Must have a new neighbour nearby. 2 or 3 new cats I've never seen.
One or two take up residence on my back deck every day. Get into fights.
I got my wrist rocket and jar of ball bearings out, couldn't get myself
to use them. Would never shoot to kill, just thump them in the ass to get them
to go away. Couldn't do that either. Live and let live. It's annoying that people
let their animals roam free. Maybe when it gets warm, I'll go out and make friends
with them. What say you?

You could be kind and feed them. They won't go away after that, but if they're strays, where would they go anyway?

Do this: Imagine yourself as one of these animals. What would you want?

Every living thing is in the same boat. We're all mortal. What can we do about it, except make the best of it while we're here?

Feed them, take them to the vet and have them examined.

You asked

Around here in San Diego (about 7 miles north of MCAS Miramar), stray cats don’t last too long.

Coyotes get them.

What parabellum said.

Other than one or two neighbors who must be city ex-pats with a mild case of agoraphobia: There are no fences around here. Cats, dogs (not so much), and all manner of wild animals roam as they wish.

We have random cats show up from time-to-time. They never seem to cause and trouble that I've seen.

We don't usually see them around for long. We have coyotes, too.

We have coyotes and cats here also, but the coyotes don't get the cats.

Lots of places they can go where the coyotes can't go.

I would feed them and see about getting them "fixed". Then I would put them right back where I found them, unless the Vet had better ideas of relocation. It will take a little work and some of your time but my guess is it will end up being very rewarding for you.

The problem with feeding them is that the food will also attract raccoon, skunks and more stray cats. Speaking from experience on this.

Jim

Be careful. I caught one and her kittens and now she's queen of the house. I just took her to get her nails done this afternoon. It was all drama for the queen.

Luckily we have a place called C-Snip in our town that will let you borrow their traps w/ a deposit, take the cat in the trap and fix them, then you return them to where you caught them. All for a very reasonable price.
And there is probably a law that you have to release them where they were caught and not dump them in other neighborhoods so they all don't end up on, say, Schmelby's back deck.

You'll know if they are already fixed if one of their ears is tipped.

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
Be careful. I caught one and her kittens and now she's queen of the house.

That seems to happen a lot with cats

I never had much use for them until my wife brought hers with her. It's not that I disliked them. Simply didn't care one way or the other.

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
You'll know if they are already fixed if one of their ears is tipped.

For catch-and-release cats. Not so much for pets that have been turned-out for whatever reasons.

I went from 1 cat to 13 cats in about 2 weeks, thanks to a couple of stray Mom cats. Since they arrived as kittens and were essentially feral, it took me an entire summer to tame them, get them into the vet and get them all snipped. My Vet cut me some slack, $$$ wise. I then began an adoption program that relocated cats all over town. I lost a couple in the process. Disappeared without a trace. Problems:
The post about feeding them and attracting other free food fans is right on. Only feed them when you are present so they associate dinner with you. Dont leave food out.
I came close to spending some cash on shelter to keep the crew out of the rain. But they liked to stay under some hollow concrete steps on my porch, so that worked out.
I wanted them to become indoor only cats but there was too damn many of them. As a result, half wanted to come inside and the other half wanted to go out. Drove me insane.
After my self imposed rescue plan wrapped up, the final tally was:
2 lost to mysterious circumstances.
3 volunteered to live my neighbors after I spent Vet $$ on them!
1 killed in traffic accident.
6 others adopted.
1 retained for personal ownership, mainly to remind myself never to do this again. And he turned out to be a PITA and loudly vocal. But otherwise a fine cat!
If you undertake a cat rescue plan, tread carefully. It will cost you. I would not have done this at all, but I did not want to watch them all starve.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
For catch-and-release cats. Not so much for pets that have been turned-out for whatever reasons.

Yes, thanks ensigmatic. I'm pretty sure that Momma Kiki also has a tattoo on her belly that will become apparent if she ever gets shaved for surgery again. I'm not sure if they do this for pets that are brought in. I've read it can be frustrating for the animal Dr.s who start the surgery only to find out the animal has already had it.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I would not have done this at all, but I did not want to watch them all starve.

You're a good man, YS

We now have 1.2 cats. The fractional cat is a fluffy orange outdoor cat that shows up in front of the house. It just sits quietly and stares in through the screen door until my wife puts some food out for it.

The black indoor territorial cat goes completely bonkers, growling at uninvited guest, probably saying the cat-talk equivalent of "If I had thumbs and could unlatch the screen door and get to you, I'd tear you a new one."

Racoons and other creatures? My wife puts food out for them in the back yard, then looks out at night to watch them feeding. Racoons and opossums at night, squirrels during the day.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Racoons and other creatures? My wife puts food out for them in the back yard, then looks out at night to watch them feeding. Racoons and opossums at night, squirrels during the day.

Ah yes. The sweet summer sound of racoons quarreling in the middle of the night while your windows are open. Few things make me want to step outside and go all My Cousin Vinny, firing away into the night.

quote:

The sweet summer sound of racoons quarreling in the middle of the night

Doesn't bother me at all. I remove my hearing aids before bed time.

We have a few.
My wife feeds them.

They belong to the neighbors, two different ones that have them but don't care for them at all.

One wound up with a giant oozing abscess on his neck and the "owner" did nothing about it.
We just made it vanish and they never even noticed.

Another neighbor works at the vet and got animal control to come out and take it to her clinic.
They fixed him up, gave him his shots and clipped his wings.
Last I heard he was adopted out.

One house is moving at then end of the month and I'm certain they are leaving their mangy cat behind.
Going to have to do the same thing with it but I don't think that one will be good adoption material, looks pretty sick and mostly feral.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

The sweet summer sound of racoons quarreling in the middle of the night

Doesn't bother me at all. I remove my hearing aids before bed time.

Ok, now that’s funny right there!!

We have more strays this year than in the past. My wife feeds the birds, and of course the squirrels show up. She also has a couple water pots which we've seen the cats drinking from. They all appear to be living in the woods behind our house but I've not seen a colony. We tolerate them until they move close to the house, then it's time for the water hose or a super soaker squirt gun.

I had a ton of raccoons eating the corn at my deer and turkey feeder. Then they came up onto the master bedroom deck and were helping themselves to the woodpecker suet feeder. I started live trapping them and moving them several miles down the road to a wooded creek bottom. I trapped so many i started spray painting their butts fluorescent orange to see if any of them were coming back. (they didn't)

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You could be kind and feed them. They won't go away after that, but if they're strays, where would they go anyway?

Do this: Imagine yourself as one of these animals. What would you want?

Every living thing is in the same boat. We're all mortal. What can we do about it, except make the best of it while we're here?

Feed them, take them to the vet and have them examined.

You asked

I should not have used the term stray. They look well fed and healthy.I'm sure they have a home
near me. I'll just welcome them as guests and leave them be.
Now if my boxer Shelby was still with, she would go nuts!