You can tell the difference between a domesticated and feral cat by the way it reacts to people. Feral cats have never had contact with people when they were young so they do not associate people with anything positive. People have negative impressions of feral groups because these cats tend to spray, be vocal and breed uncontrollable. But, let's face it. The cause of feral cats are... people.
Feral cats are a big concern in the animal welfare community. We are concerned for their health and safety but also for the public's health and safety as well. People have spent years researching the best way to deal with feral cats. We have proof that the "catch and kill" method simply does not work. That cat may be removed but now another cat will move in.
Nature abhors a vacuum. This is very true in the case of ferals. When we create a "hole" by removing cat from a feral group it has consequences for the rest of the community. Fighting, spraying and breeding increases.
Our new method to deal with ferals is called TNR or Trap, Neuter and Return. In this case we use humane traps to catch all the cats in a colony, spay or neuter them and return them to the area they are used to. This causes them to settle in and not become as territorial, the spraying decreases and of course, the breeding stops. Internationally, we have created a way to identify an altered cat called ear tipping. The top tip of the left ear is removed during altering. This tells anyone who is doing TNR that this cat is already part of a managed community and is altered.
The best resource for feral cats and their management comes from a group online called Alley Cat Allies at www.alleycat.org. This is a super website to assist you in finding more information about TNR and organizations in your area that are helping to alleviate the issues of feral cats.
Feral cats are a big concern in the animal welfare community. We are concerned for their health and safety but also for the public's health and safety as well. People have spent years researching the best way to deal with feral cats. We have proof that the "catch and kill" method simply does not work. That cat may be removed but now another cat will move in.
Nature abhors a vacuum. This is very true in the case of ferals. When we create a "hole" by removing cat from a feral group it has consequences for the rest of the community. Fighting, spraying and breeding increases.
Our new method to deal with ferals is called TNR or Trap, Neuter and Return. In this case we use humane traps to catch all the cats in a colony, spay or neuter them and return them to the area they are used to. This causes them to settle in and not become as territorial, the spraying decreases and of course, the breeding stops. Internationally, we have created a way to identify an altered cat called ear tipping. The top tip of the left ear is removed during altering. This tells anyone who is doing TNR that this cat is already part of a managed community and is altered.
The best resource for feral cats and their management comes from a group online called Alley Cat Allies at www.alleycat.org. This is a super website to assist you in finding more information about TNR and organizations in your area that are helping to alleviate the issues of feral cats.
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