Feral kitties and TNR

[Pookies]

So my friends joke with me saying I am a cat lady in training. My ex and mom feared when I saw kitties on the street because my IQ drops significantly whenever I see cats around (and because I want to feed them or take them home). My eye sight is horrible, but for whatever reason, I can spot a cat that's on the next block....I guess it's my calling haha

 

ANYWAY

 

Last year I was telling a friend about TNR (trap, neuter, release) to keep the feral cat population under control. I think it's a good idea, because ferals are technically wild cats, and like any wild animal, they usually dont adapt to living as a pet (or at least not as quick as some people would want them to). Many ferals get sent to animal shelters, but because they are wild kitties that will never be domesticated, many get put down.

 

Now, some ferals are super sweet and some do learn to live with humans. My neighbor took one in and while the cat does get nervous when your reach out to pet her at first, she loves a good cuddle. My own cat was a feral kitten when I took her in, so her adapting to humans was easier than taking in a feral adult. Some feral-turned-home cats are super loved by their patient owners, but I have heard it took a cat 12 years to get used to living with humans. Yikes...so yeah, not everyone who adopts a feral will be THAT patient...which is why many get returned to shelters or put down.

 

I was telling my friend about TNR and she said it was a cruel thing to do. When I asked her why, she said they are wild animals now. We shouldn't try to control the wild population and just let them roam free across the plains.

 

Sooooo....

 

What are your thoughts on feral populations? Should we try to control the population and find kittens good homes or should we just let them be?

[siniri]

Feral cats aren't running free across the plains (well, some of them are, but their populations are under control). TNR programs are usually employed in cities, where there is a dense population (and thus a high birth rate and increased transmission of infectious diseases such as FLV, FIV, rabies, etc.) and few natural predators (such as coyotes, larger feline species, and birds of prey). This combination means that the population of feral cats would go through rapid increases until the population was brought under control by disease, starvation (if the population exceeds their food source), and/or human intervention (as the cats become a nuisance and likely carriers of diseases that could infect humans or their pets, people will insist that the population is brought under control; in addition, more cats will be hit by vehicles, die by poisoning as food becomes scarce and they eat insects/rodents that were poisoned, etc.). I think cats suffer a lot more from the diseases and food scarcity that accompany unregulated population growth than they do from being neutered or spayed.

[blowupthesun]

If cats were indigenous to these areas, I could understand having an issue with it. Obviously, in most parts of the world, that isn't the case. Cats live in America because people brought them here, and because they don't really belong in the ecosystems we brought them into, it can cause problems for the species that do. They were brought as pets, or to catch mice, whatever, so if the argument is leaving nature alone...then they should be pets, because there is no other "natural" reason for them to be here. I would call it being responsible, but definitely not cruel. I think feral cat populations should definitely be controlled, and this is, by far, the least cruel way to do that.

[leverhelven]

You should tell your friend that the real cruelness is letting them have litter after litter of kitties that will grow up and live on the streets, with no proper care, no food, getting sick etc.

 

TNR is the best thing to do, or you can ask her to take all street cats to her home and care for them. Yeah...

[spazzy_child]

Feral cats are so detrimental to the real wildlife. Some species of birds are now endangered in areas (not as a whole across the world) but like in illinois some birds are MUCH harder to find because feral cats hunt them down so often, and it's not even always to eat them.

 

And TNR cats are not sent to shelters to be put down. I've worked in the animal industry for a long time, most have either a feral cat colony (20+) to go to or there are people who TNR them and still care for smaller colonies in their neighborhood (like a population of 1-10 cats). Feral cats (in Illinois) have a cut in their ears that mark them fixed so animal control or people know that they don't need to trap them again.

 

TNR is the best thing to do.

 

I rehab feral kittens for a shelter too. Most if they are young enough will adjust within a few weeks with the proper attention and get adopted out just fine.

[Grenthine]

I agree with the other posters that TNR is the most humane course of action. As an aside, spazzy_child makes an excellent point about feral cats being detrimental to wildlife. However, I would point out that outdoor cats in general are detrimental to wildlife, even those who spend some of their time indoors with humans. We have bird species here in Washington state that are threatened and worse due to feline predation as well. Sorry about the :offtopic: mini-rant.

[dawnshine]

I live out in the country, so I am actually a mama to a hoard of feral cats every spring and summer. Somehow many always end up out here. I sometimes can tame one into being a good feline friend, but in the end they are feral/wild so they eventually move on or die or whatever. As just your average citizen, trapping, neutering, releasing is not a good thing to be doing. I have expertise taking care of wild animals and farm animals from growing up out here and raising deer, buffalo, and other things, but even I am not a trained professional so hopefully you aren't thinking of doing this yourself. =P

 

That being said, wild populations of animals need our intervention all of the time. Sometimes we need to thin out populations that are taking over, and sometimes when a species is endangered we need to take responsibility of seeing them through from extinction. That is why there are more hunting seasons on animals than others, wildlife programs, etc. Feral cats are a major problem in some areas and tnr is an alternative to putting them in shelters/euthanasia. I'd consider that a lot less cruel.

[agrinwithoutacat]

I think TNR is the best way to handle the growing feral cat population. They become an invasive species and can wreak havoc on the local wildlife, as has been mentioned, so curbing their growth is a good idea. I have a friend who would probably go so far as to propose to euthanize feral cats; he studies ecology and is very against them and what they do to the ecosystem. So, in comparison to that, TNR is much more humane.

Putting them in shelters isn't an option, in my mind, because they're wild animals and don't adapt well to house life. Besides that, being in a shelter long enough leads to being euthanized anyway. You're condemning them to a death sentence if you do that, when you could instead let them live a normal life and just not be able to reproduce.

[Tadie]

Feral cats are a result of overpopulation. They are NOT "wild animals" that we ought to just let roam free. Um, no. Does your friend also believe that rats and cockroaches ought to go unchecked?

That's about how ridiculous that sounds to me. In fact, it's worse. Cats, in my opinion, are domesticated to the point that we are responsible for them, and ought to take precautions to take care of them. If you can afford to take care of ALL your cats and ALL of their kittens (and so on and so forth), then good for you. But if you can't, then you have the moral obligation to get them fixed so that YOUR pets don't repopulate. And if you can't afford them, give them to someone who can.

[Neechan]

I run a cat rescue and I hate the term 'Feral Cat'. Cats aren't feral, they just weren't raised to be social with humans. Your standard pet kitty would be born in relatively close proximity to humans and quickly learn that humans are good things. 'Feral Cats' are just cats that people see running away from them and assume are wild. A wild animal cannot be tamed, like a 'pet' lion. A 'feral' cat can. AND a lot of the time if you're living in suburbs, that wild cat is likely someone's pet and it's running from you because it doesn't know you.

 

One of my neighbors has a cat that comes to eat with our outdoor babies. He will go up to them and love on them and sit on their lap, but if we try to get within five feet of him he runs away. Five feet is actually after feeding him for a few weeks- he used to run at the sound of us coming out!

 

And one of our own babies, the poor thing... his name is Skitty. He's skittish and he's adorable. He's very loveable when you get to know him, but he's afraid of other humans. Because of this fear, the people who neutered him decided he was feral, caught him with one of those- oh what do you call them? The collars on a stick to keep your distance?- things and chopped off part of his ear. He wouldn't come near any of us again for a few months. He was terrified and traumatized by their behavior. If that doesn't sound cruel, I don't know what to tell you.

[Batgirl]

My feelings overall would vary a lot by area and impact of the animals. That said, I don't really see much point to TNR is *most* situations. If the population is truly feral (not as neechan pointed out being mistaken for feral/unowned, which really struck a chord with me because I have raised two feral cats), and is having sufficient impact to warrant action, the only difference between TNR and euthanisation seems to be how people will feel about it.

 

Neutering, along with the obvious population effect, tends to also affect an animal's disposition. Releasing such an animal afterward can be as misguided as releasing a declawed cat into the wild. I have tremendous love for animals, and most especially for cats, but really, if it's a true problem in an area, put them down. If it's not, leave them alone or neuter and foster. Again, does not apply to all areas, but mostly the TNR seems a dodge, and a dodge that uses resources badly needed for other animals.

[Navy]

It's gotten to the point where feral cats have become disease ridden pests. FeLV and FIV are running rampant in feral cat colonies, they live lives of hunger, disease, and injury. They have litter after litter and one female can have 29 litters in 10 years and one un-neutered male can produce thousands and thousand of kittens in his lifetime. Leaving these cats to suffer and die and reek havoc on the local natural wildlife is the real cruelty here.

 

It's sad but you can't save all of them, in my time fostering cats I've realized it's better for them to be put down than neutered and released. Releasing them keeps them from breeding but it doesn't improve their lives. They're still starving, they're still exposed to disease and parasites like ticks and fleas. They'll still fight and become injured, they'll still be hit by cars and left to die on the side of the road.

[Shelley]

Well "feral" cats aren't wild. All of the typical house cats have been bred to be domesticated so while they may lack the human interaction to make them suitable to behave properly in a home environment, they're still a product of our domestication. Wild cats on the other hand such as bobcats (which we've seen around), lynx, and mountain lions are indigenous wild species to the area and will certainly not hang around your homes on a daily basis eating cat food that you leave out for them. There's a huge difference between wild cats and what we call feral cats.

 

One of my cats was a "feral" cat and he's the sweetest cat you'll ever meet. He spends most of his time outside as we tried to train him to be an indoor cat but that obviously failed.

 

I HATE to say this because it breaks my heart, but sometimes putting cats down can be the best option for them. I worked at a vets office where they specifically had a donation fund to take in feral cats off the streets, test and treat them for disease and then adopt them out. I live in a small town so we weren't overwhelmed with cats. This method usually worked out but if a cat came in severely injured or with a contagious disease it was put down. I've cried over watching a feral kitten be put down it's terrible and obviously the last thing that anyone wants to witness.

 

It's hard to stop the feral population from growing. I think TNR can be a helpful method as long as the cat isn't ill. But it's obviously not going to solve all our problems. The feral cat population is a problem that we humans created. It is sad to see any animal put down healthy or not, but this problem has gotten out of hand.

 

as for the cost of spaying and neutering, I know the vets office I worked at (well I got my cats fixed for free) but once a month they have spay and neuter clinics. It would be like the first wednesday of every month. It would cost around $20 per cat and we would have cats in by the hundreds. Many other clinics have programs like this that apply to both feral and house cats. The only downside is that the anesthesia they use is cheaper and has more risks involved. However, I've trusted it with my cats and I've only ever seen one cat have a bad reaction to it and it wasn't fatal. So please, just any cat that you ever own, have them spayed and neutered. Barn cats and outdoor cats especially. If you can pay for cat food you can afford to get them fixed.

[eloralestrange]

I think TNR is great, although I'd personally have a hard time just releasing them. They like to steal our cats' food from outside, and that's how we have obtained some of our cats.