Today, October 16th, is National Feral Cat Day!
Do any of you have experience or knowledge about feral cats? There's a great amount of information available on the Alley Cat Allies' website, but let me enlighten you, if you don't!
- Outdoor cats and humans have commingled and existed together for more than 10,000 years!
- Feral cats are not socialized with people and generally can not be adopted out!
- Feral kittens, as long as they are socialized early, can be adopted!
- More than 70% of all cats that enter US animal controls and shelters are euthanized.
- Virtually 100% of all feral cats that enter US animal controls and shelters are euthanized!
- Trapping and killing feral cats does not control or fix the feral cat population problem!
- Trapping, Neutering, and Returning feral cats not only controls the feral cat population but also makes sure that they are healthy!
You would never guess it now, but my brother, Pumpkin, used to be a feral kitten! When he wandered into our lives, no one could get really close to him, but eventually he succumbed to being our little dude! Now, five years later, look at him! ;-)
Since moving into our new house, we've also been caring for a small colony of feral kitties that were living on the property before we came! Once the babies are old enough, they'll be trapped and taken to the vets for neutering/spaying, ear tipping, and vaccinating.
Besides offering food and medical care to the ferals, another part of being a feral cat caretaker is providing the little guys with shelter, so because the weather is changing, we've made two insulated housing containers for them to be warm and dry. We used the Roughneck Homes shelters guide since it was easy to make, used pretty cheap materials, and was quite stable!
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| What it looks like inside |
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| What they really look like...bahahaha! Ok, not the Ritz! |
Alley Cat Allies gives a ton of options, both inexpensive and designer quality, for outdoors shelters including pros and cons!
Currently there are 372 National Feral Cat Day events going on all over the world during the next couple of days, including: feral cat education workshops, spay/neuter clinics, thank you parties, and feral cat awareness booths. If you are interested in learning more about TNR or feral cats in general, I encourage you to take a look at all these events and find one that is close to you! :-D
The real question is: what can you do?
Now, not all people are willing or able to care for feral kitties, which is completely understandable! But you can learn how to humanly deal with kitties that are hanging out on your property (if you prefer them elsewhere)! Learn why you shouldn't call animal care and control first, but instead contact one of the many feral cat assistance groups all over the country! Attend a webinar about Helping Cats in your Community (the next occurs on Tuesday, October 23 from 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m). Or become an advocate for both ending the killing of helpless kitties and/or promoting the humane care of ferals!
Thanks for visiting, as always!!! Have a wonderful, feline-friendly Tuesday! :-D
