Sunday, October 16, 2016

National Feral Cat Day

Alley Cat Allies started National Feral Cat Day to raise awareness about feral or community cats. We admit, we didn't know much about the details until we moved into the condo, started volunteering with Colony Cats and then found our girl Allie and her kittens. We have since done TNR on at least 6 cats in our neighborhood. No kittens since then and no increase in the cat population. Don't tell us TNR doesn't work.....


Our girl Allie
TNR 6/12

Feral Cat Facts (courtesy of Alley Cat Allies)
  • Cats have lived alongside humans for more than 10,000 years. They are part of the natural landscape. Feral cats, also called community or outdoor cats, are the same species as pet cats, live in groups called colonies, and can thrive in every landscape. They are just as healthy as pet cats, but they are not socialized to humans and are therefore unadoptable.
  • Trap-Neuter-Return is the only humane and effective approach to caring for community cats and stabilizing the cat population. From 2003 to 2013 the number of local governments with official policies endorsing TNR increased tenfold, with hundreds of cities and towns successfully carrying out TNR programs. That number continues to grow every year.
  • In many cities, cats are still caught and brought to animal shelters and pounds, where most are killed. In fact, the shelter system is the number one documented cause of death for cats in the United States. About 70% of cats who enter shelters are killed there, and that number rises to virtually 100% for feral cats. 

14 comments:

  1. I was so disgusted to find that most municipalities in the area have an “extermination” policy … kill, no questions asked. It actually made the news because one city partnered with a rescue and adopted TNR. Even worse? The comments on the story complained about “nuisance” cats – and supported killing all ferals. Completely disgusting. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to claim Bear was feral … but he saved my life and he was one of those homeless “nuisance” cats when we met – so this topic is close to my heart.

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  2. Paws up for all of the amazing work you do for the feral cats in your area. Feral cat awareness is so important. They're part of our community, too!

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  3. Feral cats are great! Thanks for the work you do for them.

    Cats of wildcat woods

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  4. As always, thanks for all the great work you do on behalf of kitties!

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  5. It's so important for knowledgable humans to raise awareness about feral kitties.

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  6. Thank you for all you do! And thank you for helping to educate everyone about feral kit-cats!
    Yours sincerely,
    Margaret Thatcher

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  7. Great post ! And paws up to you for the work you do for kitties in need ! Purrs

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  8. TNR does work! Thanks for proving that fact. :)

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  9. YES! Pawesome post - and thank you SO much for all you do to help! You're our hero!

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  10. Excellent post, I wish TNR was used everywhere. It is so sad that so many places still kill ferals.

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  11. That's awesome! TNR totally does work, and we are grateful for you and all you di for your neighborhood kitties.

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  12. I was first introduced to TNR when a stray cat was dropped off one night in the parking lot at my old job. I had to help that kitty, and I did with the help of other co-workers and friends. When The Hubby and I noticed a stray cat in our yard, we did the same thing and now have our threesome colony. I look for cats everywhere, and I help at the low-cost spay/neuter clinic as much as I can. Alley Cat Allies is great, TNR is great!

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  13. We have an organisation in my city that helps defray costs of neutering and spaying. But many people still don't get it.

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  14. Alley Cat Allies is wonderful for starting National Feral Cat Day!

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