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Feral Cats and How to Help Them

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Punkin Avis
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:50 pm


The Feral Cat


Feral cats are created by people abandoning their animals, outdoor cats gone astray, or them breeding out of control creating more human weary cats. There is an estimated 5 million feral cats living in the states, most of which are untreated, unfixed, and breeding like crazy.

Feral Cat Coalition

In the past, to remedy the problem, there were mass killings of stray cats. Most ferals that get picked up by shelters and animal control are euthanized due to their inability to get adopted, due to agression, skittishness, and inability to live with humans. Kittens have a higher chance of being socialized, but its not often.

What is a Feral Cat?

A feral cat is a feline that has lost its domestication and reverted back to its normal, instinctual behavior. Even a strictly indoor cat can survive out there based on the natural inclinations of a feline. Over the course of centuries, not even domestication could wipe out their instinctual behavior.

The feral cat is never ending. A queen will birth her litter and teach them that humans are bad, to be weary of the large furless one, and then continue to breed and continue the cycle.

What can we do to help Feral Cat Communities?

Support your local TNR (Trap Neuter Release) program. What they do is go out, trap the feral cats and get them vacinated, spayed and marked and then released back to their area or relocated to a different location. This prevents the offset of continuous breeding.

When kittens are captured, they are kept to be adopted and socialized.
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:05 pm


TNR and Why it Works


Trap Neuter and Release. It is a program set forth by people who realized that mass killing of stray cats wasnt working. A group of volunteers goes out, traps the cats, vaccinates them, marks them in some way, fixes them and then releases them back into their community.

This decreases the number of cats being born in a feral cat community. It is estimated that in a period of 7 years, over 400,000 cats can be born. If those numbers don't scare you, think of the 70 million cats roaming the streets right now. There is simply not enough adopters out there to meet the need for adoption.

By releasing them back into their normal habitat, they are able to live the rest of their lives without the burden of overpopulation. They continue to trap the cats to vaccinate them to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. Most cats who come in that are FIV positive, are euthanized or put on a waiting list for possible adoption for households that have FIV cats, or in a single cat household.

The program also feeds the cats and spends time with them. Where some are so far gone into their natural instincts, some have not forgotten their days with humans and the attention they got. Its these cats that have the highest chance of getting adopted into a program.

Punkin Avis
Captain

Chatty Cat

12,000 Points
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Punkin Avis
Captain

Chatty Cat

12,000 Points
  • Cats vs Dogs 100
  • Sausage Fest 200
  • Team Edward 100
PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:06 pm


The Barn Cat Adoption Program


In recent years, many rescues have adapted a "Barn Cat Adoption Program." This is a program that allows those previously unadoptable cats (the ferals, the aggressive cats etc) a chance to get adopted. It places them in a home where the cat has a task (or job to perform) such as mousing, catching rats, or protecting livestock from predators. The barn cat is an age old idea, but now more and more options are available to help Feral Cats have a furrever home.

Rules Regarding an Adopted Barn Cat

ASPCA Barn Cat Program

Barn Cat.org

My Local Shelter's Barn Cat Program

~Cats are fixed and vaccinated before adoption
~Adopter must provide shelter and food and water daily and daily interaction with the cats
~Adopter must also provide veterinary care when needed
~Strictly outdoors, must be adopted in pairs
~Cats are Micro-chipped
~Cats must have a safe house for the first few weeks to associate new area as "home"
~Cats are ear marked for identification

If you live in a rural area and have a need for a good mouser, please consider one of the many barn cats out there. They need some love too.
PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:48 pm


Helpful Linky on Feral Cats


Feral Cats and their Impact

Punkin Avis
Captain

Chatty Cat

12,000 Points
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