Cats and Climate Change: Greening Feral Cats Too
February 28, 2008 by Peggy
I’ve been meaning to do a post about greening feral cats, and an article on The Daily Cat reminded me to write about whiskers already. Over at The Daily Cat, there’s an article called Climate Change and Your Cat’s Health. The article says that the kitty birthrate is exploding because cats breed three times a year (as opposed to two) in warmer weather. Also, fleas and ticks are more plentiful in warmer weather.
So, what can you do to help offset the kitty birthrate explosion? Of course, have your cat spayed or neutered. But what about feral cats? The article says we don’t have much control over the feral cat population, but maybe we do.
Kittens born to feral colonies may end up in shelters. Some lucky ones are adopted. However, many never find homes and are euthanized or spend their lives in no-kill shelters. The photos you see were taken at a local no-kill shelter I visited recently.
Have you thought of the impact of a single cat?
There’s food, medical care and cat litter, not to mention toys and feeding bowls. All of that involves packaging and resources. So, while I do love kitties, I think we need to do a better job of controlling the feral (and homeless tame) cat population.
One way to help control the number of feral cats (and their kittens that end up in shelters) is through Trap Alter and Release or Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). While this program has its opponents who say it’s better to euthanize a cat than prolong its tormented life outdoors, other groups, like Alley Cat Allies, believe that a cat can have a meaningful life outdoors.
And once the cat is altered, it no longer has the ability to make the cat population increase, duh. So, managed feral cat colonies are eventually humanely eliminated through removal of kittens and natural death of altered adults.
Here’s more info on how to get involved with TNR from Alley Cat Allies.
•Leave a comment before Friday morning on Jennifer’s post about the First Eco Wedding & Lifestyle Show in Canada, and you could win free tickets.
good post, Peggy! I was the VP for our humane society for years and rant he adoptions of weekends, as well as had the task of helping to euthanize the animals.
I would agree that feral cats are better euthanized, I have seen too many get brought in after they were used as bait for pit bull training, part of an animal sacrifice stopped midway, or just the victim of bored teenagers.
However, having them neutered or spayed makes a big inroad into solving the problem..thanks for this.
Marye, I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
When it’s really cold out, I think about the feral cats : ( A lady in my community manages a couple of feral cat colonies. She takes them food and traps them for neutering. I think it’s great, but the feral cat population does need to be controlled much better.