Suitable food for a feral cat

[Chocolate]

Hope this is the right thread for this question! We were adopted by a small feral female cat a few weeks ago, have had her neutered and want to care for her as well as possible. Our neighbours, (elderly French couple) to their credit , and at their cost, have done the same for four (!) feral kittens who adopted them. With any luck this will help to prevent an unwanted feral cat explosion. She is probably no more than 6 months old, but small so it is difficult to assess her. (We have two indoor cats and so do not feel we can compromise their health with the introduction of a feral cat into the house who might carry disease.) She is very clean in the garden and covers up her loo carefully each time and has used the litter tray we provided on some occasions. On others.... well she is wild so we forgive her.

Having taken a window out in the garage and installed a cat-flap, which she will only use if propped permanently open, we are trying to get her to sleep in the garage. Unfortunately there seems to have been a battle with another cat on the garage floor and much fur and poo was left lying around. This has set back her confidence in using the shelter the garage provides and we are sure she is sleeping outside. The overnight temperatures are, at the moment, -4degrees so we are very concerned.

My question is......how can we give her the correct food to build up protective body fat and to support her growth. We have been feeding a complete tin of Wh........s Junior cat food a day and as much in the way of kitten Fr...ies croquettes as we can stuff into her. She calls for food twice a day. All dishes are removed as soon as she has finished to try to prevent another battle with any other cats. Are we feeding her correctly anyone please? She needs heavier duty food to that which we feed our two indoor cats but we are not certain how much or what.

Thanks for any help and advice.

[louis]

We have a 2 year old feral cat that lives in our garage, we to give her food twice a day which consists of tinned food and croquettes and she seems fine on that.  She is a good weight and has a lovely glossy fur coat, so I think what you are feeding your cat is appropriate.

Good luck with her.

 

[Chezstevens]

2 days ago I caught a feral cat in a trap set for an animal that had killed 2 chickens in our enclosed chicken/duck/pintarde/goose run.  I have given this cat the benefit of the doubt and let it free - it scampered off across to fields.

If it is caught again it will have a 20 mile journey to trouble somebody else.

[Chocolate]

Thank you Louis for your reply. Sounds hopeful judging by your experience and your healthy feral cat. It does look as if we are perhaps on the right track.

And congratulations on your first post!  [:D]

[Suninfrance]

ooooh Chezstevens - that's a bit harsh isn't it.

Perhaps you should try and make your enclosure a bit more secure to stop said animal getting in.  It may not have been the cat that killed your chickens - more likely a fox.  It was probably unfortunate that the cat was in the wrong place at the wrong time, so please don't take it out of it's territory.

[Chezstevens]

I understand your thoughts but having spent a considerable sum to have 1/5 of an acre secured with 1.5m fencing I look upon all predators of our birds as a pain (Feed is expensive and they are raised to be eaten by us not as freebies to pests) - I suggest transporting (not to the colonies), rather than drowning (which is practised by some rural folk), is preferable.