The Street Is No Place For a Cat
Do you know the difference between a “stray” cat and a “feral” cat?
Stray cats have been abandoned and are homeless. They still retain and may even need human interactions.
Feral cats are domesticated cats who are fearful of humans because they have been fending for themselves from a young age and never had the opportunity to socialize and learn to trust people.
Feral cats live short, hard lives on the streets. They never die of “old age.�
Contagious diseases such as herpes viral conjunctivitis, feline AIDS, leukemia, and infectious peritonitis are common in cats left outdoors.
Minor cuts or puncture wounds can turn into raging infections and abscesses.
Others die from blood loss or anemia because of worms, fleas, and untreated injuries.
If cats miraculously escape these perils, they may still fall prey to agonizing deaths at the hands of cruel people.
Across the U.S., free-roaming cats are mutilated, shot, drowned, poisoned, beaten, set on fire, sacrificed, stolen by bunchers for medical experimentation, or used by dogfighters for target practice or as “bait.�
Why are there feral cats? If they don't have early contact with people, the kittens of stray or feral cats will become feral, too fearful to be handled or adopted. Since a female cat can become pregnant as early as five months of age, the number of feral cats in a neighborhood can rapidly increase if cats aren't spayed or neutered.
And as with so many other environmental banes, the root of the problem neatly traces back to a single source:
HUMANS!
Feral cats are also a threat to wildlife.
The American Bird Conservancy estimates that free-roaming cats kill millions of birds and small mammals in the U.S. every year, including endangered species such as the least tern and the piping plover.
Outdoor cats transmit rabies, toxoplasmosis, typhus, plague and other viral and parasitic diseases to both wildlife and humans.
According to the society's executive director Michael Hutchins: “Allowing free-ranging pet and feral cats to roam outside, breed unchecked, kill native wildlife and spread disease is a crime against nature.� Source: Nation Wildlife Federation
Why Can't Animal Shelters Rescue Feral Cats? Animal shelters already care for and try to find homes for untold thousands of lost, injured, and abandoned cats, in addition to Pet cats whose owners are unable or unwilling to keep them.
Would It Be Better If Feral Cats Were Euthanized? Opinions vary on this. Some people feel sorry for feral cats because they are fending for themselves. Others are annoyed by the cats' behaviors and want them removed. But the majority of people don't feel that feral cats should be euthanized.
So, What Can We Do?
First of all, cats do not belong on the streets. If you intend to adopt a kitten, plan to keep it indoors.
We can start by being responsible pet owners. If you adopt a cat, do the right thing and have it spayed or neutered.
If you are the one who is adopting out kittens, make sure that you require the person adopting the kitten to have it spayed or neutered. If you need to charge a refundable fee until you receive written proof of the spaying or neutering, then by all means do so.
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.� --Albert Einstein
Join us in our efforts to at least make a dent in cat overpopulation in our neighborhoods.
Grants take time and action needs to be taken
NOW!
Will you help?
https://www.gofundme.com/preventalitter