A word of caution for anyone dealing with Feral Cats. THEY CAN KILL YOU!!!!

I may have told this story before, but it bears repeating since we have some new posts on feral cats.

I received a call from a man who wanted me to pick up a feral cat his mother had allowed in the house. He had it contained and asked if I would remove it and transport it to its final destination. I accepted the job.

When I got there he had it in a large commercial fiberglass dog cage that was HEAVY. I was going to use a catch pole and remove the cat to place it in a smaller transfer cage. The client freaked out!!! He said no way was I to open the door on that cage because that cat had killed his mother. Naturally I had to get the rest of the story.

Turns out the cat had scratched his elderly mother. She got a bacterial infection, cat scratch fever, and had been hospitalized and did not recover. He too had been scratched, leading to kidney failure and was now on dialysis awaiting a kidney transplant.

Needless to say, I discovered a new found strength and was able to get that huge heavy cage in my truck without risking an escape of the murderous animal.

So there you have it, death by feral cat. Use extreme caution when handling these animals.

That story would sure help in the debate against TNR!

Would expect that would have made the news! Folks don't
realize how many things can kill you if they get into your system.

Thanks for sharing!

Justin

Thanks for posting that Dirk.

Feral cats are a plague in this country and really need to be controlled. Ironically, they are also a benefit in that they substantially reduce the rodent population which carries as many diseases as the cats.

I do feral cat jobs and one thing I've noticed is about six to eight weeks after clearing out a colony of cats I'm called to get rid of rodents. Anything from mice to chipmunks to rats. The rodents multiply fast.



It's my opinion that you should NEVER handle them.

I got scratched by a feral cat when we first started in business. No noticeable physical problems but as you can see by my postings,

the mental issue looms large as well!

Not just feral cats. My dad was scratched by his own pet cat on his knee and caused him to fall. Within hours he was limping and in pain. He thought it was from the fall, so we iced and elevated it. At the 24 hour mark the pain was getting progressively worse and he couldn't lean on the leg without severe pain. At the 36 hour mark he could barely walk and we could see it wasn't going to get any better, so we took him to the emergency room. Turned out not to be fall related, but infection from the cat scratch. Heavy antibiotics and several weeks of recovery were needed to get him back to full health. Cats are evil.

My dad was in the hospital for over a week in bad condition, with an unknown infection. Finally one of the doctors found a mark on his leg and asked about it. His own cat had bitten him. They then put him on a different antibiotic and he started to come around.

\

i agree with ya Paul LOL

oh but dirk didnt the state of ohio change the law saying that cats in ohio are no longer feral but human companions now and have some kind of protection ? lol