Feeding Your Outdoor De-sexed Cats and Kittens

Now that you have your outdoor Strays and Ferals Spayed and or Neutered you will want to prepare them for winter months. If they have kittens and they are going to be going through their first winter you will also need this recipe and how to make an outdoor feeding place and nest boxes. It is the law around my area that once you have them de-sexed then you are responsible for them. After they have their surgery and you quarantine them for about 10 days it will take them a while to get their natural instinct of being the top male of female in the midst of all the other cats. From experience: I de-sexed the top male of the group of cats that would come to my property. I did this way back in February of this year and he is just now starting to defend his food area. So you will also need to make them an outdoor house to live in. First of all I will give you a recipe that I devised for these cats. I have three kittens out there and a mommy cat that needs fed and also two other full frown males, one of which is healing. The top male now will but his head against him and start a fight--intentionally to get his attention. If the cat doesn't move he will fight him.

One of the kittens is small and she is always next to her mommy. Mommy doesnt' mind because she is the only female kitten, but she is small and I worry about her surviving during the winter. Now Mommy has brought up a mouse or two, but the last mouse one of the kitten ate made him sick all over the place. The amount of stuff that came from this little body really amazed me. Since then not one kitten has fooled with a mouse that mommy brought up. I don't blame them at all!

High Protein Cat Food

Preparation for and throughout winter

(start in September)

1 -Chicken Leg Quarter-Skin Included (you can also use Turkey, Fish or Beef or a mix of them)

2 cups of water or Chicken Broth to boil chicken in.(add this liquid to the other ingredients)

3 teaspoons of.Garlic Powder or 2 cloves of fresh Garlic chopped or 1 TBLS of minced Garlic with Juice.

1 Eggs -Boiled in shell for 30 seconds and then beaten, not to frothy

2 TBLS -High Calorie Shortening or Lard

4 TBLS -Baby Rice Cereal or Cream Of Wheat

Boil the chicken in 2 cups of water for about 45 minutes. Take off all meat and skin from bones while still warm.

Put nall but chicken in blender and vlend untill all nixed.  Add chicken in small chunks or blend until minced in liquid.  (mybcats like it minced nand on occassion will eat the chunks--turkey is better for this)

Add All Ingredients to Blender and blend for 10 seconds.

If you have to refrigerate it then next time you feed it to them heat it until warm-if in the winter.  Sometimes they like it cold right out of the fridge and sometimes they like it warm and njuicy.  I just add nore water to it when they want it soupier.

You can also add Catnip to this too.

I just put the food on top of my patio table and lower the umbrella to about 15 inches above the table. I also use Pipe Cleaners to hold the dishes down. I use old cookie sheets--the kind with the sides on it.

I have had a group of Raccoons get the food so I had to add some flashing (you can get that in a hardware store) to the sides of the table. I put holes in the flashing and attached it with pipe cleaners also.

This will only work if you have cats and kittens that can jump up that high. I do have a mommy raccoon that can get up on the top of it still, but the 5 babies she has cannot. I might have to put the table on something higher when the kittens get big enough that they can jump that high. If this is the case with your area, then you will need to feed the cats and kittens before dark and sit with them. I stopped feeding my cats and kittens after about 10 pm, and I have to sit with them because those raccoons will still come up and eat their food and move them from the dishes. I also have possums, but they have since stopped eating since I stopped putting cat food out at night. I don't think you will have those problems with feral cats, only with strays that are used to you being around.

I also feed them under my crawlspace. Mine is high enough that I can get under there on my knees. I just keep a light on during the coldest months and put their food and water down there. I also have boxes with shredded paper and old afghans in them for their sleeping areas.

Putting the light down there serves a few purposes. It keeps the water pipes from freezing and it keeps the temp just above freezing. It also keeps the cats warm and their water from freezing.

I used large rubbermaid storage containers. I cut a hole in one side big enough for a cat to get into. I lined it with two layers of Styrofoam Insulation sheets. On the bottom I put something heavy in it to hol it down. I used concrete top plates tht they use for walls and such because they were thin enough and heavy enough to keep the house from blowing away. I then added some shredded paper so they can burrow in it. You can also use straw, but I coudln't find any in my area (and we live in a farm area!!--go figure!) I read that you should put a door on it--like a flap to keep the wind out, but no matter what I did they wouldn't go in it with the flap so I just leave mine open with the flap up. If you want them to gt used to it you can also put some Cat Nip in it to entice them at first. Yep, I did this so they could get used to the flap--and it didn't work.

I also put them close to the house, but if you have ferals you might want to put them on the perimeter of yur property. Mine are about 30-40 feet from my house and I have them kind of hidden.

I can't tell you if other animals will use these or not so when you get ready to clean them in late spring you might just want to tap on the box before you open it.

I hope this has given you some ideas to make your cats and kittens survive through the winter months.

 Canned Tuna, Salmon, Mackeral, Sardines.

Fresh Raw Chicken Wings, or Drumsticks (do not cook these)

Fresh Chicken pieces, ground or small pieces for kittens.

Ground beef or small pieces of cubed steak.  (Mine play with these instead of eating them. Hahaha)  They love the ground beef though.  More so then the chicken.

Vegetables are not in their diet. They do not have the right enzymes to break these up.  They don't need them.

Catnip!  They eat this stuff and I give it to them sometimes to calm their stomach down when they have vomitted much.

That is all I can think of right now, but if I think of some other things I will add them here.  If anyone else has any suggestions please leve them in the comment section and i will add them.