Cat Behavior - Multi cat household

Question
Dear Tina,

I have adopted many strays (16!) and neutered all of them. All live both indoors and outdoors and had already reached sexual maturity by the time I found them. I have a problem with two males. The older one (in the sense that he was adopted before the other one) is jealous of the last newcomer. He turns away immediately and avoids him. The newcomer went away 5 days ago. I'm hoping nothing has happened to him and that he will be back. The question is, do neutered males still roam? He has been with me for 16 months and had a habit of going off into the environs but was always back at nighttime.

I live in Greece and unfortunately there are people around who poison animals. How likely are well-fed cats to eat poisoned food? Aren't cats generally fastidious in their eating habits unless they are starving? Or can they be easily tricked? Are rodent poisons odorless and tasteless?

I'm throwing a lot at you here and I apologize for this lengthy note. I took the liberty of contacting you because of your great profile. Any thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Niki

Answer
Hi Niki,

Good work you are doing, I know there are a lot of problems for feral cats in Greece and that many people don't like them. Unfortuantely there are people who hate cats all over the world, but some cultures certainly perpetrate that hatred more than others. Thank goodness there are some people like you helping to spay and neuter and feed the cats to help reduce the suffering!

Neutered males do still roam sometimes, but usually not as much as tom cats. If this cat is known for adventures he may have gone off exploring. He also may have been chased by a dog or had some other experience that drive him far from his normal territory and he's trying to get back. He could even be lost or unfortunately he could be dead. All you can do is continue leaving food for him in the hopes he will return to where he knows he can get a meal, and watch for him. If he is partly tame (comes to you for the food) try walking around calling for him as you do when you put out food. If he's injured and in hiding he may make a noise for you. I know it is terrible to think of what could have happened to him, but you have to think about all the good you have doen these cats and if it were not for you they would have no chance at all. If something bad has happened, at least he did know a person who cared and helped him during his life.

Unfortunately most poisons are very hard to detect by smell or taste- otherwise the rats would not eat them either. People who poison animals are very cruel, poison is a terrible way to die and I hope that this is not what has happened to your cat. People here have poisoned cats I have cared for in apartment complexes. The feral cats even when they are well fed have learned to eat any food they can get so they will eat this extra treat. The poisoners killed several kittens this way and it was terrible when we foudn them the siblings were curled around the dead kittens protecting them and hissed at us when he approached. Luckily we think we know who was doing it (although the police wouldn't help) and he was hated enough in the area to feel pressured to move to another apartment building - one that has no cats for him to poison.

There is not much you can do to prevent your cats from eating poisoned food left by others, all you can hope to do is raise awareness in your area. If you talk to some of the locals you may be able to convince them to let you handle the stray "problem" in a more humane way. If you talk to them about how you are reducing the number of cats by having them spayed and neutered and that cats are territorial - so by having a few spayed/neutered cats around they will keep away new cats from other areas - you may be able to convince a number of people to leave the cats to you. Read the resources linked at our website
http://catnet.stanford.edu/resources.html and use these articles in your arguments.

I hope that your newcomer comes home soon safe and sound. Keep up the good work and best wishes to you and your cats!

-Tina