will take care of holding them for the owner at no charge but it's still ridiculous that ANIMAL control will not deal with cats unless they've bitten a human.

Maricopa County AC does a lot of things right. They work very hard to get adoptable dogs out of their facilities and into a rescue. They're very responsive to abuse/neglect situations. The first few weeks of summer they practically go door to door to get people to offer appropriate shelter to outdoor dogs. They just don't want to deal with cats. We have an awesome humane society that picks up their slack. Ever seen "Animal Rescue" on Animal Planet? That's our humane society.