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I live in a city where there is not a Trap/Neuter/Return program available to help control the population of feral cats. As a result, the quickest and most convenient route for people is to haul feral cats into the humane society for euthanasia. I feed a colony of ferals near my place of work, and the caretaker started to trap them and take them in one by one this morning. I feel absolutely sick about this but I don’t have the resources available to do much about it. I’ve voiced my opinion to our executive director and I’m making efforts to at least save ONE of them, but it’s very stressful for me. I don’t know how I’ll make it through work seeing these poor cats in traps, knowing where they are going at the end of the day. No-Kill shelters will not take ferals of course, and I’m having a hard time finding people willing to take them on as barn cats or mice catchers. This is so frustrating and sad for me, I feel like there is NO support available in my town, and as a result I’m feeling guilty. As if I should do more. I’m afraid to go to work tomorrow to find that my relatively tame, not feral but stray, has been trapped and taken in. I’m trying to get her on my own first, but what if he traps her before I can? I just needed to vent about all of this…
Check online for private cat adoption agencies. Some of them also rescue feral cats & put them in controlled feral cat colonies, and adopt out the more amenable ones as barn cats.
They’re usually privately funded & frequently run by an assortment of interested private individuals.
Google "cats adoption [your state or city or region or county]" and "cats feral associations [your state or city or region or county]"I will try that. Thank you very much. : )
I have the same problem in my neighborhood with the feral cats. Also, my city won’t do anything about it. Our neighborhood has taken on the task ourselves of trapping them. Around here, if the cat is feral, there is a place that will spay/neuter them for free or extremely low fee. They clip the ear so it is recognizable and then returned and set free. Eventually, they will dwindle down and nature will take its course. We have a small wooded area behind our neighborhood and that is where they live and breed. You are doing a very compassionate thing by feeding them. Start up this program your self if you have to. Talk to some local vets and I am sure you will find one good one that is money hungry and sincerely cares about the cats. Maybe they will do the free spay/neuter and the ear clipping. He may have you pay for the anesthesia since that costs him, but that would be all. Then you can set them free again, and continue to feed them. It will be an ongoing process for a while until you have caught them all, but it is worth it. We have noticed there are not alot of kittens running around like there used to be, so it is working. I wish you the best in this endeavor. Don’t give up because I have a tender heart like you towards animals and cannot stand animal neglect or abuse.
I love Trap Neuter Return programs…there is one in Seattle, which is a two hour drive from where I live..unfortunately it’s a really treacherous drive in the winter time, plus the cost of gas and car maintenance and the going would be so slow because I could only take one cat at a time…plus, the clinic only has 100 reservations per month and it’s so hard to get in. But I still try.
That’s a really good idea about talking to local vets about starting one up. I hadn’t even considered that, thank you for the idea!Are there any kittens around? Maybe you could rescue a kitten or two? Even though you can’t save every cat, you might be able to make all the difference for one or two of them, and that is so rewarding. My wonderful cat was rescued as a kitten from a feral colony and she is such a wonderful companion.
I did end up adopting one of the feral kittens. 🙂 thank you for your reply. very nice of you, i appreciate it. I tried taking one of the cats home but it got out of my garage and ran off. Bummer 🙁 I messed that up.
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