Help Feral Cats

What is a feral cat?
Many free-roaming cats are feral cats. Feral cats are different from stray cats who have recently been abandoned or have strayed from their home. A feral cat has never been domesticated or has been outside long enough to become afraid of people. Most are the offspring of outdoor cats that roam free and are not sterilized. Feral cats cannot be picked up or handled by humans. These cats are often many generations removed from human interaction and cannot be placed into a typical home situation. There are feral cats across the state in both urban and rural areas. These cats may be referred to as barn cats in rural areas or alley cats in urban areas.

What is TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return)?
The Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) method of humanely controlling feral cat populations is endorsed by a large number of prestigious national organizations including Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the Cornell Feline Health Center, Alley Cat Allies and many other national organizations. It is also used effectively by countless communities around the country.

The goal of TNR is to prevent suffering and overpopulation of feral cats. It is a comprehensive management program that works with community caregivers to sterilize and provide medical treatment to entire feral cat colonies.  Caregivers humanely trap feral cats and take them to a clinic for vaccinations and sterilization surgery. Caregivers provide long-term care for feral cats in their own yards and neighborhoods. They monitor the size and health of the feral cat colony, provide food and shelter and continue to trap and bring unsterilized cats to a clinic for treatment.

There are many advantages of TNR. Besides ending the breeding of more unwanted cats, it stops many nuisance cat behaviors like spraying, yowling and fighting. It also provides cats with rabies vaccines, which helps to protect public safety. TNR also reduces colony size without creating a vacuum effect, which occurs if cats are removed from an area where they have been living. The vacuum effect refers to the resulting increase in population, which is a result of other cats moving in to take advantage of the available resources and breeding prolifically in their new territory.

TNR programs do not promote cat roaming. In fact, encouraging people to keep their cats indoors is important. TNR is a response to the growing number of cats that are several generations from living in a home. Left unsocialized and unmonitored, the population will continue to grow.

What you can do to help
To humanely address the serious problem of feral cat overpopulation in our state, Trap-Neuter-Return is the only viable option.  There are many things you can do to help feral cats and promote Trap-Neuter-Return.  Here are some ideas to help you spread the word!

• Tell your friends and family about TNR and the cat overpopulation problem.
• Keep your own cat indoors and make sure to spay or neuter your own companion animals. It’s the most effective tool we have against pet overpopulation. If you don't have the funds, Spay Wisconsin offers a network of high quality, low-cost spay/neuter clinics across the state.
• Talk to your veterinarian about TNR and express your support of the program.
• Call or write a letter to your local representative letting him or her know that you would like ordinances to allow TNR in your municipality. In order for feral cat colony caregivers to have the opportunity to do their lifesaving work, communities across Wisconsin need to adopt a formal policy regarding feral cats in the community.
• Write a letter to the editor explaining why TNR is the most effective way to deal with the feral cat population.  You may also want to submit a short article to your church or school bulletin about how TNR is a an effective and humane program.
• Attend your own neighborhood meetings and explain to your neighbors how TNR could reduce nuisance cat behaviors such as yowling, fighting and spraying.
• Lead by example. Be a responsible animal guardian to your own animals. Keep your own cat indoors. An indoor cat is a safe cat. We strongly encourage anyone caring for cats to keep them indoors for their own well-being..
• Become a caregiver of feral cats and directly help feral cats in your neighborhood. Contact Spay Wisconsin to locate a clinic that will spay or neuter feral cats in your area.
• Donate to feral caregiving organizations in your community.