|
 |
Feral Cat Information
What are Feral Cats?
Feral cats are animals that were born "wild" and must survive without human support. It is important to distinguish between feral cats and abandoned strays. As a general rule, if you can pick it up, it is a sociable stray. If you cannot get near the animal or must set a trap to catch it, it is probably feral.
What is a Feral Cat Colony?
Groups of cats that no one claims ownership of are considered to be feral cat colonies. Both sociable strays and feral cats can be found in the colonies. The colonies are often located near office buildings, hospitals, apartment buildings, parks and alleys, basically, anyplace where there is a reliable food source. It is important to note that while the food source is often a person who provides food for the colonies, the cats may also be getting food from trash bins.
What's Wrong with Feral Cats?
Starvation, disease, and injuries resulting in death are common among cats living on the streets. From a humane standpoint, the cats should not have been abandoned to the streets in the first place. Continued abandonments and ample food supplies, coupled with a cat's awesome breeding potential (one female cat may have 3 or 4 litters over the course of one summer), results in the population of feral cats skyrocketing. This means more animals must compete for already limited resources, resulting in even more starvation and disease.
Cat colonies can cause many other problems. Unneutered males have a tendency toward territorial marking. The cats usually choose one yard to defecate in, usually to the annoyance of the property owner. This can pose a potential health threat. Statistics have shown that an average colony may include 16 cats. For a person with allergies, living near a colony can be a miserable experience.
What Can Be Done?
Cats should not be living on the streets. Responsibility for colonies of feral cats rests with people in the community. Owned cats should be kept indoors at all times and spayed or neutered to prevent unwanted births. Cat owners should protect their pets by obtaining vaccinations against rabies and other feline diseases.
The feral cat problem is caused by people abandoning their pets. To stop the supply of feral cats, we must stop abandonment. This is easier said than done. The public's perception that cats can take care of themselves is not true and needs to be changed. Sociable strays and newly abandoned animals are not used to living on the street, nor do they belong there. Finding new homes would be the best option for them. Attempts should be made to place these animals through adoption programs, either at the shelter or through an independent adoption program (requiring the spay or neuter of the animal). While it is possible that these animals may not find new homes and may have to be euthanized, it is better to give them the chance of finding a new home than to condemn them to a brutal street life. Because they are friendly and can be picked up, stray or abandoned cats can become victims of torture or may bite or scratch someone.
Unfortunately, most cats in a colony are feral and have never been touched by a human and would not adjust to living in someone's home. In fact, trying to place a feral cat can be extremely dangerous for the new owner and the cat. A conscientious adoption program will not accept feral cats for adoption.
Relocation of feral cats is extremely inhumane. Relocation amounts to double abandonment. These animals were abandoned once in their lives and now they are being abandoned again. There is no place to take them that doesn't already have a feral cat problem. Relocated cats are at extreme risk of injury and starvation; they don't know where to find safe shelter or food; they are almost never accepted into the existing colony; and they will spend the remainder of their lives as outsiders without the benefit of social interactions with the existing colony.
Feeding and encouraging stray, abandoned, or feral cats without offering shelter, sterilization, and preventive health care is irresponsible. These animals will rely on the food source you provide and you could find yourself host to numerous cats. If these cats are not sterilized and vaccinated against disease, particularly rabies, the problem will continue to grow. Litters of kittens will be born and those that survive will be unsocialized and wild. Distemper, feline leukemia, and other feline diseases will pass between the cats and probably cause a few to suffer and die. The cats can also pass these diseases to yours or your neighbor's pets.
What Should I Do?
To address this
problem, those cats that are not wild should be captured,
sterilized and placed. Those that are feral can be trapped
humanely and euthanized at the animal shelter. PAWS can answer
any questions you may have about feral or wild cats and will set
humane traps to impound the cats. Please call (309)686-7297 for
assistance.
