There really is a day set aside for everything, I think, not that I mind in this case. I discovered via Balloon Juice that today is National Feral Cat Day, and I’m bringing attention to it in part because feral cats are a huge part of my life.
I’m a cat person. I didn’t discover this until I was in my 30s and in a relationship with a cat person, but it’s definitely the case. 4 cats reside indoors with Amy and me at Casa Letter-Spears, and 3 of them were rescues. But we care for another 5 who live outdoors and have gotten a total of 13 fixed over the last 15 months, of which 5 have been socialized enough to become pets. I’d like you to meet 5 of the ferals we’ve gotten fixed.
They are, clockwise from top left, Weebay, Stranger Socks, Missy Cat, Black and White Kitty, and Hissy Cat. (When your major goal is getting them fixed, you don’t put a lot of thought into names, I’m afraid.) They fall in the range from full-on feral (as in, won’t come near you at all) to shadow cats (human-acclimated but probably won’t ever become a full-on pet).
Our neighborhood is overrun with feral cats, due in part to neighbors who don’t see the need to catch and fix them and also due to a county policy which argues that trap, catch and release is cruel. I’ll reserve commentary on either of those notions until I’m among friends and have been drinking.
But when we moved to this house 15 months ago, the only noises we heard in our yard were those of cats screeching and mating and tussling with each other and with the raccoons and possums that also live in the neighborhood. (By the way, we’re not in the boonies here–we live in fully paved south Florida.) Since we’ve trapped and fixed these cats, and since we’ve started giving them a steady diet of food, we now have songbirds in the yard, and evening visits from the raccoons (cute!) and possums (not so much). And we don’t have to worry about outside ferals invading the yard, since the ones who have taken up residence here patrol their territory pretty fiercely.
And what’s more, we’ve seen some changes in the cats. Some of the cats who would avoid us completely don’t run anymore when we go outside, and those who were curious at first have become almost friendly. The one thing they aren’t is a menace to the neighborhood. And there’s no reason they need to be treated as such. If you’re a friend to cats, check out Alley Cat Allies and see if there’s something you can do locally to help limit the stray and feral populations.
3 responses
Yes! to helping the stray cats of the world (there a million in my neighborhood in NYC too, sadly).
I think it’s great that you’re helping these cats. More people should support the Animal Shelters toward the ultimate goal of increasing adoptable pets’ transitions to good homes and making the shelters all no-kill shelters. Your “Black and White Kitty” looks just like my Hennessy! He was an adopted from the Capital Area Humane Society (Central Ohio) in April 2009. He’s a large cat black and white cat with identical markings to those of the cat in the picture in your article. He is a totally perfect house cat, too. Wow! Thanks for publishing your interesting article and good luck with your cats! PS His photo is my current Facebook photo and Twitter Avatar if you would like to see the resemblance 🙂
San Antonio, TX has a large population of feral cats and the county has adopted a catch and release program, where strays are spayed/neutered and vaccinated. Some local universities even have organizations that care for the strays that take residence on campus. I wholeheartedly support catch and release–the cats are healthier, the population is better controlled, and cats that would languish in shelters only to eventually be euthanized are able to have a successful life in the outdoors.
Happy feral cat day (belated), and I wish you luck in your mission to help the cats in your neighborhood!
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