Of course I miss MT. Its so cold here. I have only lived here two months though, so maybe I should wait out the winter. The scenery is awesome, Unity is a small farming community, mostly redneck republicans, so I don't have to work too hard for a hunting spot. Sorry for the connotation but thats the best thing I could relate it too.

My brother said it was like 80 degrees out west, I miss the desert, it rains too much here, my poor old truck (79) is rusting out from underneath me.

 

Spend a couple of bucks at your local humane soceity for the rental of a trap, we caught two feral cats in a trap at one time 7 years ago, and now they sleep with us every night, please take the cat to a vet for help, don't just take the easy way out in shooting it, thats a chicken crap way out, god put that cat where he did for a reason, and also put you where he did as well, so do the right thing!

 

Well if it is suffering badly and it doesn't look good for his chance of survival, then putting him out of his misery isn't cruel or chicken crap in my opinion. You could try to save every wounded sick lame abandoned animal and end up with 200 cats living in your house and dying of too much cat hair in your lungs. Let common sense prevail, but remember that having to play God is never easy. If it is I would be worried about you.

 

Give it to mulitpierce...

 

I vote to do the little fluffball, I am also owned by two cats and can't bear them suffering (obviously I feel the same about humans). The aspirin idea is well intentioned, but my vet told me some years ago that cats can't handle aspirin. Aspirin also is an anticoagulant, that is it breaks up blood clots. The little rascal has some clots around the break, if that is what it is. Breaking them up may have some very unpleasant consequences, like making him bleed to death. If you can't afford the vet, plan to shoot him, and do it soon. It hurts you worse the longer you wait.
God bless

 

From my experience on the farm:

If a stray would come onto our property it would usually try to beat the heck out of our well taken care of cats. Even though it would seem a bit inhumane, we would dispose of the cat. This, of course, would be after we had confirmation that it was not a neighbors'. We didn't need anyone bringing in disease to our healthy cats. For a couple of years we had a lot of idiots dumping cats near our place. Yeah, just make it someone else's problem. Idiots.

Another situation came around with kittens. We controlled it by nuetering our males. Every year or other year (depended on the situation) we would find a healthy male of the proper breed and let him do his thing. This wasn't just go to the shelter and pick one. We were pretty thorough with which one we found and we usually got it from someone who was giving one away. With kittens: We would keep the one's we wanted. After that we asked around for anyone who wanted any. If there was an excess number of kittens (meaning way too many), the extras would be disposed of. I don't really know if it is a humane thing to do or not, but the death was always quick.

We usually kept 11 or 12 at one time on the farm. All were well taken care of and healthy. Spoiled more than the normal cat, but hey, we love cats. We would get comments (and I still do with my cat in the apartment) about their large size. One person actually came in our yard and thought that there were a bunch of dogs in front of the house. All the cats helped control the mice, which was nice since we stored hay bales on the property.

Too add: If a cat was really ill (not going to recover) or if a cat was hit by the machinery (sickle mower) they would be disposed of. No use in making them suffer more than they had too.

 

Trap this animal and take it to the local animal shelter and let them handle it.
Wild or not, I'd bet it's illegal to shoot or harm this animal intentionally.

 

I had barn cats and didn't have any problems with them except the flea got so bad that I had to spray everywhere. Fortunately or unfortunately the coyotes nailed them. Now I don't have the flea problem but the mice are making their way back. I put traps and "Decon" poison out. Seems to be doing the trick. I also read that anitfreeze will attract mice, they drink it and die. Anyone know if that really works?

 

I know it works on dogs. My dad's best friend's dog died that way. That was about 15 years ago.

 

Let me tell you a couple little stories about a man who is probably crazy where cats are concerned.

A number of years back I was arriving home one evening.... I whipped around the corner and another quick right into my driveway. Well, there was this old stray cat sitting in the middle of the road..just past my driveway. Not sure if he was trying to get run over or what. He'd been in our neighborhood for a number of years, but I hadn't seen him for a while before that night.

I got out of my truck and looked at him, he in turn looking back at me. I said," You hungry?". "Meow!" " Well, get over here then!" He ran over to me and followed me to my door. I went in and got a big handful of kitty crunchies and gave them to him. Boy was he a scruffy little devil. I noticed his right front arm was atrophied up against his chest, but it was kinda hanging floppy like, so I looked a bit closer and saw that it was torn open and infected badly. Well, this guy had been around the block a few times and he was a survivor. And he had a pretty cool personality too, for a stray.

Well, I was in a quandary for sure. I was unemployed and the only money I was expecting for a while was my tax return. And it wasn't a very big one, either. I called a local vet and told him about the cat and he said bring him in and he'd take a look at him.

He told me that about the only two options were to remove the right front shoulder and arm or to put him to sleep. I couldn't see putting him to sleep.. he'd won my heart already. So I told the vet to do his magic and if he'd take a couple payments then lets save this guys life.

A few days later I went and picked him up. Took him home and put him in a shed, fed him mass quantities of the cheapest cat food I could find. There was an opening along the top wall of the shed and an easy climb for him to get out when he was ready. About a week later, I came out of the house and he was sitting there, by my door, waiting for some breakfast.

This cat was my outside cat for another 7 years. He was the "**** of the walk" in the neighborhood. Any other strays wandered into the yard, he'd have em treed in no time at all. Unfortunately, as with most outdoor cats that fight here and there, he ended up with feline leukemia and we finally had to have him put down.

The other story is about my Siamese cat. She was with me for 22 years before I had to have her put to rest. I was gone for a week on a job and I came home to find her with a broken front leg. The wife said she didn't know what had happened. I was heart broken. I took her to the vet and at her age, surgery was not much of an option. The vet, who I still use to this day for my herd of pets, told me that she would survive quite well and would adapt to using only three legs... which I already knew anyway.. from Tripod, the stray. He told me to give her a half of a children's aspirin once or twice a day to help with the pain. She was with me for another 6 years before her internal organs started giving out on her and I finally had to take her on her last trip to the vet.

The point of my stories is this. Your grandfather was a wise old man. And it sounds like he had a pretty big heart. Follow in his footsteps. The cat will survive, probably even if you don't take it to the vet. Myself, I'd go the vet route. But then again.... where cats or dogs are concerned, I'm kinda nuts.

I wish you luck and wisdom in your choice.

 

Ya' know, after readin' that, I retract my earlier wisdom. Trap the little devil,NOW! and haul his young butt to your vet.

Fordlover, ya' touched my heart

 

Some of the coolest cats are the strays.
Years ago my best friend and I shared a house. I had the basement apartment. We had seen this scroungy old cat around a few times, he was really snakey and he had lost one ear. I came home one night and he was in my apartment. I opened the door but had quite a time getting him out because he didn't know he had to go up the stairs. I wondered how he was getting in and then one evening I was watching TV and he bumped the window open with his head and just hopped down onto the TV. I chased him out again but now he was coming around more and getting in the garbage. It was getting spring and one day my room mate had his back door open and when he came into the kitchen the cat was on the counter eating on a ham. He drug the ham off the counter and tried to get off with it. We started putting out food and after a few weeks started winning his confidence and soon had him tamed and living in the house."Ralph" ended up being the coolest cat ever and had a great personality. He never did get over a few of his wild habits. He would always turn the dish over with any uneaten food and paw the rug over it. The last time I was at my friends a few years ago, he still had Ralph after 18 years.

 

Ya gotta love a surviver!

 

I have one now greywolf. My wife loves him too but begged me to have him put down a couple years or so ago. He just wandered in and set on the porch looking like he could just die any minute. He came out of it finally then came home with a huge gash that took a year or so to heal up. After about 5 or 6 close calls with death He has earned my respect as a survivor and can set on my porch and get his can of cat food for as long as he wants,

 

Our cat was allergic to cats, or so it seemed. She was the scrawniest sickliest one of the bunch. We kept her because we felt sorry for her and thought she wouldn't make it. She lived for 19 years.

Take care of the kitten if you can. The previous mentioned humane traps are a good idea, you can rent them somewhere. Have the vet give it a rabies and leukemia shot while you're there and see what happens. Good luck!