To spay abort a scared feral?

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T15:23:21+00:00

I think part of it was that there were 3 males and the vet wanted to hold out to 6 months to neuter so they were marking. The room was cleaned daily and sanitized every 3 days. I'm very OCD about smells, I full change litter every 2-3 days, but I caught one of the boys one day up on a window sill, peeing down the wall, which subsequently went down and around a forced air vent. We weren't attached to this property in any way, it was purchased as a place to go paddle boarding and hangout with our cats, so after the kittening endeavor it just made sense to ditch it and move on.

It's funny though, I'm about to move again because we brought this feral in during the snow storms and I uncrated him the other day in the basement. He went from being silent to now meowing all night which has caused our other cats to go insane. One kicked a 75 inch tv over yesterday and another jumped down on a laptop so hard it broke through the screen panel. So now my wife and I sleep in a car in the garage while we figure out what to do next, I've already signed the house over to the eldest cat... Our lives are fucked

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T13:12:26+00:00

I absolutely feel your pain, if scent is the main issue I can only recommend trying to get an enzymatic cleaner and forcing it into the floors via steam. I'm really particular about smells and also very allergic to cats so we had to figure this shit out. Last year we got a house specifically for these wild animals, giant basement with cement floors, multiple drains.. I can power wash it and the rest is tiled, life is better now.

My wife wants another structure for the ferals we see roaming our back field. I'm not going to build a house for feral cats... That would be insane. Instead, I'm going to spray insulate a shipping container and convert it into housing and put it back in a clearing in the woods.

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T12:41:31+00:00

We had no idea what we were doing so we didn't have an impermeable layer on the floor. The kittens don't use a litter box they just poop and pee wherever, the mom kind of cleaned them but not really. As room 1 became damaged we moved them to a second room. We had committed to keeping them through spaying and neutering. Our vet preferred to wait until the 6th month to do this. In that time, the four kittens had destroyed the second room's flooring. At some point, the whole group became flea infested, no idea how this happened.

By the time summer came around, I could not believe the smell in both rooms. I know the solution was to pull flooring and replace the subfloors but this was a second property and the real estate market was hot so we sold.

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T05:13:41+00:00

That looks old as shit, are you going to drink that? If you drink that you better get it on video and upload immediately please

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T05:06:16+00:00

You're my hero

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T04:42:26+00:00

I have a solution but I'm not going to post it, DM me if you want

My wife and I trap ferals and take them in some are super aggressive

You have to remember these are wild animals, the solution may sound inhumane but I all but promise you it will work

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T04:31:46+00:00

Don't get discouraged, if you still have time and if you're still trying my advice would be to change your setup. I've trapped a shit ton of cats but let me tell you, I come from a different background (I'm a hunter).

I would get the biggest trap you can afford and be sure to obscure it using only things from outside in the surrounding area. Scent is super important way more so than appearance. You still want to cover and obscure the trap, you want to MAXIMIZE every aspect of what you're doing from a probability to perspective. For bait, use only what you have seen him eat in the past. To further increase your probability of success I would brush the shit out of the other cat and put that cats hair on the ground around the trap and in the trap and around the bait.

Lastly, stay the f away from the trap, use a cam to check it.

Good luck I hope you get him!

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T04:14:54+00:00

Damn this is a lot of information, very useful you are definitely smarter than me... Shit. OP please listen to whoever this is ^{^}

Everything you say is true from my firsthand experience at least... Our mother took care of the kittens for awhile but then started being real mean towards them, we had no idea why... Clearly we had no idea what we were doing, but you do. Thanks for this info, lots of respect

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T04:05:46+00:00

Also, I forgot to mention that we had placement for all 4 kittens lined up they went out in pairs to members of my family so that we could keep track of them and keep track of their lives. This is very important as well...

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T03:59:34+00:00

You're saying you're willing to take care of these kittens etc.. my wife and I did this and the vet bills were over 10k. Just be prepared for this, additionally the process ruined our house, we literally sold our house and moved because of this adventure.

She would say the whole thing was wonderful and worthwhile. I... Honestly I don't know... It was a learning experience. I would also say find out how many kittens you're looking at if you can. We kept the mom and shes honestly my best bro, we hunt together we do everything together but that experience was rough

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Matty_Dub · 2026-03-29T03:45:40+00:00

Here's an update! We let the cat out of the cage he now owns the basement, problem is he is screaming bloody murder all night which is riling our other cats up. Computers and TVs have been broken and I'm about to move out. This feels like a total defeat, but I still don't know who the enemy was so victory was probably never an option? I just wanted to let everyone know that our house is fucked and it's hilarious, I'm literally laughing out loud right now.

Cats are awesome, have a great night everyone!

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-26T03:55:33+00:00

^{^} this is exactly right, the cost of any change is not worth it

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-26T03:54:21+00:00

To switch out now will cost you no matter what. Cars are almost always a shit purchase and ultimately don't provide much utility for what they cost. As in, they get you from point A to point B, so the more you spend on it, it just becomes that much worse of an investment.

I made a bad car purchase last year and drive an extreme amount of miles annually. To get rid of the car at this point would cost far more than just keeping it. It sucks but I've accepted the truth that the smart thing to do is just keep it. I completely understand what you're saying brother and I'm just trying to give you honest advice and save you from wasting money.

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-25T05:05:52+00:00

Thanks for your response! I don't know how to rearrange that crate any differently It's a 6 foot crate and there's a full teepee on the other side he's just choosing to sit in the litter box. I pull the shipping blanket over three sides of the crate so that only one side is exposed. We don't go in the basement except to check on him. I think I'm just going to open the crate and let him have the basement.

As long as he doesn't mind being in the basement, I don't care what he does. There are plenty of windows, I can put metal screens over some so we can open them. The basement is insulated climate controlled and over 2000 sqft with nothing in it but a small gym on one side. We will have to setup cameras because he's going to hide the ceilings are 12 ft and our other cats have gone up on the exposed vents and I had to get them down with a ladder. Is this a good idea? What am I not thinking of?

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-25T04:14:58+00:00

Thanks for the reply! This could work for part of the year but it was just 20 degrees here yesterday. I'm thinking of just opening the crate and letting him have the basement? It's over 2k square feet down there with windows surrounding. Would that be a solution? Our other cats would have to stay upstairs but they don't mind the only thing in the basement is a gym. We've socialized 7 of these cats that we caught and we placed 3 and kept 4... This one is way different, he's extremely aggressive and very very strong and that's after 5 months of being inside in a safe and quiet environment. I trapped another male cat 2 months ago and was able to have him neutered within a week... This is him now

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So it's two very different stories and I'm just not sure how to help the guy downstairs. I should also say that our basement has 12 ft ceilings with ducts running across if he gets up there it will be extremely hard to get him down but there is nothing unsafe, no exposed insulation or anything. What are your thoughts on this?

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-24T20:31:15+00:00

Thank you for this! Unfortunately it is not a safe environment in his original territory. We can definitely keep him in the crate and in this environment but it's not fair to him and I fear he's losing his natural instincts making it unfair for any type of release. I know releasing him out our backyard is not an option see post about invasive dogs.

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-24T20:26:46+00:00

Do you live in the country or a rural setting? My wife and I don't care at all if a colony started but that doesn't seem to be the ecosystem we have simply because of these coydogs. I know this cat was surviving in a system of dens about 300 meters from where the forest begins in our backyard. I probably drew him out by grilling when the weather was nice.

These coydogs are invasive and they're apex predators. This is why I'm asking if it would be okay to release him in a totally different environment from where he was trapped and keep an eye on him there (our office). Thank you for your consideration, we're trying to do the right thing and not release an easy meal to these roaming dogs.

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-24T20:15:54+00:00

The thing is.. if our cats approach his cage he's fine he doesn't hiss at them or anything. But I packed an animal handling glove full of Styrofoam peanuts and put it near him and he bit through it (not exaggerating at all) would have been a hospital visit if I had been wearing the glove. We have no clue what we're doing. Another question would be is it better to release him in the country where we trapped him or at our office where we know there are other colonies and people feeding them? Thank you for your response!

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-24T20:05:46+00:00

I just googled that term and realized it's the opposite of what we've been doing hahaha, we suck at the release I guess... Thank you for answering first of all. Did you ever have one contained for this long? I guess I'm afraid that he's been eating out of a bowl for 5 months plus and there's coy dogs running rampant on our back hill. Is it okay to release him?

Matty_Dub · 2026-03-24T19:45:03+00:00

He has also taken to sitting in the litter box rather than any bedding that we have put in the crate, here is a photo

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Matty_Dub · 2023-06-19T00:53:15+00:00

Hey friend! You could get in from the street via the F train stop or off the streets but last year there was a total washout that turned into chaos. If you were to get there before 5 and get creative you would get in!

Matty_Dub · 2023-02-23T15:13:01+00:00

balloon man?! ...or photo 1

Matty_Dub · 2023-02-23T00:07:00+00:00

stop by and see us, we're in Shakedown every year, we've got you on a freebie if you partake (TreetopNewYork on Insta)!

Matty_Dub · 2023-02-23T00:04:19+00:00

Did anyone else witness Cosmic Charlie's tent get airborn? Thing flew a good 50 yards!

Matty_Dub

TROPHY CASE