Trapping Feral Cats for Shelter Surrender

Today while on Facebook I asked if anyone put out a bowl of water for the neighborhood cats or wildlife. Most people were kind and said that they did, but one of my followers said that she used a humane method of trapping stray and feral cats and took them to the shelter.  Know that there is nothing humane about trapping a cat, they are terrified and if they are feral the shelter will euthanize the frightened cat.

I have no idea what she was thinking but the animal shelter does not put feral cats up for adoption and they do not sterilize them or place them in colonies. As a rule, shelters will euthanize all feral cats immediately and any cat that is aggressive, even if they are fearful; hiss-spitting cannot be adopted and they are not going to socialize it for adoption.

 It is a death sentence for stray/feral cats if they are trapped and taken to an animal shelter.  Here is an article from Alley Cat Allies that explains why trapping and killing cats is not a good way to control cat populations

Feral cats that I have trapped for TNR or socialization

.

Feral kittens in my yard / both Trapped, Sterilized and socialized.  Had they been trapped and take to shelter they would have been euthanized.  They were Feral, wild and terrified of humans.  Cannot be adopted. Shelters would euthanize.

Many people assume cats without collars are strays or feral cats.  We find cats without collars in our yard all of the time, some stay a few days hanging out, others find their way back to their homes. 95% of them are neighborhood cats.

This cat without collar hung out in our yard for 4 days.  He was afraid of us, hissed and spit he also meowed.  Feral cats do not meow and they run from humans so they do not hiss or spit.  Today we saw the flyer, this cat was lost and scared.  He may have looked like a stray/feral cat with no collar, but the story is he got out of the house and was lost.

 If the cat hangs around for several days we will take their photograph and post it on a “found cat flyer” and pass it out to our neighbors. We will also go online to Facebook to share a photograph of found cat at the Humane Society and our contact information. We never trap the cat to surrender to the shelter for fear that the cat will be euthanized.

Here is a flyer that I use when looking for pet owners.

Lost or Found Cat Mailbox Flyer

by Susang6

Backside of cat flyer:

Lost or Found Cat Mailbox Flyer

by Susang6

As for feral cats we do trap them and take them to the veterinarian for feline disease tests, sterilization and rabies and other vaccines before we release them to an area called a colony where there are caretakers to feed these cats and watch to make sure they are okay. Learn more about neighborhood cats and their TNR at Alley Cat Allies  

Stray Cat Hiding in Garden

Tonight a gray and white stray cat came to our backyard. At first, we did not see him because he was hiding in the grass garden. When there was movement in the garden my husband and I went to investigate and that is when we found a nice looking adult cat.

When the cat realized that we saw him he sat up and started to meow. His meows were loud and sorrowful. My husband decided that the meowing was anxiety or he was trying to tell us he was hungry. So we decided to offer the stray cat a bowl of food.

We fed him Natural Balance limited ingredients duck and chickpea morsels that were mixed with two tablespoons of water.  This food was given to us by a neighbor and the feral cats like it because there are only one protein source and no fillers.

My husband brought the food to the cat. The cat did not hiss which is an indication that it is not feral. He put the food down two feet from the cat and the cat walked by my husband, his fur brushing up on his leg. This tells us that the stray is not fearful of humans.

There was no collar on the cat but maybe the cat has a microchip? We did not want to pick up the cat because it might frighten it. So we will watch the cat, to see if it hangs around our house or goes back into the neighborhood. It is possible that it just came to visit our yard and hang out in the gardens.

The stray ate every morsel in the bowl then went to our pond to get a drink. Then we watched as the cat walked toward our front yard. Instead of heading back to his house the cat laid on our front porch until the neighbor's cat came to visit, then the stray ran into the woods.

We are not sure if this little guy is lost, abandoned or what...but will watch out for him to make sure he is okay and will look for "lost cat posters" in the neighborhood.

Here is a photograph of the stray kitty in our yard.