Thread: is it a bad idea to feed a stray?

Well its too late not to feed him. I wouldnt leave anything out for him for two reasons, the first is to keep another animals away, the second is so that he will do his job as a cat and keep the rodents away. Feed him 2-3 times a week and dont over do it. Keep it a working relationship, enjoy each other but respect the boundaries.

I wouldn't have any expectations of a large feral cat "playing nice" with your house cats but I may be wrong.

we nurture cats and have had people drop them off after finding them in the street,(Matilda, still with us) once we answered a call in the newspaper to give a home to a cat which was found in a gasoline soaked burlap bag (Nicki, who didn't get along with our other resident cats and we eventually gave her to a new home), Oswald, who my wife found in a barrel full of water with two drowned siblings. he still comes around but we think he is partly feral, though she has coaxed him into the house recently because it's been so cold, and here's the point of all this. if i were you, i would be feeding that cat and watching out for him. But if he's a male and not neutered, you get him in the house and he's gonna spray and stink the joint up. that's my only problem with all the cats that have come through our life over the last 23 years.

thank you all for your advice.. i'm going to go ahead and not leave food out.. i will not invite him into our house.. however.. if i see him out there.. i'll go ahead and give him a handful of food.. it's pobably a food idea to have him out there to keep the other animals away.

Each winter I end up with a new cat on the porch... Nature usually does it's own thing...

For the BIG one... 1-3 times a week for food would be good... Just maybe not on the porch... If he wants to visit, he'll do it on his own terms...

If you do feed on the porch, you're inviting coon's and other critters on the porch... I know first hand...

Coon's like to fight and they will run the cat off to finish dinner...

Hey Victor,

That sounds like a good plan. The see-food diet--if you see him, you give him food. Being well fed won't keep him from thinning your rodent herd; cats can't not-hunt. May as well keep him healthy, and maybe he'll turn out to be friendly. You can have a smoking chum out on the deck.

A neighbor in that campground where I fed cats had a relationship with the local animal shelter, and together we found homes for 9 cats--I placed 4 directly, after screening them for litterbox use (at some risk to my camper) and companionability. The core of the community was a litter of 4 kittens born feral. Two of them became quite human-friendly, and the wilder ones, their mother, and their aunt went to ranch families who needed mousers and were known to treat them well. The father was too canny to go for live traps, and the grandfather's life, when it's made into a movie, will start Anthony Hopkins in his grittiest, most frightening role ever. Now THERE was one scary mean old bastard of a cat! It would have happily eaten my liver, and f*** the chianti and fava beans.

Good luck with this big guy. Let us know how you two get on.

Best wishes

i'll get photos as soon as i can.

I don't live in the redwood forests of northern CA, but I do live in the pinewood forests of northern MN.

If I had that situation I would shoot the cat immediately.
But, that's mostly because I don't like cats.

Seriously, I don't think it's that big of a deal one way or the other. If you like him, feed him and he'll stick around.

one of my concerns is.. i have two kittens i recently adopted.. they are both spayed and neutered.. but they don't really know how to behave.... they have no fear of outside and no fear of anything.. the last thing i need is another cat to destroy whatever structure i have in place.

Sounds like your putting the horse before the cart though Vic.You don't know if he belongs to someone or if he is a stray.all you know so far is he's big,he hasn't attacked anything and you stated fear of him when he has done nothing aggressive except look big.I have seen some pretty big house cats in my time so size means nothing to me.In fact he slept on your porch while you were there having a smoke.Hardley seems aggressive to me.Just stop reacting and take it as it comes,watch and learn.He's not going to come in the night and eat your face off.As for the kittens keep,em indoors for now if you're worried about'em.And most important off all...Have you thought about calling the SPCA? They will know what to do ferrel or no.You're jumping to an awful lot of conclusions when he's done nothing but be chill.You don't need to shoot him or fear him or anything.Lets not be rash eh.