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The Truth About Feral Cats
(Printable PDF version)
A stray cat is not a feral cat.
A stray is a cat who has been abandoned or who has strayed from home and become lost. Stray cats can usually be re-socialized and adopted.
A feral cat is an unsocialized cat.
Either he was born outside and never lived with humans, or he is a house cat who has strayed from home and over time has become unsocialized to humans.
Feral cats should not be taken to local shelters to be adopted.
Feral cats are not pet cats, and they will be killed at most shelters. Because they’re unadoptable, they sometimes don’t even make it to the shelter, but are killed
in the animal control truck. Even no-kill shelters are not able to place feral cats in homes.
Feral kittens can be adopted.
Feral kittens can often be adopted into homes, but they must be socialized at an early age. This is a critical window and if they aren’t handled in time, they will remain
feral and therefore unadoptable.
Feral cats can have the same lifespan as pet cats.
And they contract diseases at about the same low rate. The incidence of disease in feral cat colonies is no higher than among owned cats.
Feral cats are not the cause of wildlife depletion.
Studies show that the overwhelming cause of wildlife depletion is destruction of natural habitat due to man-made structures, chemical pollution, pesticides, and drought — not
feral cats.
Trap and remove doesn’t work.
Not only would you have to continue to remove cats, this process is extremely costly. Other cats simply move in to take advantage of the available resources and they breed
prolifically, quickly forming a new colony. This “vacuum effect” is well documented.
Trap-Neuter-Return does work.
No more kittens. Their numbers gradually go down. The behaviors associated with mating, such as yowling or fighting, stop. The cats are vaccinated and they are fed on a regular
schedule. This ongoing care creates a safety net for both the cats and the community.
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About Stray and Feral
Cats
Feral cats.
They sleep in our parks, military
bases, alleyways, farmyards, barns, college campuses,
and deserted buildings. Abandoned by their human families
or simply lost, unsterilized housecats eventually
band together in groups called colonies. Without human
contact for a prolonged period, the colonies become
feral. They make homes wherever they can find food,
be it in dumpsters or under a boardwalk. Mothers teach
their kittens to avoid humans and to defend themselves.
And their numbers steadily increase, even if meager
scraps are all the food to be had.
No one knows exactly how many feral cats live in
the United States, but the number is estimated in
the tens of millions. They are often wrongly portrayed
as disease-ridden nuisances living tragic lives and
responsible for endangering native species. As a consequence,
feral feline communities too frequently are rounded
up and because they have had little or no human contact
and are thus unadoptable they are killed.
But removing and killing feral cats does not reduce
feral cat populations. It only provides space for
more cats to move in and start the breeding process
again. Unspayed, feral female cats spend most of their
lives pregnant and hungry, as will the female kittens
that survive. Unneutered tomcats roam to find, and
fight to win, mates, and often suffer debilitating
wounds in the process. Half of all kittens born in
feral colonies die within their first year.
Alley Cat Allies has a solution that not only reduces
feral cat populations, but also improves and extends
the lives of colony members: Trap-Neuter-Return.
Read Do
you believe she deserves to live....even though she
is wild?
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Trap-Neuter-Return
Trap-Neuter-Return is
a comprehensive plan where entire feral colonies are
humanely trapped, then evaluated, vaccinated, and
neutered by veterinarians. Kittens and cats that are
tame enough to be adopted are placed in good homes.
Adult cats are returned to their familiar habitat
to live out their lives under the watchful care of
sympathetic neighborhood volunteers.
Trap-Neuter-Return works. Cat populations are gradually reduced.
Nuisance behaviors associated with breeding, such
as the yowling of females or the spraying of toms,
are virtually eliminated. Disease and malnutrition
are greatly reduced. The cats live healthy, safe,
and peaceful lives in their territories.
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About Alley Cat Allies
Alley Cat
Allies is dedicated to changing ineffective
animal control practices like trap and remove, and
to providing resources for the thousands of caring
individuals and organizations in the United States
and Canada who have stepped forward to feed, sterilize,
and care for feral cat colonies.
And we need your help. With your donation, Alley
Cat Allies can continue the struggle to stop the killing
and to end feline overpopulation. Trap-Neuter-Return,
the humane, nonlethal method of population control,
is more effective than trap and kill, and it is more
reflective of a caring human community.
Here’s what we’re doing to save
our feral friends
Alley Cat Allies (ACA) actively promotes Trap-Neuter-Return
as the accepted method of feral cat population
control throughout North America. Community groups,
public policy makers, veterinarians, military personnel,
wildlife biologists, humane organizations, and animal
shelters turn to ACA for guidance and expertise in
developing policies and programs to effect humane
population control of feral cats.
Become an Alley Cat Ally, Friend, Sustainer, or Feral
Filanthropist. You can help ACA continue the fight
to protect feral and stray cats in North America.
Your donation could save one or many cats’ lives.
Please send
your contribution today to start receiving the
award-winning newsletter Alley Cat Action and regular
action alerts that can make the biggest difference
for a lot of cats.
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About
this Website
This website is broken down into five sections to
help you find what you need.
- About Us
offers an in-depth look at Alley Cat Allies, our
mission and vision, our annual report as well as
our accomplishments.
- Donate Now gives you a place to financially support our work.
Make a general contribution, honor a loved one,
acknowledge a special occasion, donate your vehicle,
or explore ways of remembering Alley Cat Allies
in your will or estate plan.
- Get Involved provides one central location
where you can go to act on critical issues facing
feral cats, find your legislators or read Alley
Cat Allies' press releases.
- Resource Center is the one place you should visit to find answers
to your questions about feral cats. Look through
our factsheets and articles, read our newsletters,
or find a feral cat group in your area.
- Press Room provides the media with information about Alley Cat Allies, including contact information and press releases.
- Marketplace lists all of the items Alley Cat Allies has for
sale, gives you a place to order ACA checks and
credit cards, and links to different companies that
sell traps and other feral cat equipment.
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