Community Cats

Hello fellow readers.

Today's reading will be focused around the free-roaming cats in your community and how you can help them (should you choose to).

What is the community cat program?

The program is focused around free-roaming cats, or in your case stray feral cats, that have been living outside without human intervention. These "community cats" are taken care of by citizens that provide them with basic needs such as food, water and shelter if applicable. These citizens look after their well-being and ensure that they live out their wild lives as best as possible.

Can you adopt outside cats?

Many of these cats are not socialized, so when they enter an animal facility or shelter and display fractious behavior, it's just that they don't know what we are. This doesn't necessarily mean they are dangerous, but always beware that out of fear, they might defend themselves with biting or scratching. Just like kids, they don't know any better. You must always keep in mind when dealing with these cats, the majority of them have never know human interaction and as the older they get, the harder it can be to socialize them.

Many people tend to think that we should be finding them homes to live in and not "tossing" them back outside. Well, you can't necessarily rehome a community cat, let alone land an adoption. Let me go into depth, when kittens are born, the period of time in which they should start being socialized starts as early as two weeks. It is imperative they are exposed to people, other animals and other environments so they have normal adult behavior. It's never a good suggestion to raise kittens -and puppies- alone. The window of socialization begins to close around the 9-10 week mark. After the window of time closes, they will begin to adapt to "feral" behavior from being outside.

I have seen kittens from 11 weeks to 14 weeks that come in the facility and are totally spicy and feisty. It's not impossible to socialize after the socialization period has passed but it will contain much work as you begin the process of trying to acclimate them into being around humans.

I am definitely not saying you can't adopt them, I have quite a few friendly stray cats that enter the facility and have been adopted out from our adoption program. But you must look over their behavior, they may be friendly but if their kennels are constantly tossed about, they're constantly hanging around near the kennel entrance and seem to try to bolt out every chance they get when the cage door opens, they are exhibiting signs that they would rather be outside. Could you imagine your house in that state?

I am in no way trying to tell you what you should and shouldn't do, but coming from a CCP Team Member, these are situations I run into daily and it is a HUGE part of my job to educate the public.

All in all, we need to focus adoption efforts on cats that have never lived outdoors.

TNR & SNR

Every community cat program is differs from others. In our case, we rely on citizens to help with Trap-Neuter-Return. These efforts consist of humanely trapping the cats. We provide vouchers and supplies that help with costs for spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations. This helps to ensure there are no more kittens being born and relieves the stress of mating and cat fights. Depending on behavior, these appropriate candidates are then released back into the area in which they were found in -if it is deemed safe to do so- to live out the rest of their lives.

Shelter-Neuter-Return consists of cats that are coming into the facility by our Animal Control Officers or Good Samaritans that are bringing in cats through intakes. Essentially, the same efforts are applied as we identify which cats would be best suited for our program.

How do you identify CCP candidates?

Well, there are a list of factors that we look at.

● Friendly and Feral cats living outside, in the target area, that are healthy and not owned by anyone.

● Cats that were abandoned or dumped that are NOT healthy are NOT eligible for this program.

● Generally 3 months or older.

● Behavior!

This goes for cats coming in through intakes or what is being brought in by our Animal Control Officers.

The Vacuum Effect- Why catch and kill doesn't work

Removing cats from an area by killing them or relocating them is not only cruel- there is literally no point. Removing cat populations opens up the area for new cats to move into, in which the population will then rebound and you will end up with an influx of cats all over again. Since there are resources available for the cats in this area, more will just move in and start the whole cycle over once again.

This is why TNR/SNR is so important!!!

How can I help?

Help with TNR efforts! Look into your local shelter or animal organizations, volunteers are always needed. Many programs offer voucher assistance specific for this cause and may provide traps.

Become a colony manager! You can help the cats right in your community by feeding them and TNR'ing .

What help do we offer?

One of the main parts of my job is mitigating complaints between neighbors. Oh boy do I get emails and phone calls about neighbors that go to war with each other because one is feeding cats and the other wants them to go away.

We also help with sterilization surgeries via our voucher program. With that comes the left ear being clipped and vaccines. The left ear tip helps us and you identify the cats in your community so that you know they were ran through a CCP program.

We also offer humane deterrents to help keep these community cats off your lawn. If you are interested in deterrent options, I will cover these in another article.

Here are some good articles to read if you would like even more information!

Thanks for reading!