The stray cat saga, ctd

It all began when I found out the cat I thought of as my neighbor's cat, Scruffy, was not her cat but a stray. I felt sorry for him and left out some food. That caused an avalanche of apparently homeless cats. Two of them are females and pretty friendly, but very shy ...





I've stopped leaving food outside - it also attracted raccoons and a possum and a skunk ;) - and now I just bring out food for those two cats above and then take it away after they eat (they won't come inside the house). Sadly, this hasn't discouraged the other cats, who probably like the yard because it's so big and with lots of trees, bushes. And I worry that the girl cats might get pregnant and have kittens, making things ever so worse.

I tried the one no-kill shelter in the area but they had no openings available. So I called the vet to see if I could board the two girl cats there while they helped me look for homes for them - I've done that in the past, but years ago. Unfortunately, it's so much more complicated and expensive now ... first they would have to get exams and shots and tests for feline leukemia and aids. Then they'd have to be spayed: $200+ for each, and they'd have to spend about a week inside the house after that, wearing elizabethan collars and getting medicated somehow by blind-as-a-bat me. And then, they'd have to be "socialized" ... after all that, I can board them while they wait for homes ... $30 a day each. The SPCA offers a lower cost spaying - from$45 to $85 - but all the rest would still apply. And all this doesn't address the male cats out in the yard.

I feel so overwhelmed :(