I had/have 5 cats. (All formerly strays.) This summer, 2 local strays gave birth near my house. I spent the summer trying to make friends with them and mostly succeeded with the exception of the one stray momma who will come up to the house for treats and food, but still doesn’t like me touching her. So now I guess I have 14 cats unofficially, and the resistant momma will make 15 if I emerge victorious. (Obviously I can’t take them all in to the house but I have a shed I can keep warm for them in the winter to make their lives a little easier.)
Now I’m saving extra money and me and my neighbor are chipping in together to get them all fixed. We’re probably going to have to trap “Smokey” (The one momma who still doesn’t quite trust me yet) to get her done while we try and find homes for all these adorable rodents. Not something I can really afford at the moment, but I’m still going to do as much as I can for them.
It sounds like we may have found a home or two for at least a few of them, so that’s a bonus at least.
Depending on where you live many municipality’s or rescue agencies will spay and neuter strays for free. Maybe worth calling around and finding out if a program like that exists near you.
Ya they don’t do that here. The only option is they’d come and pick them up and euthanize them. I’ve been calling around the last while trying out my options. One vet clinic around 30km away does have a “family” deal for litters which knocks a bit off the price at least, so that looks like the route we’re going to take. Otherwise it’s $120 for males, and $200 for females.