Stray and Feral Cats Deserve Better

By Published On: 25 March 2014Last Updated: 17 January 2017

Cats have been living outdoors for over 10,000 years on their own, but that doesn't justify dumping a domesticated animal once a human companion has had enough.

What's in this post

"Red" - One of the stray and feral cat population

There are a couple of colonies of stray and feral cats close to where I work. Some of the cats are spayed and neutered; some are not. It seems that people dump off cats here, because they know that they will be fed (mostly by a friend of mine). The cats show varying levels of trust for the humans they come across, but their level of hunger is pretty steady across the lot.

One day last week, my friend filled me in on a new member of the population – a small tabby who seemed to be used to people. In fact, she came right up to my friend to be petted. The tabby looked pregnant when she first showed up about a week prior, and the blood on her backside suggested that she had given birth or miscarried.

As we took our afternoon walking break around the neighboring buildings, we discussed options. Would the tabby be receptive to being caught and taken to the local animal shelter, which has a decent success rate in adopting out young cats? If she really had been pregnant, would she be so eager to leave her babies? Would my friend be able to take her home to keep an eye on her temporarily, even with her own cats to worry about?

As we rounded the corner where traffic passes, we saw something on the side of the road. My heart dropped: it was a dead kitten, still in his sac. He almost certainly had to have belonged to our new tabby, who someone had decided was not worth the care or attention to take somewhere for help. We wondered how the kitten had wound up here; perhaps one of the hawks or seagulls had picked the baby up and dropped him?

Cats have been living outdoors for over 10,000 years on their own, but that doesn’t justify dumping a domesticated animal once a human companion has had enough. If you find yourself in a situation where you can no longer care for an animal, please explore your options. Contact a reputable shelter or rescue group. And, for God’s sake, spay or neuter your companion animal. It’s stunning how quickly two cats can become ten, then twenty, then more.

If you are aware of a colony of cats, Alley Cat Allies’ care guide can help. They even share financial resources for cat care.

Photo credit: Daria Zeoli

7 Comments

  1. --Stu Berryhill September 22, 2014 at 11:18 am - Reply

    “​TNR Researcher” is a fraudulent shill account
    for someone with an axe to grind over something that apparently doesn’t involve
    enough merit to stand on its own. TNR
    Researcher cuts and pastes the same first few posts in any story related to
    feral cats and it’s quite possible at this point that TNR is nothing more than
    a bot. Disregard any and all advice from
    this person and check the facts with your local animal control and/or rescue
    agencies before taking action.

    • tracy hernandez October 19, 2014 at 3:34 am - Reply

      Yes, I just saw a horribly rude and mean post by tnr_researcher on cat channel. Com site under comments of an update on FBI’s new cruelty policy. I was so appalled by the words of this person that I was compelled to do a search on that name (TNR_researcher. Thank you for the clarification. :-D

  2. TNR Researcher March 26, 2014 at 3:00 am - Reply

    Birds are just a minor subset of all the thousands of native animal species (billions of individual animals) that cat-lickers (criminally irresponsible cat-advocates) are annihilating around the world with their man-made invasive species vermin cats.

    Not only are these demented invasive-species house-cats-ONLY “animal lovers” now killing off all Big Cats in all wildlife reserves around the world:

    thenational D0T ae SLASH news/uae-news/big-cat-owners-warned-to-keep-them-acres-away-from-feral-strays

    And for the ultimate example of absurdity and species-conservation irony, now making all moggie-licking residents of the UK the complete laughingstocks of the whole world, they’ve already made their ONE AND ONLY NATIVE CAT SPECIES EXTINCT in the UK (the inventors of that TNR insanity) with their invasive species “moggies”:

    guardian D0T co D0T uk SLASH environment/2012/sep/16/scottish-wildcat-extinction

    “A report, produced by the Scottish Wildcat Association, reviewed 2,000 records of camera trap recordings, eyewitness reports and road kills, and concluded there may be only about 40 wildcats left in Scotland in the wild today. ‘However you juggle the figures, it is hard to find anything positive,’ says Steve Piper, the association’s chairman. ‘The overwhelming evidence is that the wildcat is going to be extinct within months.'” … “However, it is not the loss of habitat that is causing the current cat crisis in the Cairngorms. It is the spread of the domestic cat.” … “‘Essentially the Highland wildcat is being eradicated by an alien invasive species: the domestic cat.'” (report quoted from 2 years ago, they are no-doubt extinct by now)

    As well as killing off all their inland River Otters in England (and elsewhere) with their cats’ parasites:

    wildlifeextra D0T com SLASH go/news/otter-toxoplasmosis D0T html

    As well as cats’ parasites killing off all rare and endangered marine mammals on all coastlines around the world (worse than any oil-spill that has ever existed or could even be imagined):

    news D0T msn D0T com SLASH science-technology/deadly-cat-feces-killing-thousands-of-marine-mammals

    environmentalhealthnews D0T org SLASH ehs/news/hawaiian-monk-seals

    Plus these cat-licking “animal lover” psychopaths and sociopaths are also killing off all the Mountain Lions (Cougars, Puma, Endangered Florida Panther, etc.), and all other native cat species in North America:

    rapidcityjournal D0T com SLASH sports/local/feral-cats-pose-threat-to-birds-lions/article_8ec451c9-4b03-55a3-baa7-71ac577905cb D0T html

    But now these cat-lickers are even killing off rare whales and causing massive birth-defects in the indigenous Inuit people who depend on seal-meat for their very survival. Seals that were infected (and are also dying-off) from these cat-lickers’ cats’ parasites.

    Cat parasite found in western Arctic Beluga deemed infectious
    news.ubc D0T ca SLASH 2014/02/13/bigthaw/

    Let’s thank these psychotic bible-home-schooled cat-lickers for all the fine work they do for being such fantastic “animal lovers”, shall we? THEY JUST LOVE CATS SO MUCH! So caring! So thoughtful! So FULL of love for living things! So much so that they will even sacrifice whole races of humans to death-by-birth-defect to prove how much they love their cats.

    I’d love to thank them all, each with a gift of a solitary-confinement prison-cell — FOR LIFE. Better yet, for their VAST ecological crimes and sins against all of nature and all of humanity, hanged-until-dead would be a far more fitting “gift” for them AND the whole planet. That used to be the punishment for engaging in bio-warfare against the human population and all other animal life in any country. I say bring it back — special, just for them.

  3. TNR Researcher March 26, 2014 at 2:59 am - Reply

    You are aware, aren’t you, that out of ALL types of pet-owners it is cat-advocates that are directly responsible for the suffering deaths of more billions animals and more thousands of species of those billions of animals than any other pet-owners on the face of this planet. You are aware of this, aren’t you?

    If not having animals killed for their own consumption (non-vegans), then they are having animals killed for their cat’s consumption by paying others to kill animals for them and then cramming those animals’ dead and tortured bodies into cans and bags and having a “CAT-FOOD!” label slapped on them, and if they let those cats outside then they are senselessly torturing to death billions of thousands of species of native animals yearly just for their cats’ play-toys (no other purpose than that).

    Cat-lickers (criminally irresponsible cat-advocates) are A TRIPLE-THREAT TO ALL ANIMAL LIFE ON EARTH.

    How many more animals are you going to have senselessly killed today for your “oh, but cats make me feel good!” entertainment?

  4. TNR Researcher March 26, 2014 at 2:57 am - Reply

    Can you spell “HOAX” & “FRAUD”?

    These TNR cat-lickers (criminal outdoor-cat-hoarders) who re-spew all the highly manipulative and deceptive lies and misinformation of Alley-Cat-All-Lies didn’t do their due-diligence research.

    Here’s the very first link that any of their followers and supporters should have checked out.

    http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/alley-cat-allies-in-bethesda-md-107/financial

    They don’t even meet the criteria to qualify for being a reputable charity organization under “Better Business Bureau” standards. While Becky and all her close friends are laughing all the way to the bank to the tune of $5M in assets with a $6M income.

    They all flew to Hawaii not long ago for another “cat-conference” because, for some unknown reason, they had to be there to discuss these issues. (I wonder how many cats could have been saved from freezing to the pavement this last winter from the price of all their flights and lodging and luxurious food, drink, and entertainment in Hawaii? But these TNR group-leaders were so warm and having so much fun! Can you blame them?)

    For another good laugh check out how much Becky and her friend pay themselves with everyone else’s money.

    http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/alley-cat-allies-in-bethesda-md-107/governance-and-staff

    They have now been launching some damage-control with their new “Future Five” program to prove to everyone their true and trustworthy intentions. Awarding a princely $5,000 grant to some deserving group. $5,000 is only 0.1% of their assets, 0.08% of their yearly income. They might as well just sh** in the face of every last fool that ever donated to them. LOL

    Support yet another organization that exploits and perpetuates the suffering of animals for their own personal financial gain, then try to sleep well at night.

    This is even more “rich”. I recently discovered that anyone who posts a request for financial help on Alley-Cat-All-Lies Facebook pages is then referred to this page of theirs: http://www.alleycat.org/economy

    Not ONE LINK on that page refers to getting actual financial help from Alley-Cat-All-Lies themselves. And even more rich, their very first resource that they send people to, to feed their feral cats, is a national food-bank organization where people donate food to feed needy humans. They are taking the food out of the mouths of needy human infants to feed their diseased vermin cats.

    I don’t think I’ve seen a sadder and more sorry case of “charity” in my whole life before this.

  5. TNR Researcher March 26, 2014 at 2:57 am - Reply

    Here’s another good TNR facts site that was put up not long ago. I just ran across this a few days ago.

    tnrfactcheck D0T org SLASH tnr-handbook D0T html

    There are tomes of links and information there that give to everyone the clearest picture of all of what TNR is really all about. Everyone involved in TNR might be particularly pleased with the photos there of what their loving euthanasia by “attrition” truly looks like.

  6. TNR Researcher March 26, 2014 at 2:56 am - Reply

    The TNR CON-GAME

    FACT: Trap & Kill failed because cats cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control.

    FACT: Trap, Neuter, & Re-Abandon (TNR) is an even bigger abject failure because these man-made ecological disasters cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control, and they also continue to cruelly annihilate all native wildlife (from the smallest of prey up to the top predators that are starved to death), and the cats continue to spread many deadly diseases that they carry today — FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO VACCINES AGAINST THEM. Many of which are even listed as bioterrorism agents. (Such as Tularemia and The Plague — Yes, people have already died from cat-transmitted plague in the USA. No fleas nor rats even required. The cats themselves carry and transmit the plague all on their own.)

    FACT: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ HUMANE ABOUT TNR. Nearly every last TNR’ed cat dies an inhumane death by road-kill, from cat and animal attacks, environmental poisons, starvation, dehydration, freezing to death, infections, eaten from the inside-out by parasites, etc. And if very very lucky humanely shot to death or re-trapped and drowned (the two most common methods employed on all farms and ranches to protect their gestating livestock’s offspring and valuable native wildlife dying from cats’ Toxoplasmosis parasites). This doesn’t begin to count the thousands of defenseless native animals that cats skin alive and disembowel alive for their daily and hourly play-toys. And pitting cat against cat to fight-to-the-death for territory is ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENT than those who run criminal dog-fight rings to see who wins. They spend YEARS in jail. IT IS A HIGHLY PUNISHABLE CRIME TO FORCE *ANY* DOMESTICATED ANIMALS TO FIGHT EACH OTHER FOR THEIR VERY SURVIVAL.

    FACT: The only difference in destroying cats immediately and humanely instead of trapping, sterilizing, then releasing them to an inhumane death and forcing them to fight-to-the-death for survival; is that money isn’t going into Becky Robinson’s Alley-Cat-All-Lies pocket, or an HSUS or SPCA board-member’s pocket, veterinarian’s pocket, cat-food company CEO’s pocket, or a drug-company CEO’s pocket. And that’s the ONLY difference! Support yet another organization that exploits and perpetuates the suffering of animals for their own personal financial gain, then try to sleep well at night.

    FACT: These manipulative, deceptive, and deceitful TNR proponents are now clipping cats ears ONLY. WITHOUT vaccinations nor sterilizing them. They do this to save money and protect their outdoor hoarded cat colonies from being trapped and euthanized by the state because the clipped-ear shows officials that they have been sterilized and vaccinated. Why pay $140 for each cat and all that time when just a trap and a simple snip of scissors on each one can also protect their hoarded cats from being destroyed? (I have absolute proof of this.)

    FACT: Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any other caused by man. Cats are even worse than an oil-spill of continent-sized proportions. They not only kill off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastlines from run-off carrying cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found. From smallest of prey gutted and skinned alive for cats’ tortured play-toys, up to the top predators that are starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. (Precisely what cats caused on my own lands not long ago.)

    FACT: Hunted To Extinction (or in this case, extirpation of all outdoor cats) is the ONLY method that is faster than a species like cats can exponentially out-breed and out-adapt to. Especially a man-made invasive species like these cats that can breed 2X-4X’s faster than any naturally occurring cat-species.

    FACT: In _FOURTEEN_YEARS_ Alley Cat ALL-LIES branch of NYC have only reduced feral cats in their own city by 0.08% to 0.024% (as the months go on that percentage becomes more insignificant), allowing more than 99.92% to 99.976% to exponentially breed out of control. Here’s how Alley-Cat-ALL-LIES’ deceptive math works: If you TNR 4 cats and 3 get flattened by cars this translates to 75% fewer feral-cats everywhere. Alley Cat ALL-LIES of NYC can’t even reduce cats in their own city, yet they promote it as a worldwide solution. Then even bigger fools fall for it and promote it.

    FACT: When researching over 100 of the most “successful” TNR programs worldwide, JUST ONE trapped more than 0.4%. Oregon’s 50,000 TNR’ed cats (the highest rate I found) is 4.9% of all ferals in their state. Yet, by applying population growth calculus on the unsterilized 95.1% they will have trapped only 0.35% of all cats in their state sometime this year. Less than 0.4% is a far cry from the required 75%-85% to be the least bit effective.

    FACT: Their mythical “vacuum effect” is a 100% LIE. A study done by the Texas A&M University proved that any perceived “vacuum” is just the simple case that CATS ATTRACT CATS. Get rid of them all and there are no cats there to attract more. I proved this myself by shooting and burying hundreds of them on my own lands. ZERO cats replaced them FOR FOUR YEARS NOW. If you want more cats, keep even one of them around, more will find you. That university study also found that sterilized cats very poorly defend any territory. Non-sterilized cats, being more aggressive, take over the sterilized cats’ resources (shelter & food if any). If there is any kind of “vacuum effect” at all, it is that sterilizing cats cause non-sterilized cats to restore the reproductive void.

    FACT: During all this investigation I have discovered something that is unfaltering without fail. Something that you can bet your very life on and win every last time. That being — IF A TNR CAT-HOARDER IS TALKING THEN THEY ARE LYING. 100% guaranteed!

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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