Stray CAT heaven!

Ive been at my new property for a few weeks now...how I feel about it I will post in another thread. Getting to it..my property has at least 3 dozen stray cats terrorizing residents, birds, and my gardens . Animal control will not pick up cats in San Antonio. One place told me to catch them in cages and they'd come get them. We have officially caught "one" kitten! I want to scream! There's urine and crap all in my sand volleyball court every morning, so it has become a huge disgusting litter box. I NEED HELP!!!! I just want to turn some big junkyard dog loose and go to lunch. But seriously, what are my options here?? Who else can I try calling other than Animal Control and the Feline Feral whatever??

I have the same problem both at home and at work. Although I work with a rescue we can not take in the cats because there's just no room. Same goes for our local animal shelter. Several of my residents had started feeding the strays, but others were complaining about the mess. We contacted a local orginization that helped us trap the cats and get them "fixed". The problem is we have to bring them back to the site. (The law says you can not relocated feral cats) Then I allowed one of my residents to build a shelter and place for food/water bowls in the woods behind my community. This has helped greatly as the cat lovers can still feed them, but those who aren't fans rarely have to see them as they only come out looking for food.
You may also want to contact some local vets. Often times they know of small groups who help get strays adopted, they just don't advertise.

I would contact a local animal rescue group. They are generally more willing to send volunteers to try to capture the kitties and will attempt to find them good homes. Some will even spay/ neuter your strays to at least cut down on the population increase.
You certainly don't want to injure the cats- that would be a criminal act.
I would google search 'animal rescue San Antonio' and contact one of the rescue groups that appear.
Good luck!

I have the same problem. I tried contacting every local and state authority that might possibly have a solution, but received no help. Animal Control wouldn't come out unless someone was attacked. I tried trapping them and relocating them to a friends property, that was 6 miles away. They came back.
Finally I'd had enough and done enough and I issued a letter to my tenants with the local animal control number, stating that I'd done all I could and will no longer listen to complaints on the matter. If they cared to discuss my methods they were more than welcome, but I didn't want to here any more complaints on an issue I'd done absolutely everything to resolve.
Hopefully Animal Control got an earful from my residents. In my opinion they are the ones that should be dealing with this problem.

Sadly, often the stray cats are either once domestic cats (pets) that were abandoned by residents when they moved and did not want to take them or their decendants. The abandoned cats are often not spayed or neutered and then breed in colonies.
Why not also make sure that any residents with pets who move into your community provide proof that their animals are neutered?
I agree with the other posters that suggest you contact local vets to ask for referrals to rescue groups. The cats did not appear out of nowhere and were probably originally pets, as I noted above, that were then cruelly and thoughtlessly abandoned.

Yes it is amazing how "helpful" animal control is. We were told from animal control(about stray cats) to bring any cats in that we can trap (there will be a fee)they will spay/neuter them and them give them back to turn them loose. How is that helping? 15 cats is 15 cats. We have neighbors around our complex that are not part of our property. I have counted 15 cats and they are as wild as the wind. Does animal control think that a feral cat is going to stay around long enough to attack someone? Not unless it has rabies, then it's too late. With so many animal activist out there one would think that this should not be a problem. It is a problem mainly because there are so many irresponsible pet owners out there. (You good owners know who you are).Owning an animal is a privilege not a right. People who do not help the situation hurt the life of an animal. We love pets but we have none for the very reason that we do not have the space. It isn't fair to the animal to have it constantly tied up or restricted. Turning them loose is not a solution, it's just someone else's headache.
Animal Control? We need a solution not rederick. :S

While there are many things animal control could do better the issue is deeper than that. I've dedicated every free moment I have to a local rescue so we work closely with animal control. Most localities are moving towards being "no kill" as long as the animal can be nursed back to health and is adoptable. While this is certainly the way we want things to go the problem of space, staffing, and funding now arises. If we are trying to save all adoptable animals that are a lot of space and money... The organization I work with does not take owner surrendered pets; we pull from the shelters hoping to make room for another. So we do our part to help the shelters. When localities start looking for ways to cut costs, animals control is almost always the first to lose. The only solution the problem of homeless pets I see is the have STRONG ENFORCABLE laws regarding breeding to sell. The less backyard breeders we have the more people will look to shelters to adopt.

I have the same problem here at my property.... Causes a huge flea problem also! To add to the list! ugh

We had to trap the strays and take them to the pound. They do charge for this, but we pay the fee from petty cash and turn in the receipt.

YOU DON'T GET IT! SHAME ON YOU! Those Cats did not ask to be born hopeless, hungry, and HOMELESS! People should be responsible and have their pets fixed. Google Animal Rescue in San Antonio--there are organizations that will come out and help. Your attitude and comments of turning a dog loose on them--basically to kill them will only encourage your residents to do harmful things to these poor cats & kittens. They are helpless. They need us to help them. DO THE RIGHT THING! THE HUMANE THING!

I don't think it's the best thing to let the cats starve, suffer, and spread disease. These aren't our pets, and I don't have the resources to provide for them.

We property managers didn't abandon them and rarely know who did. At least at the pound they will be warm, clean, and fed- even if their lives are shortened.

I can't speak for San Antonio, but here in Oregon, I know from experience, that animal Control and animal rescue organizations will NOT come out and help.

OMG there are at least 15 cats in my neighborhood. I have invited them all to dinner at my house, and am systematically trapping them, neutering, and releasing them. The reason there are at least 15 is because they are not neutered. Someone's gotta do it, so if it's that much of a nuisance to you, you do it, or there will be even more. Each female can have 10 kittens in a litter multiple times a year! I am trapping mine. Yes, they are released back, but I'll tell you what. I haven't seen a mouse in my house or on my property since they started coming around! I used to get mice in the house all the friggin' time. By the way, I have a covered large litter box outside for them. They use it! They use it, I change it, and we're all happy. The un-neutered males like to mark their territory, but if you fix them soon enough, that will stop. It's good of the cat lovers to feed these animals; theirs is a tough life, and only tough because of human negligence. Not your fault, but it's not theirs, either. I'm so happy with our micelessness that I am building some houses for them to winter in. I sprinkle the yard with food grade DE to make sure we don't have fleas and ticks to deal with. I have found a way to co-habitate, so it can be done. I know I'm late with this, but had to add to it. I enjoy the cat watching as much as I do the bird watching...and yes, most of the birds manage to stay alive.

I will probably get attacked by a herd of feral cats for this one.

The easy (though not free) solution is to hire a private animal control firm. If you don't have the feral cat law, they will trap them and then humanely put them to sleep. If you have the feral cat law, they can be instructed to be let loose in a forest preserve area or an unincorporated part of the county (in most places). Obviously it costs but at a property will get rid of the problem fast.

I'm an animal lover but I base that on these factors. Just think about it:
1. We can say the "humane" thing is to trap and neuter cats but the cost is endless, and who are we to have the authority to control another species' population?
2. Feral cats, even neutered, have a short, disease-filled life anyway. If we neuter them all, shouldn't we update all their vaccinations? Keep them and make sure they're fed every day? Where does it end?
3. We kill mice and rats, and they're animals, too. So where do we draw the line?

It's just one of those hard decisions every property manager has to make. We are responsible for a business, not for the betterment of a particular species.

I have the same problem but worse, One of the residents here collects cats and keeps them in her apartment, she now has over 20 or so cats and the apartment stinks when ever she opens her door also cat litter and trash is left outside her back door, which we all have to smell, she can't smell it because she is used to the stench, but we have to, I contacted animal control and they passed the buck to health Dept who said they will investigate and would contact the apartment Owners, not the onsite mgrs, I all so asked the 3 local TV stations for help and they will investigate. I now realize that we have the right to live in a clean and safe commuinty, but we keep playing games with the Goverment and keep making Laws to increase animal populations, they make the money and we land up with the germs.

I'm dealing with this issue at one of my properties but luckily there are only 3-4 cats at this time. I'm working with our local Feral Cat Resource and getting them all TNR'd. I'm doing this on my own but the maintenance men on site will be helping me get the cats trapped. They will then be returned with their vaccinations, neuter and ear tip so they can live in their outdoor home. There is an established feral colony with a caretaker nearby who is taking ours so that's great. Otherwise we would have to keep feeding them and providing them shelters. Chuck, it's actually not true that feral cats carry more diseases and live more tortured lives than their "owned" feline counterparts. Here in my city we have a wonderful feral cat resource and community that I realize you don't all have, but a little research and effort on your part to reach local rescue organizations can go such a long way. I've even seen Facebook groups dedicated to the subject in towns and people help each other out. Sometimes ferals can be relocated to a home with a barn after being TNR'd. Or kittens that are born are fostered and socialized for adoption instead of being left feral. Here is a great website to help you learn more about Trap, Neuter, Return: indyferal.org/index.php

I know the whole subject is overwhelming and not something normally thought of as part of property management but I commend any of you who care for these creatures that are the result of human negligence.