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LEFT for pictures-of-cats.org

Feral Cats

unwanted cats

Feral cats - photo ©Feral Indeed! - published under creative commons license


We'd love to hear your views and solutions! Click link to tell us:

 I'd like to make a submission


Some of the best articles on this site are made by visitors here

Our Problem

This problem is ours. Sometimes you read stories about people complaining about stray cats. Or, when reading blogs or comments on blogs, you notice people making derogatory remarks about stray cats and how they spread disease and upset the neighborhood etc. There is no point moaning about feral cats as if we are blaming the cats for the problem. The problem is ours in the same way as is obesity or bad debt or any other human condition. The difference with these cats is we are hurting them instead of ourselves. If we fail to take full responsibility for our feline companions they more often than not end up being destroyed by us.

feral cat sign

photo ©Feral Indeed! - published under creative commons license

Steve Wozniak

What prompted me to build this page was a news item (via Business Wire) about Steve Wozniak (Apple founder with Steve Jobs) who has teamed up with Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) to heighten awareness of the this problem in the Santa Clara county. He did this by presenting a video now on YouTube. It's very good. Here it is......




Trap, neuter, return

Of course the problem is nationwide and indeed worldwide. It has been said by people wiser than me that the measure of how civilized we are is how we treat the vulnerable and less fortunate than ourselves. The vulnerable includes animals and that includes cats and cats includes abandoned cats (they were once companion cats or their parents or grandparents were). It has been found that the most human way to deal with them is to trap, neuter and return (TNR). {This could be refined by this: TTVARM: trap, test, vaccinate, alter, release, maintain - courtesy Sarah Hartwell}. Taming wild feral cats and kittens is possible.

"Return" in this context means to rehome tame kittens/cats and to return the truly wild domestic cats to the wild of the urban jungle. Click on this link to see how to catch a stray cat. Stray cats become feral when they return to the wild. Although some would say that a feral cat is a domestic cat that was born in the wild but I don't agree with this definition. The term "feral cats" means, I suggest, true feral cats who have been born in the wild and must therefore be left there and domestic cats that have become feral and can be rehomed once their socialization skills are rekindled. It is worth mentioning that wild cats are frequently tamed to become domestic cats and hunting cats. An example of the former is the Serval and of the latter is the Cheetah. So, I am not sure that true feral cats cannot be tamed and domesticated.

Here are some more links to posts that have been added over time:

Hate them? Care For Them? Feel For Them? Want Rid of Them?

Please tell us your views, stories, tragedies and successes here. And if you have any ideas to solve the problem we'd like to hear them. Please scroll down to below the form to see the submissions by visitors or myself.

Got feral cats near you? They bother you? You help them? We'd love to hear.

Yup, we'd really like to hear your views on feral cats and/or your personal experiences. Scroll down to below the form to see the submissions.

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What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...You can add your views to the submissions by making a comment; just click on the link at the base of the article.

Feral Cats  starstarstarstarstar
There was a feral cat near my neighbourhood. She was a was a beautiful tawny coloured cat. I have seen someone throwing objects at her. I was very upset ...

Feral Cats of North Hills, Ca  starstarstarstarstar
After seeing a bunch of kittens watered to death, after I told the woman who hates cats to stop, I decided to trap every cat I could on a HUD property ...

My Feral Cat Khloe  starstarstarstarstar
Back this summer while at work this little malnourished kitten showed up out of nowhere. She wasn't aggressive or afraid of people, she walked right up ...

My Feral Cat Was Saved From A Compactor  starstarstarstarstar
..A long story so I'm going to shorten it, so a long, short story!

My sister's boyfriend works at a tip. They have a compacter machine and after they ...

Our Feral Cats  starstarstarstarstar
Well, we (my husband, mother & I) live on the same property in Springtown, Tx, which is 10 acres. We started out feeding 4 feral cats, 1 female and 3 ...

Flower My Feral Cat  starstarstarstarstar
I have already posted the story of Flower, however I do have other questions. She will follow me around the whole house all the time and lay near me but ...

I Love My Feral Cat Aslan  starstarstarstarstar
My cat came to me as a beat up feral living in a forest with other abandoned cats I was rescuing..incluing a litter he may have fathered. He was very hurt ...

Monty  starstarstarstarstar
I live in West Allis, Wisconsin. There is a feral cat problem in my neighborhood. It was brought to my attention that there were kittens living under ...

Sucker for My Feral Cats  starstarstarstarstar
Here's my story, one day as I was rounding the corner of the building where I work, I noticed a cat with baby kittens behind her. Good thing I was driving ...

My partner and I support our feral cat population here in Richland, Georgia  starstarstarstarstar
My partner and I support our feral cat population here in Richland, Georgia. We have worked with Allied Cats in Columbus, Georgia who graciously supplied ...

Socializing Feral Cats  starstarstarstarstar
I took in a feral black and white 2 yr old. My friend fed her and her family for the first two years. She came up on her deck one night and gave birth ...

My Lovely Little Man  starstarstarstarstar
I found this little guy on the corner of my neighborhood one winter night. He was anemic from all the fleas on him and he was no more than a week old. He ...

Cat Without a Nose  starstarstarstarstar
I was never really was a cat person. Then about 8 yrs ago we moved to National City....Feral CAT Capital of the world. I'd never seen so many kittens. It ...

My Stray Cat  starstarstarstarstar
I would like to tell you about my stray cat. I found her on the street a long time ago. At the time I was married and we had 2 other cats. Despite that ...

9 Lives Lanzarote  starstarstarstarstar
I moved to Lanzarote 6 years ago and it soon became apparent to people living here that I was an ardent cat lover. I was so alarmed at the number of people ...

3 Little Angels  starstarstarstarstar
Last year we noticed a stray cat hanging around our house, the next thing we know there is also three small kittens following her around in our yard and ...

My Feral Kitten From Heaven  starstarstarstarstar
For 58 years, I have been a dog lover/owner. I had just lost my beloved Morgan Amy Jo of 13 years on April Fool's Day - no joke. Since I knew her time ...

Help Find Mama Kitty Please  starstarstarstarstar
Help Find Mama Kitty Please - We rescued Mama Kitty over 4 years ago. She just went missing last week during a bad thunderstorm. Does anyone have any advice ...

The Welfare of Domestic Cats  starstarstarstarstar
For the Love of Cats has a plethora of information on how to do TNR, feral cat management, dealing with stray cats, and socialization of stray and feral ...

Blanca.. the ex-feral cat  starstarstarstarstar
After moving to my new, rustic home in the country, I soon noticed several long hair cats, all either solid black or solid white, living in the woods. They ...

Caring for Feral Cats with FeLV and FIV  starstarstarstarstar
Some of you will be horrified by my account of how things are with me, some of you may be sympathetic. Five years ago we lived in a tower block/apartment ...

Director, Unchain Cumberland County (NC)  starstarstarstarstar
Animal rescue is my purpose; my life's work. I will do whatever it takes to ease the suffering of the animals I love so much. My greatest effort is for ...

Angel Our Feral Cat Companion  starstarstarstarstar
In December 2008 my fiance was cooking chicken on the BBQ outside. We live on a couple of acres on a big hill with forests behind us and the Columbia ...

Advice Please on Our Feral Cat.  starstarstarstarstar
Advice Please on Our Feral Cat : Over the last 7 months we have tamed a feral siamese cross cat from a pack, he is now very friendly, he stays around ...

Feral Cats Are Special  starstarstarstarstar
We have 6 rescued cats. One of which arrived and was feral. He was estimated to be around 10 months old. On arriving, we took the smelly, dirty greasy ...

The Story of Smores!  starstarstarstarstar
There are many stray cats in the area where me and my roommate live. Unfortunately, when people move out of their apartments, they are usually broke and ...

Sh'rae- My Little Feral Cat Friend  starstarstarstarstar
I worked at a local hospital which had may feral cats living on the grounds. Quite often you could see litters of kittens following their mother in search ...

Feral Cats can be tamed and they are just shy and scared!  starstarstarstarstar
Feral Cats can be tamed and they are just shy and scared! After trapping and spay/neutering 5 kittens and 1 mother...with patience and one on one contact,...

In Memory of My Albino Siamese Mix Trixie  starstarstarstarstar
This is in memory of my albino Siamese mix Trixie. Trixie’s entry into our house-hold was pure "DESTINY". Normally, whenever I visited South Mumbai, I ...

Feral Cat No More.  starstarstarstarstar
It's been six years since the three litters of feral cats were born in various spots in our neighborhood. Being completely naive about "alley cats," I ...

I will call him Spook  starstarstarstarstar
About a year ago i saw this beautiful cat with blue eyes, at my door steps. So i fed him he kept coming back meowing at the door boy that cat could eat....

Boo My Domesticated Feral Cat  starstarstarstarstar
My cat, Boo, was a wild cat when he began to start living under our porch. Winter was coming in Chicago and if he stayed there much longer he would of ...

Missy Taming Feral Cats  starstarstarstarstar
Missy - taming feral cats..We started feeding a pack of ferals several winters ago. Our 5 year-old cat was the kitten of a young feral who wandered into ...

How Feral Cats Affect Wildlife  starstarstarstarstar
We simply don’t know how feral cats affect wildlife. There is a lot on this subject and the position of people is very polarised and the discussions can ...

Australia does have a problem with Cats Dom and Feral  starstarstarstarstar
I love Cats, I prefer a cat over a dog any day. However in Australia the cat is the perfect killing machine. It is in their nature to kill. In Australia ...

All cats whether feral or nonferal are precious  starstarstarstarstar
My cat was once a stray cat.

Curiosity Comes With All Cats!  starstarstarstarstar
Hi folks, my name is Crouger the tabby, I live my days outdoors as a feral cat, my life was once pretty normal; I had a loving caring home and family. That ...

Australian Vet Says Keep Cats In  starstarstarstarstar
An Australian vet, Max Fargher, who was the only vet who agreed to operate on a cat (Possum - who survived) that had been shot by an airgun 27 times has ...

Stray Cat Dilemma Advice Please  starstarstarstarstar
I have a stray cat dilemma. What should I do? I bought 2 nice American Shorthair cats about 8 years ago. In the meantime, I have taken in 3 stray cats....

HELP FIGHT BEVERLY HILLS MUNICIPAL CODE   starstarstarstarstar
I have overwritten the last submission entitled, HELP FIGHT BEVERLY HILLS MUNICIPAL CODE , with what follows as some of the comments were too personal ...

White Wolf - My Feral Cat  starstarstarstarstar
My young kitten, Felix, ran away in August last year. I still think someone took him. I got a call one afternoon from a neighbour saying that they had ...

Crouger My Feral Cat  starstarstarstarstar
I often saw a stripey tabby cat sitting on the garden wall waiting patiently, listening for movement from the odd mouse or twittering bird. One day I ...

Solutions To Cat Overpopulation  starstarstarstarstar
No need for solutions to cat overpopulation as there is no problem. There is underpopulation, in fact.

The argument goes that animal rights extremists ...

Please adopt a stray or feral cat...you will never regret it  starstarstarstarstar
We have 4 feral cats that we have saved & tamed slowly. They have changed our lives...maybe they saved our lives. They are so very thankful for everything ...

Istanbul Feral Cats or Wild Cat Hybrids?  starstarstarstarstar
Hi, I received an email from Bart Cotton the founder of Data Power Monitoring Corp (see link below) about some feral cats he noticed when he was visiting ...

Advertiser Colony  starstarstarstarstar
I have raised money to get a large colony TNR'd in Lafayette, LA. Through the Wild Cat Foundation LA , we have Spayed/neutered 31 as of today. We are ...

Some Feral Cats Disappear  starstarstarstarstar
OH yes I have feral cats - it isn't just cities, I live in the country. I have tried to catch / befriend as many as I can and get them spayed or neutered ...

My Feral Cats  starstarstarstarstar
I love your site, really good and informative. Here is a little feral cat info that I have learned over the past few years. They can be tamed and turned ...

Will Ferrell  starstarstarstar
He was found in the woods by my daughter. Very timid at first, after about a couple weeks he came closer and she was able catch to him and take him home....

Making a Stray Cat  starstarstarstar
Making a stray cat in the modern grab it, want it, need it now world is easy peasy lemon squeezy. This is how you do it:

Start by getting a big mortgage ...

My Cat In a Box  starstarstar
Well my next storenaigbor loves cats she has two of them and there a family of cats that live around my naigborhood and a babby kitten love me and my family ...

Stray Cats  starstarstar
The author states that it is our problem, we caused stray cats or feral, which I cannot believe that society has gotten so twisted with this politically ...

Looking for an Angel for My 6 Sweet Feral Cats.......  Not rated yet
Looking for an angel for my 6 sweet feral (stray) cats.... I'm posting this on July 5, 2009.....I'm taking a chance that maybe there is some kind soul ...

Euthanasia of Feral Cats  Not rated yet
My mind just turned to the euthanasia of feral cats and why it is not a crime. There is no such crime as cat murder or "felocide". But there are extensive ...

Payson Friends of Ferals, Payson Arizona  Not rated yet
Payson Friends of Ferals is an arm of Payson Humane Society in Payson Arizona. Payson is a small city in central Az. With a population of about 17,000 ...

Feline Rabies  Not rated yet
Feline rabies may be the savior of the feral cat in Asia at least in respect of the cat meat and fur market, although I doubt it. There will still be ...

Relocating Feral Cats  Not rated yet
There is a thought that Relocating Feral Cats is one viable way of managing feral cat colonies. It is an alternative or an addition to the classic trap ...


Proactivity

Proactive measures are better than reacting to the problem, which is what is happening. If each cat keeper acted in a fully responsible way it would be the end of cats that have become feral in the West. Even if you look at these cats from a commercial standpoint (the standpoint that seems to carry the most weight) it pays to carry out the TNR policy as it is apparently more expensive to euthanize them. On the issue of money.................

Behind the scenes business

I have not seen anyone talk about this except on Yahoo Answers. And I am simply thinking aloud. We know that over 2 million cats are destroyed each year by shelters (not much sheltering really is it?). If a shelter is employing the classic TNR program (ostensibly a no kill shelter) then all the stray cats should be released to where they came from. In other words these cats should not need to be killed unless they have a disease. Cats that are not truly feral but strays that could be rehomed but aren't would seem to be the kind of cat that is destroyed, therefore. It is probably that a large number of these cats are destroyed rather than returned in the majority of shelters.

We also know that businesses use cat fur in a wide range of products. This happens in Europe (Switzerland) and to a large extent in China and the East (where they eat cats). There is always a demand for animal products to supply a wide range of businesses. Here are some possible outlets for dead cats:
  • cat (and dog) fur. The Chinese like cats to be hardly dead before they are skinned but maybe we are just a little less brutal in the West but still need cat fur. Cat fur is found on a miriad of products from key fobs to items of clothing.
  • pet food or livestock food
  • animal glue (this is still used for example in the violin manufacture industry)
  • cat fur to ease rheumatism (some people believe this)
These are simply some possibilities. I am sure that there are many more. Is big business a barrier to resolving this problem? I don't know what happens to the 2 or more million dead cats coming out of "shelters"; maybe the cost of running some shelters is being offset by selling the bodies to businesses? This seems very possible as dead livestock is used not only to feed humans but supply many other businesses. The whole animal is used. Why waste a good dead cat? Can someone enlighten us? Just found this video (25-7-09):


Cat Breeders

This problem begs the question of whether cat breeders are to blame or partly to blame for the "crisis". Certainly a substantial number of people think so, including it seems the owners of the website business Craigslist (it is a business even though it's a .org website) who forbid cat breeder classified adverts. I can see the argument. Cat breeders produce a desirable "product". Consumer society responds and buys. More cats are breed. Irresponsible owners abandon or neglect their "purchase". Abandoned and stray cats are the results. But the Humane Society Silicon Valley's work with cats turned wild tells us that the problem is one of neutering and neglect. In other words it is not the cat breeder (the seller) who is causing the problem, but the "buyer", the customer and pet owner. In fact all responsible cat breeders spay and neuter before selling. Further most feral cats are not purebred cats and cat breeders only breed purebred. So the Graiglist policy seems wrong except on an emotional level as it does feel wrong to produce more cats at one end of the chain and kill more at the other end of the line. Almost 75% of shelter cats are euthanized (or killed), which amounts to about 2.2. million in the USA alone, every year.

feral cat japan
Photo of stray cat © MAR (this photo is strictly copyright MAR)

MAR is the best stray cat photographer. You can see his pictures on his website: www.noranekosyashin.com

Education

So, to tackle the problem from the other end means education and more education and this article is one very tiny effort in that direction. Visit: Humane Society Silicon Valley (new window) to learn more. This is a really worthy organization that has been around for 78 years, well before Silicon valley became perhaps one of the richest places on earth. Is there a connection with the wealth of Silicon Valley and the 125,000 feral cat population there? I really don't think so. You probably see more feral cats in poor areas due to lack of education and the difficulties in the humans managing their own lives leaving little time, effort and knowledge to care for a cat.

feral cat Japan
Photo of stray cat © MAR (this photo is strictly copyright MAR)

What other people say about feral cats

The purpose of reviewing a number of websites that write about feral cats is to see what the general feeling about them is across a wide selection of sources. This, I hope, will tell us whether there is commitment and enough enlightenment to resolving this problem. I mark each article as for, against or neutral in their views on this problem. When I say "for" I mean a sympathetic approach. When I say "against" I mean an unsympathetic and unenlightened approach. These are my views of course.

My views are clear but many people have almost opposite views. And the Wikipedia author (who seems to be an Australian - I'm guessing) has a view which is, I think it fair to say, on balance more hostile to the cat turned wild.

{Note: Having read 7 of the top websites I decided to select rather than review each one in the top 50 to avoid repetition. I stopped at 12 because all more or less said the same thing - use TNR, trap neuter return}

feral cat Japan
Photo of stray cat © MAR (this photo is strictly copyright MAR)


Wikipedia (against)
This is the top webpage as found by Google and I'm disappointed. This says something about this problem. In the Wikipedia article the author describes how damaging the feral cat is to other wildlife. He refers mainly to the feral cats of Australia, where there is a subsantial feral cat problem. He refers to the transmission of illness from feral cat to human as an example of the negative impact of feral cats (Zoonotic risk). He refers to toxoplasmosis (see cat feces and pregnancy) as one example. It is extremely rare for this disease to be transmitted from a cat living with a human never mind a feral cat who we will rarely see. In addition the jury is definitely out on whether feral cats destroy wildlife in Australia to anything but a very small extent. Certainly it is not in any way significant. Most importantly he totally ignores the causes of feral cat populations. There is not one mention of human involvement. The cause is the single most important topic of discussion in relation to this problem as it is the answer to prevention.

the-piedpiper (neutral)
This site presents a balanced view. It says that these cats can cause problems when they congregate around or near hospitals and this I can understand. The author says that the most common illnesses suffered by these cats are upper respiratory infections. Lifespan is short at about 2 years she/he says. There is no mention of the root causes or suggestions for a solution however.

Cat Action Trust (for)
This is a charity dedicated to helping cats turned feral and is therefore very much in tune with how to deal with the problem namely trap, neuter and either re-home or return (if impossible to rehome). They say one unneutered female can produce 120 kittens in her lifetime. They deal with mopping up the consequences of irresponsible cat keeping but do not, as far as I could see, propose anything in respect of long term resolution of the problem. There will never be enough volunteers to trap and neuter. If there were there would be less feral cats and that is not the case. So, we need to look deeper and longer.

feral cat Japan
Stray cat photo © MAR (this photo is strictly copyright MAR)

Celia Hammond Animal Trust - CHAT (for)
This is a truly excellent charity run by a resourceful person that we can only admire. She is doing something. There are few who actually do something and she is doing a lot. I would like to see this charity try to change some of the causes of feral cat populations that remain very high in the world, the USA and in the UK, where Celia Hammond estimates that at least 2 million feral cats survive on the streets. As Celia Hammond is a high profile person maybe she can educate more. The charity does mention the power of education. Perhaps we need to get the politicians involved too? This website donates to this charity and a number of other cat charities.

Feral Cat Sanctuary (neutral)
This is a fine project that was started around 1999 and which appears to have failed to secure enough funding. It is based in Guernsey. The idea was to build a feral cat sanctuary from a derelict vineyard. Such cats were already at the vineyard. Well, sadly I think the concept was flawed. However a good point the author of the site makes about these cats is that they are very sociable and live in colonies. It would seem that the members of the colony support each other and cats form relationships.

driftersreach (for)
This is a cat shelter in the UK. The provide a valuable service in helping these cats but offer no long term solutions.

Cat Protection (neutral)
This is a well known cat charity in the UK. They have a leaflet on feral cats. It says little (I know I am being a bit critical but I'd expect more). They do say that these cats are no risk to sheep that are not pregnant and are therefore not detrimental to farmers in that area of their operation. Stray cats provide a service to farmers as mousers. They offer no long term solutions but mention neutering.



www.feralcatcare.org.uk (neutral)

This site is on the first page of a Google search (ranked 9 on page 1). It is a site that consists of one page, a missing photo and it is frankly dead (last updated 3 years ago!). No criticism of Google at all but this demonstrates how stale and unimaginative the feral cats problem is in the West. There needs to be new initiatives and government needs to be involved.



www.feralcat.com (for)
This is a much more lively and interesting website about this subject. It contains links to articles by Sarah Hartwell for instance. Her articles point to these conclusions (this is far from a summary):
  • these cats are often scapegoats for loss of wildlife due to some other cause.
  • these cats are used to support political argument making surveys invalid as they are tainted by political objectives.
  • there is insufficient hard data on the issue of stray cats killing wildlife and this applies to Australia and America but the indications are that traffic kills a lot more wildlife than these cats (i.e. humans kill more wildlife than these cats and this is what I would expect).
  • the call should be to "kill the problem not the cats"
  • these cats live off introduced species to Australia rather than native animals.
  • high levels of neutering seem to be taking place by cat keepers but not all do it, which seems to be enough to cause the rise in numbers of these cats due to a cats ability to breed quickly.
The classic methods for dealing with these cats are explored (trap, neuter, return or rehome) but no attempt is made to propose root solutions although Harwell does discuss some ideas one of which is compulsory registration. The problem with all compulsory schemes is enforcement, which will not take place to a sufficient extent to make legislation work or that is the argument against it. This is a false argument in my opinion although enforcement is a problem.

The Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon (for)
On their home page they advocate that cats should spayed and neutered and be kept indoors and/or confined to enclosures and kept on a lead if going out. This would be good for the cats (less road deaths etc.) and for wildlife (less wild birds killed), they say. They say that free-roaming cats (not necessarily feral cats) kill tens of thousands of birds each year. Despite not supporting this statement with hard facts this organisation has the right approach in my opinion. I really think that cats are not the main reasons for wildlife depletion. It is nearly always due to direct human activity such as loss of habitat, pollution and pesticides. If it is due to stray cats it is still due to indirect human activity (abondoning cats and not neutering cats). Above all else what is good about this organization is that they promote tackling the root cause of the feral cat problem by responsible ownership. This is the first site I have come across that stresses this funadamental starting point.

National Geographic (neutral)
Their article presents the polarized views of anti-feral cat people who think that they kill a lot of wildlife and transmit disease and those who say that killing feral cats cannot be the solution. There is simply no data to support the statment that these cats kill significant numbers of wildlife and as for disease this is simply nonsense. The article written in 2004 stated that there were 70,000,000 of these cats in the US and that there were hundreds of them per square km. The article made no attemmpt to propose real long term solutions.

HSUS (for)
HSUS is a big organization with a voice but they simply support TNR (trap, neuter, return) and explain that. Bigger more wide ranging ideas and themes are needed and organizations like HSUS should lead the way.

Australia

Feral cats of Australia have become a bit of an issue for the Australian government. There are supposedly 12 million feral cats in Australia. Research claims that feral cats kill and have large and negative impact on native wildlife. Some people have argued that the research is biased. It is my view on looking at the feral cats of Australia problem that the authorities are encouraging inhumane treatment of feral cats to get rid of them. The problem has affected the importation of the Savannah cat into the country.

China

The feral cats are China are some of the most brutally treated animals in the world. Animals of China have no protection under the law. Feral cats are turned into cat meat for human consumption and cat fur for trinkets (some of possibly finds its way to the Swiss cat fur market). The brutalility extends to other animals.

Conclusion

We know that the problem of large numbers is due, ultimately, to irresponsible cat keeping (some call it ownership). We don't know if the problem is being exacerbated by the possible presence of business (see above). We know that despite considerable efforts (on the ground) over many years nothing has substantially changed. The efforts are usually by volunteers at the sharp end excercising the TNR program. This has controlled feral cat populations to a degree, no more.

We also know that the numbers of cat keepers is very large and legislation is very difficult to enforce. However, lots of legislation is poorly enforced and abused but it is still effective as people generally comply with legislation especially if there is some (this need not be wide ranging) enforcement and an example is made in conviction and sentencing (I am proposing criminal legislation not civil)

Government, either local and/or national, needs to be involved to drive irresponsible cat keepers to become responsible.  Being responsible in this instance must mean that neutering and spaying becomes obligatory. There has to be greater control of cat keeping. Examples of maintaining controls over cat keeping could be:
  • obligatory licensing
  • obligatory neutering in combination with licensing and microchipping
  • obligatory microchipping (the use of modern technology may be able to play a role here)
  • obligatory insurance
  • greater controls over multiple cat occupation of premises
  • greater controls over cat breeders (this could and should be self governed by the associations)
  • veterinarians being government funded to carry out some of the monitoring in conjunction with their role in microchipping and neutering
The point is that governments should step in, in a humane and proactive way to deal with the future while the charities continue to mop up the mess of the past.


Sources:

  • Business Wire
  • HSSV
  • YouTube
  • The websites listed on this page