Ferals
Thank you to those organizations who work tirelessly to help feral cats and their colonies.
Please step up and help, too!
What is a Feral Cat?
A stray cat is a pet cat that is lost or abandoned by its previous home. Stray cats may enjoy close interaction with people. Feral cats are wild and prefer little-to-no contact with humans and are well-suited to living outdoors. Feral cats are the offspring of lost or abandoned pet cats or other feral cats. They are not accustomed to contact with people and are typically too fearful and wild to be handled.
Great resource for spay and neutering ferals and your furry friends, too.
Texas Coalition for Animal Protection
From the TCAP Website / Trap and Release Program
texasforthem.org/feral-cats-and-tnr/
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is a strategy for improving the lives of feral cats and humanely reducing their numbers. The name for Trap-Neuter-Return is quite literal. First, feral cats are trapped in live traps by caretakers or rescues. These trapped cats are then brought to a local veterinarian for sterilization. Lastly, these cats are returned to their original capture site to continue living their life as they did before. At minimum, feral cats that are TNR’d are spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, and surgically ear-tipped on one ear. An ear tip is the universally recognized sign of a cat that has been TNR’d.
Why is TNR Important?
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is generally accepted to be the most humane and effective way to control feral cat overpopulation. Once spayed, female feral cats tend to live much healthier lives because they will no longer have to provide nutrients to litter-after-litter. Male cats have a reduced need to roam and defend territory once they are neutered, thus reducing their chances of injury.
Other efforts to control feral cat populations typically include relocating cats. This method is usually less effective because feral cats can typically reproduce faster than they can be removed from the environment. TNR operates on the idea that once an entire colony is TNR’d, the existing cats claim the resources within their territory which deters other cats from entering. If all cats in a feral colony are TNR’d there is no longer a fight for food and shelter and all cats may have a healthier, safer life as a result.
TCAP now offers free feral sterilizations for the first 12 feral cats per surgery day at our 5 main locations in (Texas) Denton, Fort Worth, Burleson, Allen and Hurst on regular surgery days. Cats must be in individual live traps and their ear will be tipped. Caretakers just pay $5.00 for a rabies vaccine. Extra fees apply if the cat is crypt orchid or pregnant. To learn more about TCAP’s feral policies, visit https://texasforthem.org/feral-cats/feral-fix-program/.