Cat Blog 2b

1 Feeding and ‘watering’ community cats

This is the second instalment of our Cat Blog about how to help feral or community cats. See https://iamcat.blog/feral-cats-and-how-to-help-them/ in Cat Blog 2a for the intro.

As you can imagine, a dependable source of food and water makes a huge difference to the lives of community cats. If you would rather not feed them yourself though, you could help the volunteer organisations in your area do the job by donating food and/or funds. 

If you can’t get to a colony every day, set up a feeding station that you service only every few days or once a week. We recommend that you use the following:

• Use metal feeders (3 kg or 5 kg) under cover. You’ll find these in pet shops, and in South Africa they’re often sold by the side of the road. Raise the feeders off the ground if necessary. Sprinkle baby powder quite thickly around the feeders to keep ants out, and if necessary, attach feeders to posts or pillars by means of chains. A wonderful natural product to use instead of baby powder is diatomaceous earth, which has many other uses as well. See for example https://www.feelgoodhealth.co.za/blogs/pet-health-blog-natural-health-blog-dogs-cats/diatomaceous-earth-dogs-cats-health-benefits. Some caregivers report that smearing petroleum jelly on the outside of dishes also works!

OR

• Or you could place feeders or bowls in square plastic crates with lids and cut a hole in the side to let the cats in. Then you can simply lift the lid when you need to refill the feeder or bowl. To keep ants out of the food, sprinkle baby powder or diatomaceous earth around the bowls, or place the bowls in trays that you fill with water. In the latter case, make sure that the trays are level (use wedges or flat stones to ensure this), to protect the food against ants. Also make sure no twigs or sprigs form ‘bridges’ to the food.
• Place the tubs in such a way that bowls containing food are protected against rain.
• If possible, place the bowls on rubber mats.
• Always provide community cats with water. You could place the water bowls under or outside the tubs.
• If birds such as hadedas are a problem, try to get hold of ‘bottom feeders’, which are bird-proof. At first use strong-smelling soft food and pulverised valerian root (eg Happy Cat) inside and around them to lure the cats inside. Phase them in slowly to help the cats get used to them. (Happy Cat is a wonderful calming product for cats. Order it easily from Takealot at https://www.takealot.com/all?_sb=1&_r=1&qsearch=happy%20cat%20valerian&via=suggestions&_si=85588e7042023ace10649761ec46b47f

You will also find interesting info on feeding stations on Google, for example at https://www.alleycat.org/resources/feeding-station-options-gallery/

2 Providing community cats with shelter

‘Your’ community cats would love you to provide some shelter for them against rain and cold, but here too are a few principles you need to keep in mind:

• Choose your shelters with care, again ensuring that they are neat and in neutral colours. Their placement is very important: try and place them as unobtrusively as possible, for example behind a bush or under a low overhang.
• Fill them with dry hay or straw and sprinkle a little dried valerian root powder (eg Happy Cat, see above) inside to lure the cats in.

See also https://www.saveacat.org/providing-shelter.html for another wonderfully snug shelter idea.

3 Sterilising community cats

Sterilising community cats is even more important than feeding them. Sterilisation will benefit them immediately and for the rest of their lives: they would no longer need to use all their resources to raise litter after litter of offspring. It could also make the crucial difference between a landlord allowing them to remain or not.

Your best bet is to contact one of the welfare organisations in your area for help. You could also borrow traps and take it on yourself – but that is a subject for a later cat blog!

A wonderful site I can recommend about caring for community cats is that of Alley Cat Rescue in the US – founded by South African born Louise Holton. Louise is also one of the staunchest supporters of local South African cat caregivers and cat-care groups. Check out the site and download their guide at https://www.saveacat.org/how-to-help-community-cats.html.

Cat quote of the week

Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties.

WL George

---

Cat Story 3

This is one of the many uplifting stories that cat lovers joyfully repeat to other cat lovers. My thanks to the inimitable Rita Brock, founder of CAT Garden Route, who shared the story and pics with me. Learn more about them at https://www.facebook.com/catgardenroute and support the essential work they do if you possibly can!

Little Tom was born intro a life of squalor and neglect. His ‘family’ didn’t even allow him indoors, and they didn’t touch him either, ever.

But one day his life changed forever. He was rescued by Coriza, a member of CAT Garden Route. (Coriza visits the poorest, and sometimes the least safe, parts of communities daily, alone, fearlessly, to save cats.)

On this day, Coriza cleaned Tom up lovingly and whisked him off to his new life.

Soon afterwards, another miracle happened for Tom. He was adopted by a wonderful family. His life is now filled with love, cuddles, good food and snuggly beds. In fact, he is in cat heaven.

Of course CAT Garden Route cannot help cats like Tom without our help. So, if you can donate cat carriers, or blankets, or anything cats need, please get in touch with them. And if you can donate vital funds, here are their banking details: CAT Trust, FNB, acc 626 1567 0800, branch code 210114.

Many thanks, purrs and blessings from the beautiful Garden Route in South Africa!