As you may know by now, I’m pretty passionate about caring for feral cats. It kind of happened slowly. When we moved into this house, my neighbor was caring for a group of ferals. We weren’t really in a position to do much for them back then, but as time went on, we started feeding them too. They pretty much moved into my front yard. Still, they were just kind of there. It wasn’t until last year that I really got crazy about them, mostly because of a friendly guy we call “Monkey.”
I’m not going to give you the long story of how I came to love my ferals, I’ve written about them before numerous times. In fact, if you check out my post on caring for a feral that you’re planning to adopt, you’ll see more of their story. Instead, today, we’re going to talk a bit about keeping those friendly ferals safe during the summer!
Summer Safety Tips for Feral Cats
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I’ll say this up front, summer is a lot easier on the feral cat population than winter! We had to be really clever and creative to keep our friendly ferals warm and alive last winter. This winter wasn’t so awful, but there were still some bitter cold days. Still, there are a few things you can do to make summer easier on your ferals and also keep your family safer, especially if you’re feeding the kitties close to your house.
Keep them Hydrated
Water is vital to every living creature, including your feral cats. Did you know that most cats get their water from their diet? During the blazing hot summer months, considering offering your ferals wet food instead of (or along with) dry kibble. We fill a bowl with kibble for our guys, but we also give them wet food at night for dinner.
While they do prefer to get much of their water from food sources, it’s still important to make sure they have a clean source of water to drink from when they can’t get their fill from fresh food. This can be as simple as a big bowl that you replenish regularly or a self-filling pet water bowl.
This one is kind of cool because it attaches to your hose. Although if you have a well or pay for water, that could also be a problem. I’ve left my hose running and my ferals put a whole in it. I didn’t realize until my water ran brown because it hit the end of the well. Another option is one that you fill up and it refills itself until the big jug runs out.
Just make sure you dump and refresh it regularly, stagnant water is a magnet for mosquitoes. You can also create some sort of rain collector that your ferals can drink from. I’ve never tried this, but I think I will this summer.
Practice food safety
Here’s kind of a catch 22- while it’s better to feed your feral cats wet food during the summer months, it’s also more dangerous in a way. Wet food gets really gross and rotten pretty fast out in the blazing heat. You know what that means, right? Bugs. Disease-carrying mosquitoes, flies and other nasties. So you need to make sure that you’re on top of it, taking it away when they’re done. Otherwise, you’re inviting plague-carriers to your front door. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but trust me, I’ve seen what happens when you leave wet food out too long!
They actually make ant-proof cat bowls, so you might want to look into those if you have an ant issue in your area. Those won’t keep flying bugs out though. Of course, you can avoid more bugs by opting for dry food, but I strongly feel that wet food is better for cats overall, so I think it’s worth the extra effort.
Give them shelter
During the winter, we make cat shelters out of old coolers, blankets and other materials. The problem: we designed them to retain heat. During the summer, you don’t have to go quite as crazy making awesome shelters for your ferals. They’re not fighting to survive frigid nights anymore. Still, it’s nice to have a place to go to get out of the rain or the blazing sun.
You can go as simple or as elaborate as you’d like with outdoor cat shelters for the summer. One very simple option: take an old playhouse that your kids are done with and move it to an area accessible by your ferals. If you don’t have a playhouse (or don’t want a giant Little Tikes manor in your front yard), you can also make shelters out of dog crates and tarp. Just secure the tarp to the top of the crate so it can’t blow away. Outdoor kitty condos, like those from PetMate, are a decent option for one or two ferals, but the cost of buying multiple condos for multiple kitties can get overwhelming really fast. Alley Cat Allies has a bunch of other great ideas for feral cat shelters for summer.
Respect the Mamas
Summer is prime time for babies to appear on the scene, and it’s super tempting to snag and cuddle them. Unless you have a solid plan to capture mama and all her kittens AND find them a place to live, though, stay away from those babies. Make sure your kids know that they’re not to touch the kittens, either. You’ll freak the mama cat out and she’ll end up moving her young kittens far, far away from you. I accidentally discovered a mama cat’s hiding spot once, then watched as she insisted on moving every last baby in the pouring rain.
There are exceptions. Fuzz was a feral and his mom was pretty relaxed about leaving her kids on our front stoop while she hunted. Sadly, she was killed, which is part of how Fuzz ended up inside with us. I know my ferals, though. I know which ones are happy to be pet and which want me to stay at least 10 feet away at all times. I don’t push it. Pushing it is a good way to get bit or scratched.
Caring for feral cats during the summer is definitely easier than doing it during the winter. I still worry about my guys getting eaten by predators, but at least I know they’re not at risk of freezing to death anymore! I’m not an expert on feral cat care, but these summer safety tips have worked well for me the past few years. I am always learning more and will pass on any new tips that I learn. If you have any advice, I’d love to hear it!
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Have you ever cared for feral cats? Tell me your tips for keeping them healthy during the summer!
Hydration is definitely important during the summer. Glad to see that people care!
I’m taking care of a female feral I named Monkey, got her name when I saw her run up a tree! I’m just suggesting a way to keep wet food from spoiling in summer. Place ice in a bowl then place another bowl with food in the ice. It may possibly help a lil while longer in heat.
What a beautiful cat. There is so much to think about with feral cats. Hydration is big for all animals in the hotter months.
There is a feral in our neighborhood and I don’t want her anywhere near our house. I was actually looking into ways to keep her out.
Why do you do the right thing then? Bring her to a recuse shelter or one of many ways to help. You keeping her away does nothing and only contributes to the norm in society of pushing problems away instead of helping the greater good. I hope you act with kindness with peace of love.
Amen. I am going to be very careful with my words I am getting the same reaction from the people, I have been living next door to or across the street from for years. What the heck is so terrible about a freaking wild cat that IS .. I am Stressing the Term, Wild, meaning never been around the Human .BORN in the WILD and LIVE in The WILD . I am wondering what is the problem with being a humane and compassionate Human Being, I care about Anything and Everything that is Breathing. I am sick of the Hate and The Illwll of People that don’t live out in the WILD
I have never cared for feral cats, but reading your post reminded me of the comedian and podcaster Marc Maron. He is a huge cat lover and constantly talks about caring for feral cats, one of which is also named Monkey.
My husband and I (mostly him) care for the feral cats in our neighborhood. We have spayed or neutered over 40 cats in the last year! We actually have 3 cats that we moved indoors last summer because they were abandoned by their mother when they were very young. They are (almost) tame now. You are a woman after my own heart. <3
Aww, these are really good tips. I don’t normally see any feral cats around the area but I’ll be helping them if I see them!
It’s always nice to help out, especially the animals that have nowhere else to go. I love the tips, it’s important to keep them hydrated and well fed!
You’re such an amazing person for devoting so much time to these animals in need! My husband is a mechanic for a garbage company and they have lots of feral cats that they take care of by giving htem food and water.
It’s so nice that you take care of feral kitties. Thanks for sharing these tips.
I really love the hose fed outdoor bowl concept for feral cats! Our feline is indoor and spoiled, but I often wonder how I can care for the other cats in the neighborhood too.
We have some ferals that have shown up and one has kittens. You are right, it is SO HARD not to try to cuddle them. I love your tips and am going to put some water out too with a dispenser. We put food out the other day.
Great, life saving tips. Thanks for sharing this info. Really helpful and useful.
I know someone who takes care of the ferals too. You’re right, it’s much harder in the winter.
Feral cats are like people too it need to keep them hydrated and I love helping the feral cats around in our place.
It’s great that you take care of all of those cats! Keeping them safe from the heat is very important.
Its really awesome that you make sure the feral cats are taken care of. A lot of people don’t 🙁
This was a great post. All the information is so important. Thanks for putting it out there.
I volunteer with Isle of Wight County Human Society in Virginia (not shelter, we are a 501c3). I have 3 feral cat colonies. I use Apple Cider (AC) Vinegar in their water. One gallon of water with 2 tsp (teaspoons) of AC Vinegar. With the outside water bowls, the AC vinegar keeps mosquitos from laying their eggs in the water, plus it is great for teeth, coat, digestion. Great for all animals.
One tip I’ve read is to fill a plastic bottle or a gallon jug with water, then freeze it. Put the frozen bottle where the cats hang out, like behind the bushes the bottle will act as an out door air conditioner!. But remember that water expands when you freeze it so leave a little space at the top of the bottle so it won’t explode in your freezer. As the bottle sweats cats lick the condensation off the bottle. they get cool and hydrated. GENIUS!
So glad none of you live in my neighborhood. Most people want to keep cats OUT of their yards. People feeding and caring for them makes it hard on people who don’t want disgusting cats pooping in their yard.
So glad mean people like you are so few in mine. You really just visited this site to leave that remark? Go do something meaningful with your life instead of trying to spread hate and meaness.
“You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.”
― Paul McCartney
Then why are did you take time out to read this just to be rude? That’s what wrong with this world today people that show nothing but rude or hatefulness why not just keep to yourself and stay off sites like this one trust me your hatefullness and uglyness isn’t something any of us would miss.
Hello I know all this was written in 2016 but I really wanted to ask what to do. Behind my privacy fence is trees and wild brushes not easy accessible for me . There is a feral momma and four kittens that I seen .Momma cat sees me through the fence and eats the food. I just don’t know what to do I worry about them and what life they will have and feel sad . Should I leave them alone and just be ? It would be so hard to trap four kittens and mommy. I really don’t know what to do. I wish someone could help me
This reply is too late for you. But having a hav-a-hart trap so you can catch mama and get her spayed would have been a really good idea and to rescue the kittens at about 5-6 weeks old when they’re still small and curious and you can feed them kitten formula and kitten food and socialize them for adoption. You can buy the trap at your local feed store.
Florida is hot and buggy most of the year. To stop ants from getting into dry food left out longer than 30 minutes, put a low profile ceramic dog food dish into an aluminum pie plate filled with water. Ants won’t cross water and the weight of the ceramic dog food dish keeps it anchored in place. Also put all food in a shady place.
If you DIY a cat shelter in the warm months of the year, be sure there are cross ventilation port holes for the air to circulate. I live it Florida, it gets really hot here 10 months of the year at least. I cut a door plus three small port holes on each side of a large storage bin then I covered the port holes with a piece of plastic screening. I taped the edges of the screening on with duct tape on the inside of the bin. You could glue the screen also if you want to spend the time. Be sure the port holes are small – 3-4 inches in diameter so rain doesn’t blow into the bin. I cover my bins with a sheet of marine plywood to act as a roof with an overhang on all sides. Anything flat and larger than the size of the bin will work as well.The cats perch on the top and then get inside if the weather turns stormy.