Wat to feed a sray dog or cat?

1. 53

   pokeamitposted 15 years ago

   There are many cats and dogs both living near my house. I love them but cant adopt them as my parents are against it.
   How do i feed them?

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   1. 84

      kerrygposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Don't! You will never get rid of them, and you'll attract even more as well.
      
      It's better to call your local humane society and report them. They will be able to give the animals medical care, if necessary, spay or neuter them, and hopefully find them good homes.

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   2. 62

      mortaineposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with kerryg. If you can't adopt them and aren't able to take full responsibility for them, including veterinary care, housing, and ensuring a full amount of food and water, then you really shouldn't feed them. Not only will they continue to hang around, but other people will see that they're well-fed, and will assume they have a home. Those people, who might have adopted the strays, won't take in any of them, thinking they are already cared for.
      
      Additionally, cats in particular have an odd social dynamic. A group of cats will grow to the size of their food source. If you feed them, they will have kittens and more cats will arrive, requiring more food. An unspayed female cat can have kittens every 8 weeks, so within 2 months, you have a second litter. Plus, an unspayed female cat can have her first litter in as little as 8-12 weeks. So within months, you have a math problem that just won't go away.
      
      One thing you can do, if your parents are agreeable to it, is to sponsor a feral cat colony in the area. With a feral cat colony, you feed a limited amount of food to the cats (about 1/3 to 1/2 of what that many cats would eat as indoor pets), and you have these untamed cats spayed. The colony will not grow because the cats are spayed and because there is only that limited amount of food-- the established colony will defend their territory from interlopers. In return (and because you aren't feeding them too much food!) they hunt rodents and pests in your area. The costs involved are trapping, spaying, basic vaccinations and tests (it's a good idea to make sure your feral colony is not fostering feline leukemia), and ongoing food. The food doesn't need to be fancy-- dry kibble will do the trick, as it's just a supplement for their hunting activities.
      
      Stray dogs will often roam in packs, and the more food they have, the bigger the pack. Eventually, someone will decide the pack is a problem (either because the dogs are constantly knocking over their trash cans, or because the dogs are a hazard to local wildlife, livestock, children...) In any case, someone will call Animal Control and have the dogs taken away as "aggressive" to be put down. The more you feed them, the more dogs there will be who meet this sad fate.
      
      Call the local humane society. If there's no humane society in your area, ask your parents if you can establish a feral cat colony, or the animals should be taken up the road to a friendly farm for adoption.

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      1. 66

         Lady Guinevereposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         You are right except for the fact that you will bring even more other unwanted animals into your area.  Raccoons, Possums and the like will come to feed on what the cats don't eat.  I have a few stray cats, that are able to pet and such and have made them provisions for a dry and warm place to nest.  All byt two males are fixed and I just ran out of money from fixing the femle who brought me twolitters of kittens.  The last three I couldn
         t find homes for so I got them fixed and the momma cat fixed too.  So I have 7 outdoor cats.  I also have my 5 indoor/outdoor cats.
         If they have been outsode for quite a while they will not be able to be fully domesticated as an indoor cat.---been there with two of the ones I have indoor/outdoor.
         The humane society in my area at least will not pick up cats and if they can't find homes for them within 5-7 days they will kill them.  They will not tell you this. 
         Spay Today will help with the spaying and neutering of those animals and will also rent traps so that you can get them to their facility.  Check to make sure they have a van run because that is even cheaper than just the Spay Today.  What they do is have you drop off your animals on one day and the next day pick them up.  They will have various charges for a variety of services, such as the testing for leukemia and the AIDS virus.

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2. 66

   Lady Guinevereposted 15 years ago

   Find an Animal Welfare Society--they are a NO KILL shelter and will not kill an animal.

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3. 53

   YourHomeForumposted 15 years ago

   Yep... they need to be taken care of by someone that is capable of taking care of all of these animals. Hopefully, they will find homes.

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