At my wits' end!

I have three lovely cats (two males and one female) living in my garden. All of them have beds and are sheltered from the sun in the summer and are having it warm and cozy in the winter.

Once a year and that is since 2007, I have big problems with wild cats jumping into the garden causing problems, and starting to fight which I interrupt before it gets really bad.

These cats are coming two to three times a night. I guess they want the territory, and in particular my "Little Lady", the female. My night sleep is also interrupted. These cats are not healthy, and I am sure that they carry diseases.

My cats are all neutered and are receiving a yearly vaccination. My cats are running and hiding, and probably because of the stress, they also lose stool and urine. It is of course, not their fault.

I feel so sorry about my cats and I am so sad and stressed out nobody can imagine. These are my babies.

I would bring them into the house, but I already have a rescued cat in the house and another one in the outside kitchen.

This year has been particularly strenuous on my cats and myself, because I have had two feral cats causing all the stress for all of us. One of these two feral cats went into the trap, the other one did not.

When I set the trap, I brought my three cats into boarding, because I cannot set the trap and having my cats around. My cats were nine days in boarding, but during all this time, the last feral cat would not take the bait. I covered the bottom of the trap with newspaper so that the cat could not see the so-called "trigger plate".

I did not want him to be spooked by a shiny metal piece. I also taped the newspaper to the cage making it impossible to move in the wind.

The trap was also covered with a blanket preventing light coming in. Still, the cat did not take the bait.

On one occasion, the cat moved the dish with tuna closer to his reach and ate everything and left.

Can you imagine, the dish was placed at the end of the trap? Can you imagine how stressed out I was when I saw it? After nine days not succeeding to trap the cat, I brought my cats home.

It was quiet for a little while, but now he is back. This time, I saw him clearly. It is a huge cat and has a big head, and he is black and white.

At the beginning, I thought he was a brownish tabby, but I could not see him properly at that time. He is aggressive to say the least.

Now, I am afraid that my garden cats will leave because of him. They are not fighters, they run, because this cat is no match for them.

One of my cats 'Snoopy" already disappeared on November 18 for more than 24 hours. I know that, because I was in the garage the whole night sitting on "Snowballs" chair waiting for him, and hoping he would show up unharmed. Luckily, he showed up intact, but very nervous. It hurt me seeing him like that.

What should I do? I cannot live this way much longer, and my cats either. I do not want to lose them. I love them dearly. If they are not in the garden, the garden is without life and I am sad and depressed. Their souls are "planted" in the garden. I do not know if anybody out there can understand me.

It is pure emotional pain. I am not a drama queen. I truly feel lost. If they are suffering, I am suffering.

I do not know anybody in Bahrain who has a cat.

People are busy with their own lives, and do not want to hear cat stories, but for me, everything is real.

Christina

Copyright 2009 Gulf Daily News

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company