I feel very good today since a couple of us at my apt. building caught and had spayed one of our beloved feral cats.

She is a pretty calico and had one litter so far. She was caught along with her kittens but she escaped from the rescue home we took them to and made her way back home to our apt. grounds. She was badgered by the male cats, and then she looked as if she got sick and thin. I'm so glad we got her this second time. I didn't leave it to a middle man...I took her straight in the the vet at around 10 am and she was back again by 2:30 pm. She's resting and will stay the night in a large carrier and then placed back into the feral cat community.

The fee...FREE. Isn't that great..and it comes with a rabies shot. The program here in Lake County, Ca. is great for the feral cats. We plan on getting as many of the ferals that live around our apts. and have them done. So far about 6 cats are done. That's a lot of saved kitty lives.

I just wanted to share my good news.

Love,
Prism

How do you guys catch them? We have wild cats that come around and fight with our three cats and try to take over their territory and we try to catch them in one of those wire animal traps and take them to the SPCA to have them fixed and then adopted out. The wild cat that's here these days isn't stupid enough to go in the cage, though, so it's a problem.

We have a lady that feeds them in person and they come to her. Some get very close and a few let her pet them. We used a large pet carrier and placed a bowl of fishy cat food in the back of it. When we spied the cat we wanted we set it near her. The lady came down and cooed to the cat and coaxed her in the carrier and then closed the door.

I was told by the vet today that the feral cats must arrive in a trap and not the carrier. So next time we will transfer from carrier to the trap in a closed room so it won't get loose if it doesn't go well the first time.

I was also told that they wanted $16 for the rabies shot but they released the cat today with asking for that fee. I will pay that fee plus any new fee if they ask for it with the next cat. The vet said she normally charges $100 for spaying the females and I don't know about the males. So it's a good deal to pay the rabies shot fee only.

They can get fixed any time after age 8 weeks.

Oh and there is another couple in our other building ( we have 2 apt. buildings) that is feeding and catching them. They've had great luck and have got about 5 done so far. You must befriend them, feed them, and become the 'cat whisperer' to catch them

Love,
Prism

That's awesome, so glad to hear of others doing this. We're working in our community to facilitate a catch, spay, release program but it's hard to raise funds. The reduced fee is still $75 each and that's a lot for people to pay out of pocket for a stray they catch, and there are always way more than one!
We're also focussed on an info agenda to get people to stop feeding them, they are capable of hunting for food themselves and if there isn't much to eat they don't go into heat and breed but give them a regular food source and you're looking at litter of helpless kittens added to the population. I know it seems kind hearted but I REALLY wish people would not feed strays, it doesn't help them, it actually hurts.

It's impossible to get people here to not feed the cats. So with that in mind I think the only way is to trap, fix, and release.

Maybe you can get your community/city to look at some programs that do a tnr with vouchers people can pick up for free and turn in to the local vets for the procedure. They get reimbursed by the program which has allocated funds for that purpose. Also next month (it's an annual event) people can bring in as many ferals as they want for 1 day event of free spay/neuter without vouchers.

Lake County, Ca. has one of the highest rates of ferals and too many euthanized kittens. They had this program a few years ago but ran out of funds, then they started again with new funding source.

Cats have been domesticated even though many are born in the wild and are feral. It's difficult to think of them as squirrels, skunks, or raccoons.

Love,
Prism

Prism,

This is wonderful news! Good luck with the other moggies

I heard they are doing the same thing in Uzbekistan though they are sterilizing human women instead:


the logic goes that after 2 kids ( "two kids are enough", a woman should not have any kids so sometimes doctors simply take out her uterus without her permission. during some check ups they just give the woman anaesthesia and without telling her , simply take out her uterus because they are of the belief that women should be sterilized after having 2 ( or 3) kids.

[www.theworld.org]

Erm... I think that post belongs in the other alarmist thread instead of this (nice, positive, uplifting) one. :/


Prism, we're having a hard time getting people to stop feeding cats here too but we're promoting an education campaign about how damaging that is to the feral population and people are starting to listen a little bit at least. I think either course of action is of amazing, tremendous benefit. Put them together and we may make some real, long lasting change for the better. I'm hopeful.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2012 02:11PM by coco.

just thought i'd say that the winky face on the last post was a bizarre typo
meant to put quotation marks instead... not sure why the computer did that

<<Erm... I think that post belongs in the other alarmist thread instead of this (nice, positive, uplifting) one. :/>>

i didn't find this thread so nice positive or uplifting

some people say that those in certain countries should also stop "overpopulating"
because they can't take care of their young and they are left in the streets begging
it feels like a slap in the face to people in those countries to hear that

why is this so different?
one species of population deciding whether or not another species should stop populating

If you don't understand this issue there is an abundance on information online about it. I will list the most basic of points here but please, do go and research if you have a genuine interest or even just general confusion about people's concern with feral cat population.

- cats are not a natural species in north america and have an enormous impact on indigenous creatures causing great imbalance in ecosystems. Sort of like purple loose-strife, pretty flowers but the plant destroys wetlands and the creatures that rely on that ecosystem.

- feral cats live short, brutal lives. They die of disease, their kittens die horrible, disease ridden deaths, they live in suffering. It is not a pleasant life.

- feral cats spread disease to other creatures (raccoons, skunks, domestic dogs and cats) like rabies and distemper.

Feral cats who are spayed or neutered and returned to their colonies live much longer lives, particularly the females because the burden of breeding multiple kittens several times a season is relieved, and keep the population of their group stable which prevents other colonies from moving into an area and expanding in number. It's a mercy, very different from what you are describing. Again, I encourage you to look up the groups who do this work and read about how it benefits feral cats.

<just thought i'd say that the winky face on the last post was a bizarre typo
meant to put quotation marks instead... not sure why the computer did that>

I have had the same thing happen to me. But if you look at what you wrote, it almost seems to fit perfectly. Trust that the Universe never errs
(intentional wink)

I think curbing feral cats is a good idea. I cannot equate it with taking out the uterus of a woman without her consent. Animals do not possess the same level of consciousness of human beings (well, most of us, anyway). They also reproduce more quickly (again, most species, from what I recall).

I think the issue of overpopulation is a valid one, if for no other reason than overcrowding and giving your children more attention and resources.

I have to say, it's not like all the women with hoards of children in those cultures were all hankering for multiple babies either. They don't often have access to any sort of health care including birth control and their men are not often interested in curbing either their sexual appetites or dealing with birth control on their end. No one wants to have their parts removed without their consent but those women are not given any choice in the other direction either, being able to limit how many babies they are forced to conceive in a single lifetime. There is nothing so heart breaking as having a child who is sick or hungry or hurt, as a woman and a mother, I think that if I were living in those circumstances and given a choice to have lots of babies or not, I'd choose not. Heck, I live in the first world and I've made that choice!

Anyhow, end of off-topic rant. Interesting discussion but that subject has nothing to do with cats IMO.

One other point in that vincinity: I was observing in a classroom several years ago with a large immigrant population. The teacher told me that the men (who were from the same country as their wives) often wanted to keep their wives pregnant in order to control them. Makes sense to me. Sometimes I would see these women with all these kids hanging off her and wonder why she would want so many children when they are SO expensive to raise these days! This might be one reason why I am seeing this. And then you have religious encouragement, also.

Have you read Alice Walker's books? She has some interesting ideas about sex and control, terrific reads too.

Of course "Color Purple," but I have been meaning to read more by her. Will check it out when I get done here.

Did you read The Color Purple or watch it or both? Very different experiences for me, the book and the movie. I liked them both but in different ways.
Look up Possessing the Secret of Joy, it tore me up emotionally, that story. It's an expansion of the other characters in The Color Purple, particularly the main character's children and her son's African wife. She received a great deal of criticism for writing what she did, because she doesn't come from the African culture directly. Lots of women from there applauded her for it though.
You may also like The Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. I read that recently and enjoyed it very much.

I have seen the movie many times but also read the book (most of it, I should say). I also have the book "Temple of my Beloved" but haven't read it. I have all sorts of literature that I haven't actually read; thank goodness I have put a stop to that and am checking out books instead of just collecting them!

I dunno Prism, it's sort of like a real conversation, kind of goes here and there in a meandering way.
And I think it's OK to be upset by things like this if you don't understand them and think they are somehow harmful. But I really do hope that Ver and others who don't quite get the reasoning behind catch,spay,return will look into it and see how it is designed to benefit feral cat populations, not harm them. It IS a good thing, it does help the cats, it is facilitated by groups who are all about animal welfare and no-kill shelters and homeless animal fostering etc. These are people who care about the animals, not those who just want them gone. If that were the case, the cats would just be rounded up and done away with.