Stranger

He was my first feral cat. I noticed an all-black cat with bright green eyes making his way around the wooded area behind the fenced-in backyard and over to the dumpster at Quiznos. I found out that he had been in the area for at least a year - they had been feeding him at one point and had even trapped and neutered him. As he had no name, I stewed over it for a while and then dubbed him "Stranger." A mix between Strider and Ranger: man-o-the-woods. I took a picture of him, labeled it with his name, and stuck it on the cork board in the kennel kitchen. And started feeding him daily.
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I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, to be quite honest. Feeding one feral cat is quite easy, especially when he's already been neutered and ear-tipped. Though I knew that more cats would arrive at the food source, I simply didn't realize HOW MANY. As soon as I began taking care of Stranger, I sought to educate myself on the topic of feral and stray cats. The Best Friends website has been invaluable. The left column has two links that prove to be extremely helpful: the Online Forum (forum archives) and Resource Library. So much information is provided here, from fundraising to adoption to feral cats. I haven't been able to stop reading anything and everything I possibly can on feral cats, shelter animals, and how to find homes for the homeless.
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I hope to be able to document some of what we have gone through in order to help these cats as well as our present progress. I would like to keep track of who we have TNR'd, which cats I see on a daily basis, and offer helpful information and suggestions on how to provide for your own stray and feral cats. There is a lot of ground to cover - and I am excited about learning new things through this process as well!