Helping Ferals
The life of feral and farm cats, and their environment, is something which concerns Cats Protection a great deal. Wherever possible, we will work toward rehoming these cats and when captured before 10 weeks of age, usually tame very quickly to become loving and friendly household pets. Unfortunately, when an older cat has lived its whole life away from close human contact, there is little we can do to domesticate it.
Cats Protection advocates a practice called Trap, Neuter and Release. The most humane way to help feral cats has traditionally been to set up feeding stations and shelters for them, and to spay and neuter as many as possible by trapping, spaying/neutering and medically treating, and then returning cats to where they were trapped, if those locations are deemed unsafe or otherwise inappropriate, the feral cats are relocated. Experience has shown us that feral cats we have neutered and released back into their environment rapidly improve in health, condition and life expectancy. As they no longer have to spend their lives following the instinct to breed, very often they do become more approachable and
relaxed about life. Gone is the need to spend vast amounts of energy in territory fights
and protecting mates, so they actually don’t need as much food.
Trap neuter return is the most humane, effective and financially sustainable strategy for controlling feral cat populations. For more information about our work with feral cats, or to become involved yourself please call our branch line. We are always looking for help with trapping and releasing as well as the domestication of kittens or financial support for this vital part of cat welfare.