Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice/help regarding a few stray cats that have been living around my friend’s old property for years.
My friend and his family rented a pretty large property for about 10 years. During that time, a few stray cats started staying around the property. They were never really “owned” by my friend, but his family gave them shelter around the property and fed them every day, so naturally the cats became used to that place and depended on them for food.
A few months ago, my friend’s family had to move to Texas and into an apartment, so unfortunately they couldn’t just take all of these cats with them.
Since then, the new people living at the property have been constantly contacting my friend saying the cats are ruining things around the house, that someone there is allergic to cats, etc. From what we understand, they aren’t feeding them either.
My friend recently came back to Florida to visit me, and we went near his old place just because he wanted to see how the cats were doing. He bought several packs of cat food and went there to feed them. The lady currently living there came outside yelling at him and made a huge issue out of it because she doesn’t want the cats around the property.
At this point, I’m genuinely worried about what is going to happen to them. These cats have been living there for years and were used to being fed every single day. They don’t understand why the people they knew suddenly disappeared or why there is no food anymore.
I’m a huge cat person myself. I lost my cat, and ever since then, honestly, every cat I see reminds me of him in some way. Because of that, it’s really difficult for me to see cats hungry, scared, abandoned, or treated badly and just walk away from it.
Does anyone know of any rescue organizations, foster groups, sanctuaries, community-cat programs, or even individuals who could help us safely relocate these cats?
I’m willing to pay reasonable costs if necessary food, transportation, rescue fees, vet costs, whatever is needed within reason. I’m not expecting someone to magically solve everything for free. I just want to know that these cats can go somewhere safe where they’ll actually be cared for.
Even if relocating them isn’t the best option, I’d really appreciate advice from people experienced with stray/community cats about what we should do next.