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. 

National Feral Cat Day

National Feral Cat Day

#FeralCatDay

Alley Cat Allies

Feral Cat Facts (from Alley Cat Allies)

• Cats have lived alongside humans for more than 10,000 years. They are part of the natural landscape. Feral cats are the same species as pet cats. Feral cats, also called community or outdoor 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—a humane approach to managing and caring for community cats—is the only effective method of stabilizing cat colonies. In the last decade, the number of local governments with official policies endorsing TNR has increased tenfold, with hundreds of cities and towns successfully carrying out TNR programs.
• However, in the majority of cities, cats are still caught and brought to animal pounds and shelters where they are killed. The shelter system is the number one cause of death for cats in the United States. About 70% of cats who enter shelters are killed there, including virtually 100% of feral cats. That’s why it’s so important for people like you to join us for National Feral Cat Day®, and every day, to help change society and create compassionate communities for cats.

National Feral Cat Day

When mom starting volunteering for our local humane society, she had no idea about feral cats or TNR or anything like that.

Fast forward to today and she volunteers with a local group that started out doing TNR and remains firmly committed to that as their primary objective.  And in that time mom has helped TNR 9 cats on her own and with the help of a neighbor and picked up 12 kittens that have been fostered and adopted since then. (including our Junior boy)  We are also lucky that we have a local low cost spay/neuter clinic that is feral friendly - they will take cats in live traps and do surgery same day.

Alley Cat Allies started National Feral Cat Day in 2001 to help promote education. This is the most important thing we can do. No matter what you hear in the news and from some other groups, feral cats are not the bad guys of nature. Human beings attempted to domesticate cats and then failed them (in our opinion). And TNR works....since mom started in our neighborhood, we had a stable population and NO NEW KITTENS in 2 years. Taking a feral cat to a "shelter" is simply a death sentence....

Also, check out the No Kill Revolution information on the Best Friends website.

What can you do?

Find a local TNR group and offer to help....most need volunteers to feed colonies or pick up and drop off cats in traps for surgery. Or donate...they need money for food and for live traps. Want to donate a trap to them directly? Check your local farm store (we know Tractor Supply has them) or online (we found one at amazon).

Promote spay and neuter. And remind people that seeing a "stray cat" is not something to be ignored. Take a stand. And please don't think that doing nothing solves the problem. While these cats can care for themselves, human kindness in the manner of food and shelter goes a long way. And about shelters: Alley Cat Allies has a great guide you can use

It can be hard but rewarding. Mom says that if you do this long enough, there is little more satisfying than coming up to a trap you have set and finding a cat in it (not as satisfying to find a raccoon or opposum that you just have to convince to get back OUT of the trap - MOL). And check for the ear tip...that is a sign that your "stray cat" is actually part of a colony that has already been spayed or neutered.

Allie snoopervising the rebuilding of the neighbor's balcony 

Allie likes to hang around - waiting for mom

to get a move on in the mornings so Allie can get

in the garage for her breakfast.

 She would be killed in a shelter...and deserves better than that.

Which is why we provide her food and a place to live and our protection.

And remember too - Coral and her siblings were born to a
feral mom who has now been spayed and released.

National Feral Cat Day.....

Today is National Feral Cat Day started by Alley Cat Allies.

The rescue we work with started out doing TNR as their main goal....and while they do adoptions and rescues, their main purpose is still very much TNR. From helping those that request help to going into neighborhoods (they are working in a trailer park right now) to help out, there are many trappers and colony care takers in this group. One couple takes care of two colonys and feeds about 100 pounds of food per month. All of the cats are fixed and vaccinated - and they can track new cats and make sure they see if any of the current colony needs medical care. The rescue helps with their expenses as much as possible, but they cover a lot themselves as well. It is an act of love.....  If you go to the rescue's facebook page, you can even vote for your favorite feral cat house as part of a contest they are having. :)

Of course, for us, this is personal.....  our baby Bug was found as a tiny kitten born to a feral mom and abandoned - but raised as a bottle baby and then adopted.

Of course, the great Junior was trapped later that summer and now lives with us.

Junior checking out the tiny kid in baby jail

In our neighborhood, mom and the neighbor lady (on their own) TNR'd 6 adults and trapped an additional 5 kittens (the memorial kittens) after Junior and Bug.

Grace and Audrey

Jimmy Stewart

Annie (or Oakley) either the kittens mom or aunt

 Blackie (not the daddy but a big boy hanging around with his girls)

And of course, there is our Allie girl that gave us the alcohol kittens and after being spayed, ear tipped and released, lives in our garage.

So, how can you help?  Support a local TNR group....either with your time or donations. Honestly, there is a great satisfaction to putting out a trap and coming back to find a cat in it and helping to stop overpopulation (mom still does her happy dance when it happens). Can't do that? Consider donating money or old towels/sheets (to cover traps), food or even live traps (check your local farm stores - you can find them on sale sometimes). Any little bit helps. And contact your local humane agency and let them know that your support TNR - not trap and kill (which a lot of communities are still doing). And for fun, you can follow the Spartanburg Animal Services in South Carolina on facebook....they are being a great example of animal control being feral friendly!!!

National Feral Cat Day.....

Alley Cat Allies is celebrating National Feral Cat Day....  TODAY!!!

Most of you know that we are BIG fans of TNR. And we are lucky enough to live in a city that has a very good local low cost clinic (SOS) that will take feral cats - the same day you trap them (ok, provided the clinic is open, but still.....)

TNR is how this guy came to live with us:

(who knew this would grow into the 16 pound orange menace)

And there are the cats we have trapped in the neighborhood over the last two years - and the kittens that we caught and have been adopted. Bug's mom was TNR'd, so was Doc and Sally's mom and the memorial day kittens.

Most recently there was Allie and the alcohol kittens......

 

Not only have the kittens found home (or are looking), the adults are no longer able to reproduce and are being cared for the best we can (shelter and food).

There are lots of ways you can help:
   1. see if there are events in your area
   2. TNR in your neighborhood - or contact a local group that is doing TNR in your area
       we have two around here that mom supports: Colony Cats and Black and Orange Cat Foundation
   3. Like Alley Cat Allies on Facebook

And there are so many other ways to help. And every little step takes us one more step closer to a day when ferals are not killed for being feral.

National Feral Cat Day.....

Alley Cat Allies started this to raise awareness about feral cats and the communities they live in. As some of you are aware, we have been doing TNR in our neighborhood with a pretty good success rate.

Some of our favorite groups with ideas to help you out:
First Coast No More Homeless Pets in Jacksonville FL
SOS of Ohio
Best Friends Animal Society

There are groups out there that say ferals are a menace. However, TNR has been shown to control populations. Trap and kill isn't a solution.....