Stray Cat Help

Hi
Im sure we’ve discussed this before, but does the Mairie not have some responsibility for dealing with stray cats? We have been adopted by a local tom who has no collar or ear tattoo and are starting to think that our “outside cat” should come inside. We paid for our last visiting cat to be neutered and innoculated as there was talk of him being shot! We now have a new Maire and I’m hoping he might know of some fund which the Commune can access to pay for neutering at least. Does anyone know who could help ?
Thanks
F

You might find some useful info on this page,

https://chatsduquercy.fr/ngg_tag/de-lassociation/

The SPA have regional budgets for spaying, but often used up very quickly. Phone your local one and ask.

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Absolutely the best place to start, but, although you don’t mention your region, maybe Association Phoenix in the Dordogne as well.

We have considerable experience of this. It is the law that the commune must catch, sterilise and have either a chip or tattoo number then replace them where they were caught. It is also the law they must be fed. It is against the law to shoot poison or any other way kill them. A lot of communes are reluctant or refuse to do it, ours included. Contact the larger charities like the Bridget Bardot one and report your commune. They will remind them of the law. If the commune is still slow they and only they, the larger charities, can prosecute the commune. That is happening to ours. If the commune applies to a charity for say20 cats to be done. The commune must get a quote from the vet the price of a male and female cat. They ask the Charity who will say how many they can help with but the commune has to pay half the cost. Over the years we have paid for a large number and have just had a further 8 done. We are lucky the Vet gives us a special price. We currently have 33 domesticated wild cats and a number of others that visit.

How in heavens’ name did you persiade your maire to do this? Ours is not interested at all and says there are more important thimgs to spend money one.

We contacted the Bridgite Bardot organisation who then emailed and phoned the Maire a few years ago and we got 1 year of 10 cats and last year 12 cats. This year,2022, no cats planned. We have been in close contact with the Charity and they have put our village alongside I think 3 others in the locale to be prosecuted. At the moment the village is unaware of what is going on in the background. I forgot to add that sometimes the charity will pay the cost in full. We know of other places here that have embraced the law and dealt with the problem.

That is really useful information, David, I had no idea but am now well armed if I am ever in such a position. Thank you. :slightly_smiling_face:

30,000,000 d’amis is the specific name of the charity. You can retrieve a copy of the law from their site to show the Maire if needed.

I know of that charity well, they were/are a major supporter of Phoenix, delivering animal food to their small storage place from time to time. They used to have a tv programme too, anyone know if it is still running, and on which channel?

Hi, l have a feral male cat that turned up in our garden nine years ago. He was very fierce and wouldn’t come near us. I sought advice from a cat charity which had limited funding for castration and vaccinations, they were very helpful and suggested the Mairie. The Mairie and the Vet said that if he was residing in our garden and we were feeding him, then he was our responsibility to both castrate him and chip him. The cat charity kindly lent us a cage with an automatic trapping door, and off he went to the Vets. I had explained we was too feral to touch - in fact it took three years before l could stroke him - and after they saw how wild he was in the trap they anesthetized him, castrated him, vaccinated him, gave him a general examination and even cleaned his teeth at ten percent discount, but still expensive for a cat l wouldn’t have personally chosen. I stay in touch with the cat charity and when l see what little funding they have and the number of animals they rescue and foster out year in and out l realized that we really as cat lovers needed to help this cat ourselves. He still lives with us, is still very nervous, lives in a heated kennel outside our back door and now l love him dearly, and for those interested in finances he costs us about 600 Euros a year including medical bills. The only discount l ever get at the vets is 10 per cent off special anxiety biscuits for him.

We had this with the 5 feral cats we inherited with the farm plus the 4 kittens that appeared later on, all now neutered, chipped and vaccinated.
The vet gave us a discount as he knew we were really helping them out, now a year later we have nine happy content cats.
We virtually never have any problems with them, but two of the males just about tolerate one another and Montie lives most of the time in his own room with a bed couch, sleeping blanket and cat door :relaxed::laughing:
It has been expensive between vets fee’s and house sitter costs when we go away, probably the thick end of €2k + food, but it has been really worth it.

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It’s very heart warming to know there are so many people who are prepared to spend the time and money on these cats. Most of the cats we have suffer from one ailment or another. We have the whole range of disabilities from 3 legs no tail blindness. On average here a village cat lives for only 4 or 5 years and an inherited ailment gets them. Of course we have a few much older. Then there are those that just disappear. Not too many run over. We were allowed to put up this sign at each end of the village.

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