Disaster Preparedness

While it looks like Hurricane Earl is going to miss us here in Meriden, it’s never a bad idea to review your disaster preparedness plan. It’s been five years since Hurricane Katrina, when the issue of animal rescue after natural disasters was first brought to the nation’s attention. Thanks to the efforts of both local and national rescue groups, many animals were saved and reunited with their families. However, this disaster also taught us that the best thing you can do for your pet in the face of an evacuation is to take them with you. That’s why it’s important to know your plan ahead of time.

Here in Connecticut we are lucky not to experience many natural disasters, but there are other reasons that homes can be evacuated and you will need to have a plan for your pets in this case. The rule of thumb is that if your home is unsafe for you to remain it, it is also unsafe for your pets. Even if you are told that the evacuation is short term, you cannot be certain when you will be able to access your home and your pets again. Take them with you.

When evacuating with your pets there are items that you must have ready to go. These include:

-Food for all your pets
-Bottled water
-Food bowls
-Cat litter and litter pans
-Pet first aid kit
-Carriers for small animals and leashes/collars for dogs
-Medical records stored in a waterproof container or baggie
-Any medications your pets need
-Current photos of your pets in case you are separated

All pets should wear ID at all times, but in an emergency this is even more important. Microchipping is a safe and permanent form of identification, but if there is no time to have this done all pets should wear a collar with ID tags. The tags should include your pet’s name, your name, your phone number and address, and the phone number of an out-of-state contact person in case your area loses cell reception or phone lines are down. If you know where you are evacuating to, you should also include a temporary tag with the address and phone number of that site. But be aware that collars can become lost and if your pet does not have a form of permanent ID (such as a tattoo or microchip) there may be no way of positively identifying them.

You also need to know where you can bring your pets once you’ve left your home. Most emergency shelters will not take in animals, so it is likely you will need to make other arrangements. Locate and keep contact information for pet-friendly hotels both near your home and out of the area. Try to make arrangements with friends or family to temporarily take in you and your pets.

The best advice anyone can give is to be prepared before there is an emergency. If you’re given an hour to get out of your house, will you remember everything you need for you emergency kit? Will you know where you can take your pets? Will you know who to contact for help? These are things you need to consider before hand or your pets will pay the price. A pet left chained outside or roaming a house in a disaster can be seriously injured, made ill by contaminated food and water, or killed. Your pets deserve the same concern that any other member of your family would. Don’t let your pets down by being unprepared in an emergency.

Links and Further Reading:

Get a free Rescue Alert sticker for your front door.

ASPCA’s recommendations for disaster preparedness

FEMA’s recommendations for disaster preparedness for pets

Take FEMA’s IS-10: Animals in Disaster course

United Animal Nation’s recommendations for disaster preparedness

A Lesson on Declawing and Humane Alternatives

Scratching is a natural, healthy part of cat behavior, but it can be a major concern for many families with cats or who are considering adopting a cat. It’s not hard to understand why. No one likes having their furniture scratched and for people on certain medications cat scratches can be very serious, but you don’t have to make a decision between your sofa and health or having a happy feline companion.

In the United States declawing is one of the most popular solutions to scratching. Many people are surprised to find that this is a procedure unique to the United States. In many European countries (see a full list here) declawing is illegal. It is recognized as an inhumane procedure that harms the cat without providing any benefits.

(View a diagram of the bones of a cat's foot before and after declawing.)

Declawing is not the simple surgery that many believe it is. A cat’s claw is connected to a bone called the distal phalanx, which is amputated along with the deep digital flexor tendon. The closest comparison is having the tip of your fingers cut off at the first knuckle. This leaves the cat with a painful recovery, as cats do not have the option to lay in bed while their mutilated paws heal.

The psychological side effects of declawing are troubling and unacceptable. Claws are a cat’s main defense mechanism and removing it can drastically alter their personality. Some declawed cats become frightened and withdrawn while others become aggressive. Since they no longer have their claws to defend themselves, many turn to the only other means of defense they have: teeth. Declawing can also lead to a problem behavior most owners find more difficult to live with than scratching. After the surgery cats still must scratch in their litterbox and many learn to associate the pain of their damaged paws with the box itself. This can lead them to avoid the box and seek out softer surfaces to relieve themselves on. Scratching is also a means of marking territory and, deprived of this method, some cats will turn to urinating outside of the box in order to scent mark their home.

There are also physical side effects to such a serious surgery. Complications following surgery are extremely common and include hemorrhage, infection, and regrowth of nails. Scratching also allows cats to stretch their back muscles and removing this ability can cause painful seizing of the muscles.

So what are you supposed to do about scratching? Thankfully, there are many effective and, most importantly, humane methods for discouraging your cat from scratching on your furniture.

The easiest thing you can do is provide appropriate scratching surfaces for your cat. Scratching posts can be purchased at any pet store or made yourself. They come in a variety of sizes, styles, and colors. Some cats prefer upright scratching posts and some prefer horizontal surfaces. Traditional scratching posts such as these are great for cats that like, for instance, the corner of your sofa, and cardboard scratchers like these are best for cats who like to scratch on the carpet. Any scratching post can be sprayed with cat nip spray to attract the cat to it and some already come treated with cat nip.

A relatively new solution to scratching is a product called Soft Paws. These are small plastic caps that you apply to each of your cat’s claws, almost like putting on fake fingernails. They are blunt on the end so your cat can’t scratch anything, but they don’t interfere with the cat’s natural movement and don’t cause any discomfort. They are simple to apply on your own and come in many fun colors.

One of the reasons cats scratch is to shed the outer layer of their claws. If you keep their nails trimmed you can help eliminate this need. Trimming nails is a simple procedure you can do yourself with pet nail trimmers purchased from any pet store. Simply extend the cat’s nail by pressing at the base with your finger and trim off the hook of the nail. Be careful to avoid the blood line, which in most cats is easily visible. If you aren’t comfortable trimming your own cat’s nails, your veterinarian or groomer could do it for you.

Declawing is inhumane and not a reasonable reaction to scratching, but by trying some of these alternatives you can live in harmony with your feline friend without sacrificing your furniture or your cat’s wellbeing. Your cat will thank you for it.

Further reading on declawing:

www.declawing.org (Warning: this site contains graphic photos.)

HSUS’s position on declawing

Declawing in the Petfinder library

What To Do If Your Pet Is Missing

One of the most difficult situations pet owners can find themselves in is when you come home and realize that your dog has escaped the yard or your cat tore through the screen and is out wandering. If it hasn’t ever happened to you before, you might not know what to do, so it’s important to have a plan before this happens.

As with most things, planning ahead is important to give you the best chance of finding your pet. Make sure all pets wear collars and ID tags at all times. Along with a rabies tag, you should purchase a personal ID tag that lists your pet’s name and your phone number. Since collars can go missing, however, permanent forms of ID such as microchipping are still strongly recommended.

The most important thing to remember is not to panic. If you’re curled up on your couch weeping, that isn’t helping find your pet. As soon as you realize they’re gone, you have to jump into action to find them as soon as possible.

If your pet has a microchip, the first thing you want to do is report your pet missing with the microchip registry. Most vets and animal control agencies will scan for microchips, which will lead them directly back to you. This is why you should always keep your information in the registry up to date.

Place the smelliest cat or dog food you can find outside your home. Tuna works great with cats. You want something that will draw your pet’s attention back to the house. If they’re just in the yard under a bush where you can’t see them, this alone might bring them out of hiding.

The next step is to get out in the neighborhood and start looking. Bring along pictures of your pet to show neighbors, lost flyers, and anything that makes a sound your pet will come to. Have a box of dog biscuits, a bag of cat treats, and a can of food to tap with a spoon. Anything your pet will recognize and want.

You have to talk to everyone. Stop at every neighbor’s house and ask if they’ve seen your pet, and remember to leave your contact information with them. Ask the postman, the neighborhood kids, anyone. Show everyone the photos of your pet so they know what exactly they’re looking for.

Remember that frightened cats can hide in some pretty small spaces, so search everywhere, even if you don’t think your cat could fit in the space. A flashlight might help you, even during the daytime, look in some of these hidden places. Many cats hide close to home, especially if they’ve always been kept indoors, because they get frightened. Look in all the bushes, under the porch, anywhere that provides good cover to a scared animal.

Hang lost flyers with a photo of your pet and your contact information around the neighborhood and the immediate area. This way anyone you may not have spoken to in person can still help you. Having a color photo of your pet on the flyer is best, but still include a physical description, including the date and area where the pet was last seen.

Once everyone in your area is aware of the missing pet, it’s time to spread out. You need to call all vets in the surrounding area and alert them. Someone may have found your pet injured and brought it to a vet for treatment. You’ll want to call animal shelters and animal control for the same reason. Many people that find a lost animal will bring it to one of these organizations. Visit these places in person to see any animals that might possibly be yours.

Most animal-friendly establishments, from vets to pet stores, have a bulletin board where you can post lost flyers. Take advantage of this and post as many flyers as you can in every store and vet office that you can. While you’re there, take a look for any ‘found’ flyers. Someone might have your pet and is looking for you just as desperately as you’re looking for them.

Newspapers always have a section for lost and found pets, so check the paper regularly. Put in an ad about your lost pet and check for anyone who might have found yours. Some papers will even place these ads for free.

Losing a pet is extremely stressful, but if you put together a plan you greatly increase the chance of getting your pet home again.

Don’t forget to contact MHS if your pet gets lost. We have a bulletin board in our lobby for lost pets, so bring a flyer with you to post there. We can also let you know if we’ve taken in any animals recently that match your lost pet or if anyone has contacted us about a found pet.

Tiny Noses, Tiny Paws, and Solutions to Tiny Problems!

Bringing home a new kitten can be very exciting. All those tiny noses and tiny paws are adorable as you watch your new baby wander around his new home. Kittens are also a bit of extra work and they need special considerations, but with proper care they grow up to be fantastic cats.

There are a few things you should have ready before your kitten comes home. You should have a litterbox and food bowls, toys, dry kitten food, wet cat food, litter, and a scratching post.

Toys and scratching posts are important to making sure your kitten grows up happy and friendly. Starting them with scratching posts young ensures that they’ll have good scratching habits as adults. Scratching is beneficial to the cats because it helps dull their claws and stretch their back muscles. Toys are also great for socializing with your kitten. Just be careful with any toys with strings, as kittens can get tangled and hurt themselves. Only play with these toys if the kitten is supervised. Also remember that kittens can be rough with their claws, because they haven’t learned to be gentle with people yet. You just have to be patient, as they will learn this.

There are many types of dry kitten food, but what we usually recommend is Purina Kitten Chow (in the yellow bag). You want to make sure there is no fish in whatever food you choose for your kitten and that the pieces are small enough for them to eat comfortably. Usually kittens remain on kitten food until six months, when they can switch to the adult formula. Kittens should eat canned food as well. We recommend feeding them wet food twice a day. Remember to look at the ingredients to make sure there is no fish in the food, because even some flavors where it is not the principal ingredient include fish. It is also easier for kittens to eat ground food, rather than chunks. Never give your kitten or adult cat cow’s milk, as it gives them diarrhea.

The type of litter you buy for your kitten depends on your preferences, but it is very important not to buy clumping litter for a kitten. If they lick it off their paws it can clog their intestines. If you want to switch to clumping litter later in life, you should wait until they are at least six months old. Good types of litter for kittens are Yesterday’s News and Feline Pine. These are biodegradable and you can even flush the solids. Make sure to scoop the litterbox daily, as keeping it clean will help encourage your kitten to start good litterbox habits.

When your kitten first comes home you must decide where he’s going to live. Because kittens are small and curious, they’re going to try to climb inside your recliner and explore under your television stand. You don’t want your kitten to get lost or stuck under anything, so the best place for your kitten to grow up is in one room. It can be a bedroom, an office, anywhere he can’t hide too many places. He can come out and enjoy the house while supervised, of course, but when you’re not home he should go back to his room.

Giving your kitten his own room also ensures that he won’t get frightened by all of a sudden having a whole house to run around in. He’ll be able to get used to the way the house smells and sounds before being given the chance to explore. If he isn’t the first pet in the house it also gives the other pets time to get used to the smell of the kitten. Animals should always be introduced slowly and should be supervised at all times.

Kittens adopted from the Meriden Humane Society have already been given their first distemper vaccination, but they will need a second distemper and a rabies vaccination later on. The second distemper vaccination should be given about four weeks after the first and the rabies vaccination should be given at about four months old.

Your kitten should also get neutered, preferably before he turns six months old. Thanks to advances in veterinary technology they can even be altered as early as twelve weeks with very little risk. There are many advantages to neutering your male kitten, including stopping spraying before it starts, lowering their hormone levels so they won’t be as aggressive or territorial, and spaying females will prevent them from ever becoming pregnant or going into heat.

Most of all, have fun with your kitten and try to encourage good behavior from them. Lots of playtime and petting helps them grow into friendly adults that will love you for all the good work you’ve done for them.

The Vast Killing Machine

A small cocker spaniel mix huddles in his blankets, fearful and in pain. Jethro was tied to a tree in Hubbard Park after being stabbed and doused in anti-freeze. Now he is terrified. A large black and white cat crouches in a carrier, hissing and lunging at the bars of the cage when approached. Carrie is a feral cat, unsocialized with people and incredibly aggressive out of fear. These are two animals very much like the four million that are killed in shelters annually. Thankfully they were not brought to a “traditional” shelter, but to the Meriden Humane Society, a no-kill shelter that will care for their medical and behavioral needs, regardless of cost or time. No-kill sheltering is the only effective and humane method of dealing with homeless pets, because it saves lives considered “unadoptable” by other shelters through affordable spay/neuter programs, trap-neuter-release for feral cats, and assessing every animal as an individual.

Shelters kill for many reasons, but the reason most often cited is for space. They claim not to have enough room for all the animals that are surrendered, especially open admission animal control facilities. Tours of these shelters show the opposite, which is that many cages are left empty purposely to make cleaning easier on staff. At the City of Los Angeles Animal Services Department a veterinarian was fired for trying to utilize all cages, due partly to complaints from staff that he created too much work by keeping animals alive (Winograd, “Redemption” 157). When it comes time to decide which animals will be killed to open more cages, the animals selected are easy to predict. Feral cats, aggressive dogs, “bully” breeds of dogs, shy animals, sick animals, animals too young to be without their mother, black cats, large dogs, old animals, animals that are not house or litter trained, and any other animal not deemed perfectly adoptable are the first to go. This ignores the simple fact that there are options for these animals, such as networking with breed rescues, TNR groups, utilizing foster homes for young, sick, or shy animals, and training animals in the shelter. Some groups refer to “kennel stress” as a reason for euthanasia, which is a behavior developed in the shelter as a direct result of improper housing and socialization (Leigh and Geyer 61). Killing an animal because it does not adapt well to living in a cage and being ignored for large portions of the day is horrendous. Shelter killing is a social problem because it is the public and the staff of these shelters that enable the murder of innocent animals to continue. It is only when everyone embraces the no-kill shelter model that we can reach a time when there are no more homeless pets.

The single most important component of the no-kill system is spay/neuter. The average unspayed feral female cat has 22 kittens per year, six of whom will be female and survive to an age where they can reproduce. Each of those six will produce their own 22 kittens per year, which is 132 kittens in a single year from one unspayed female (Johnson 1). Note that those are feral cats, so in domestic animals the numbers will be even higher due to a lack of natural predators. Thankfully, no-kill shelters have created many programs to stop this cycle. The target of these low-cost spay/neuter programs are people without the money to visit a veterinarian unassisted, so the fear that offering these programs will take business from veterinarians is unfounded. Examples of these programs are Best Friend Animal Sanctuary’s The Big Fix mobile spay/neuter clinic, which neuters up to 50 animals daily (No More Homeless Pets 1) and Tait’s Every Animal Matters clinic, which neuters 12,000 Connecticut animals annually (TEAM 1). Shelters that cannot support their own clinic often network with veterinarians to offer lost-cow or free spay/neuter to their adopters.

When a feral cat enters a “traditional” shelter its chance of surviving is nonexistent. Every feral cat to enter a shelter without a trap-neuter-release program is killed. Feral cats are wild animals unsuitable for adoption because they are unsocialized with people, but this does not mean they don’t deserve life. TNR is the process by which feral cats are trapped humanely, neutered, vaccinated, tested for disease, and released into colonies where they are cared for daily. The feral population is then gradually decreased by attrition. This approach has been used in all parts of the country to save feral cats. In West Valley City, Utah the euthanasia rate was reduced by 40% the same year they began using TNR (Monroe 1). In Cape May, New Jersey, TNR has been used for the last ten years to reduce the feral cat population from 450 to only 100 cats (Robinson 1). Stanford University had over 1,500 feral cats living on the campus as of 1989. Thanks to the TNR efforts supported by students, faculty, and members of the community there are now 200 cats on the campus. If TNR had not been implemented, the original 1,500 cats would have been taken to the Santa Clara Animal Control facility and killed. (Stanford Cat Network 2).

No-kill sheltering, despite the name, does not guarantee that no animals will be killed. All healthy or treatable animals will be saved, but animals that are suffering from health issues that cannot be treated or are irredeemably vicious will be euthanized by definition, meaning for the good of the animal. The key to deciding which animals cannot be saved lies with assessing every animal as an individual. This issue was brought to a head in 2008 when a dog fighting kennel was raided in North Carolina. All 145 pit bulls taken from the facility, including 70 puppies, some of which were born after the raid, were killed without being assessed. This course of action was supported by the Humane Society of the United States and PETA, groups who were swiftly called out and presented with evidence by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary as to the potential for rehabilitation of fighting dogs (Best Friends 1). Best Friends took 22 dogs from Michael Vick’s dog fighting operation and successfully rehabilitated them on the National Geographic program Dogtown. This group of dogs, known collectively as the Vicktory dogs, has proven without a doubt that fighting dogs can be saved. Many of the Vicktory dogs are in foster homes and two have been trained as therapy dogs (Saving the Michael Vick Dogs). The 145 dogs killed on the recommendation of the HSUS could have been saved and could have done good in the world had they only been assessed fairly. This especially applies to the puppies who hadn’t even been born in the fighting kennel and had never known abuse.

The no-kill equation has been proven to work across the country. Under Richard Avanzino, the San Francisco SPCA killed zero healthy cats and dogs. The Tompkins County SPCA in upstate New York became the first rural community to become entirely no-kill in 2001. In 2008, 92% of animals entering the Charlottesville Humane Society in Virginia were saved. In Reno, NV, the fastest developing city in the country, the save rate for dogs in 2008 was 92% and 83% for cats (Winograd, “It’s A Wonderful World” 3). No-kill is possible in every type of community, but only if all aspects are embraced.

As for Jethro and Carrie, both are doing wonderfully. Jethro recovered from his wounds and lives with a man who loves him dearly. His owner carries him into the shelter to visit the people who saved his life. Carrie lives in a feral colony with five other cats. She can often be found sitting on top of her dog house, waiting for her caretaker to arrive with breakfast. Both of these animals would have been killed immediately in a “traditional” shelter, but because they were found by a no-kill shelter they not only live, but they are loved and treasured by their caretakers. We could save those other four million animals murdered every year because they aren’t perfect, just by implementing the no-kill model. These animals deserve the chance of a happy life and not dying under the label of ‘unadoptable’. They were not born to please us and should not die because they have failed to do so.


Works Cited

Best Friends Staff. Coaltion Challenges Outdated Policy. December 2008.

Johnson, Karen. “A Report on Trap/Alter/Release Programs”. Stanford Cat Network. 1995.

Leigh, Diane, and Marilee Geyer. One at a Time A Week in an American Animal Shelter. New Delhi: No Voice Unheard, 2005.

Monroe, Estelle. “Living in the Gray Zone”. Best Friends Magazine. December 2003.

No More Homeless Pets Utah. The Big Fix. 2009.

Robinson, Becky. Alley Cat Allies. 2008.

Saving the Michael Vick Dogs. Dogtown. Darcy Dennet. National Geographic. September 5 2008.

Stanford Cat Network. Stanford Cat Network. 2002. < Catnet.standford.edu>

Tait’s Every Animal Matters. Tait’s Every Animal Matters. 2008.

Winograd, Nathan J. Redemption The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America. New York: Almaden Books, 2007.

Winograd, Nathan J. “It’s A Wonderful World”. No-Kill Conference. Washington DC. May 5 2009.

Copulation, Copulation, Copulation

Copulation, Copulation, Copulation: Ending Feral Cat Overpopulation

There is a wild animal that lives in almost every country on Earth, that causes no harm and leaves no trace of its presence, but still nearly 100% of them are killed when brought to animal shelters and animal control facilities. These are stray cats, alley cats, and neighborhood cats. They are feral, wild animals. Trap-Neuter-Release is the only proven effective method for controlling the feral cat population. It saves not only lives, but money for shelters by reducing intake and euthanasia, reduces “annoying” behaviors, and preserves the ecosystem.

Feral cats are cats that have either been born outside or domestic cats that have been abandoned and returned to their wild instincts. They are found in every community in the country and across the world. Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) is the most effective and humane way of managing feral cat colonies. TNR is a process in which feral cats are humanely trapped, neutered, vaccinated, and released into safe areas called colonies. These colonies are maintained by volunteers, either from TNR organizations or simply people who want to help the cats, who leave food and water every day, as well as keep records on all the cats in the colony and monitor for new arrivals.

There is only one way to control the population of feral cats effectively, and that is to neuter all the cats in a colony and release them. By preventing new litters from being born the population will decrease naturally over time. The average unspayed female cat has 22 kittens per year, six of whom will be female and survive to an age where they can reproduce. Each of those six will produce their own 22 kittens per year, which is 132 kittens in a single year from one unspayed female (Stanford Cat Network).

Trap-Neuter-Release has been proven to work in many areas of the country. In Cape May, New Jersey, TNR has been used for the last ten years to reduce the feral cat population from 450 to only 100 cats (Alley Cat Allies). Stanford University had over 1,500 feral cats living on the campus as of 1989. Thanks to the TNR efforts supported by students, faculty, and members of the community there are now 200 cats on the campus. The colonies are watched over by the Stanford Cat Network, which provides medical care, food, and fresh water to all the cats. If TNR had not been implemented, the original 1,500 cats would have been taken to the Santa Clara Animal Control facility and killed. This would not have stopped students from dumping their pets at the end of term, which is how the cats arrived on the campus, and the number of cats would quickly rise again. Using TNR, however, raises awareness of the issue, preventing students from abandoning their pets.

By stopping the animals from reproducing, but not removing them from their territory, they can continue keeping new cats from arriving. Simply killing (note that the word euthanasia does not apply to feral cats because their death not does fit the definition of “putting to death painlessly an animal suffering from an incurable, esp. a painful, disease or condition” [American Heritage Dictionary]) the cats will not prevent new animals from taking over the empty territory. To continue trapping and killing the cats is expensive for animal shelters and does not solve the problem.

A popular argument against TNR is that feral cats do not lead a quality life, and so the only humane thing to do is euthanize them. However, feral cats are vaccinated against disease, neutered, and have a caretaker to provide fresh food and water. They therefore have a much higher quality of life than most wildlife. According to groups such as TNR Reality Check, feral cats meet gruesome deaths on the street when they are hit by cars and many simply go missing. As a comparison, think of the number of squirrels you see dead on the road each week. Does this mean we should trap and kill squirrels because they might get hit by cars? No, that would be absurd.

Because cats that have been through TNR are vaccinated against rabies and distemper they are much less likely to ever contract these diseases. According to Alley Cat Allies, a national TNR organization, the infection rate in feral cats is 4%, the same as in indoor cats, and a study conducted in 1989 (“Experimental Rabies in Cats”) reports full protection against rabies for three years after a single vaccination.

The lives of the cats are also improved by removing the possibility of breeding. Breeding for cats is a violent and painful process, especially for the females. Male cats have small barbs on the penis which stimulate ovulation in the female by scraping against the inner walls of the vagina. This is one of the reasons cats scream during breeding. The drive to mate also causes fighting and yowling among males, which is prevented by neutering them. This keeps the cats safer and more comfortable, as well as appeasing humans living near feral cat colonies that do not wish to listen to such things. Neutering will also prevent cats from spraying, which creates a very offensive odor, and prevents fighting over territory. This makes life more pleasant for people in the area, but if they still don’t wish to live near feral cats, colonies can be trapped and moved to more secluded areas.

As stated, the only alternative to TNR is to kill feral cats. Some can be rehabilitated and adopted out, certainly, but some cats are simply too wild. For cats entering kill shelters there are only three options. They can be adopted, “euthanized”, or returned to their owners. Feral cats require more time to be socialized than the majority of facilities will give them and they have no owner in the traditional sense to claim them. 100% of feral cats to enter kill shelters are killed. By using TNR, all these lives are saved. In West Valley City, Utah the euthanasia rate was reduced by 40% the same year they began using TNR (Best Friends Animal Society).

It is common knowledge that veterinary care has become extraordinarily expensive, but this is not a barrier to TNR efforts. In fact, TNR saves money for taxpayers and shelters. Santa Clara Animal Control, the shelter that would have handled the Stanford University cats had TNR not been implemented, estimates a cost of $70 to hold a feral cat for the required three days, “euthanize”, and dispose of the body. However, they also place the cost to test, vaccinate, and neuter a cat at only $52. The Stanford Cat Network estimates that 41% of cats in Santa Clara County are feral, for a total of 168,463 feral cats. To kill all these cats, at $70 each, would cost $11,792,410. However, to test, vaccinate, and neuter those same cats would cost $8,760,076. This not only saves over three million dollars immediately, but it prevents Santa Clara Animal Control from taking in the offspring of feral cats and having to pay to kill those as well. Because so much money is being saved, the cost of TNR can be taken right from a shelter’s budget.

It is not only large organizations, however, that practice TNR. Any ordinary person can do this with their neighborhood cats. For these people the cost can seem prohibitive, but many low-cost spay/neuter options exist. In Connecticut the most well-known program is TEAM, Tait’s Every Animal Matters. For $70 any cat, even ferals, can be neutered, vaccinated, and given a physical exam. In 2008 alone they sterilized 12,000 cats (TEAM). TEAM services all of Connecticut, but other programs serve specific areas, such as Rehab-A-Cat in New Haven, Creature Kindness in Hamden, and The Greater New Haven Cat Project. Thanks to programs like these any person can afford to care for their colony properly.

Possibly the most insistent opponents of TNR are the people concerned for wildlife, especially birds. This ignores many of the basic facts about cats. Cats are opportunistic feeders. They will go for the easiest prey, which are rodents. Birds are simply too much effort to catch. This isn’t to say that no cats ever kill birds. Certainly some birds are killed by cats, but the major of cause of bird death is habitat destruction caused by humans. In a New Zealand study in which stomach contents of feral cats were examined, it was shown that on average 93% of the cats’ diets consisted of mammals and only 4.5% consisted of birds (Meower Power Feral Coalition). A similar study of feral cats living in urban areas in Pennsylvannia showed something even more startling, which is that 85% of the stomach contents of the cats was garbage, and only 15% was from rodents and birds (Meower Power Feral Coalition). This way of thinking also assumes that birds are more deserving of life than cats. Often the argument that cats are non-native is used, but starlings and sparrows are also non-native (Best Friends Animal Society).

In fact, efforts to protect birds on Macquarie Island, near Australia, by killing all the feral cats went terribly wrong. When the cats were all killed the rabbit population exploded, and the rabbits decimated the plant life that the birds relied on for shelter and food. The birds died. The feral cats turned out to have been protecting the birds, not killing them, and it isn’t only birds that are going to suffer because of the removal of the cats. There are plans to begin dropping poisonous bait starting in 2010 to attract rabbits, rats, and mice, in order to kill every specimen of these three species (Michael Casey – Associated Press). Roger Tabor, chairperson of the British Naturalist Association, said it best when he said, "You have to be very, very careful when…doing anything that changes the ecosystem…This happened in New Zealand. People argued that wildlife there was at risk, and that the terrible cats were causing the problem. So they got rid of them. What happened? The more significant predator turned out to be rats, whose population exploded because you removed the one check on the rat population: the feral cats,” (Best Friends Animal Society). The ecosystem is a very delicate thing, and oftentimes the effects of removing a single species can be disastrous. Far from being a danger to other species, cats are actually protecting them from far more dangerous threats.

If Trap-Neuter-Release is implemented nation-wide then the quality of life for cats will improve and humans will benefit from the lack of “annoying” feline behaviors and the lower cost of TNR. At the Meriden Humane Society there is one feral cat we call No-Tail. She is a beautiful calico that we took in as an older kitten. Her tail was infested with maggots and it had to be amputated. After her recovery she was released into our colony. She is fed wet and dry food every morning, and without fail she can be found in the evening sitting in front of the door waiting for her dinner. She’ll walk off a few steps when the door is opened, and won’t approach the plate until her caretaker pretends to look away from her, but no matter how shy she appears, there is no doubt that she appreciates our presence. In most shelters, this cat would stand no chance. She would have been killed immediately. However, she now leads a fantastic life, free to roam, but can still rely on us when she needs something. Getting involved with feral cats is extremely rewarding, knowing that you personally have saved a life, and it is easy to do yourself. Individuals can practice TNR in their own yards or volunteer for an establish TNR group. Even the smallest donations to TNR groups are appreciated so much, because every dollar or old towel or bag of cat food is helping to save the lives of some of the least valued animals in America.

Works Cited

Casey, Michael. “Removing cats to protect wildlife on island backfires”. January 13, 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090113/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_rabbit_infestation

Meower Power Feral Cat Coalition. Meower Power Feral Cat Coalition. 2008.

Miller, Sandy. “Hiding in Plain Sight: Feral Cat Colonies Thrive With TLC and TNR”. Best Friends Magazine May, 2008. 17+.

Monroe, Estelle. “Living in the Gray Zone”. Best Friends Magazine. December, 2003.

Mountain, Michael. “Blaming the Victims”. Best Friends Magazine July, 2003.

Robinson, Becky. Alley Cat Allies. 2008. www.alleycat.org

Stanford Cat Network. Stanford Cat Network. 2002.

Tait’s Every Animal Matters. Tait’s Every Animal Matters. 2008. www.everyanimalmatters.com