Grrr - grackles (part two)

I griped about grackles several months ago.  The birds were descending on my yard in mobs, practically covering the back yard.  Some have hung around and continue to make themselves a nuisance.  Now I have determined that they have been stealing all the food from the dishes I am leaving outside the garage for the feral cats.  I thought the cats were coming more regularly for their meals and might have a better chance at surviving.  I seldom see them unless in a fleeting glance as they traverse the back yard, except for the black and white tuxedo cat which shows up in the morning sometimes when I'm outside (I feed him cat food and bologna, which seems to be the universal cat drug - man, oh man, they love bologna).  Now I realize that all that cat food was going down the gullets of these gluttonous, nasty birds.  Rats.