About TNR

OK. I am relatively new to TCS and I guess the full meaning of TNR just sunk in. Obviously, I need to do some more reading about this subject.

When I was younger, cats just had kittens and everybody in town could be trusted to actually give them good homes. I somehow got the idea that females would be happier if they had a litter before they got spayed. Yeah, I know I'm living in the past and I'm naive and all that.

But somehow I find it hard to swallow that natural genetics are bad.

Sometimes I have noticed on this site that a newcomer feels that the oldtimers are getting mad, because the first questions are "why wasn't this cat spayed or neutered?"

I really like this site, and I don't want to get in the middle of any arguments. I just want to learn everything I can. Thanks.

Kathy, when I was younger, I had a beautiful calico kitty. She had multiple litters all the time, and no one thought anything about it. She lived primarily outside during the day, coming in at night, never got any vaccinations and lived to be 18 years old. She also ate Friskies, and Fancy Feast her entire life and died from mouth cancer.

But times have changed, and there are more people from more parts of the world bringing with them their exotic pets and thus there are more diseases outside now. There are more cats having more kittens and an appalling amount of deaths occur daily in animal shelters all over the U. S.

I don't believe the seasoned or veteran cat owners get mad at the newcomers. I believe they just get frustrated at a system that never seems to be getting any better. No matter how much spay and neutering is preached on the streets to the public, very few people (unless they are die-hard cat lovers) will spay and neuter! Why? I have heard all the excuses; from men it sometimes gets personal- "my tomcat needs his gonads" (that was from an actual email I got last year) "It changes the cat's personality....I just love kittens....I want my kids to experience the miracle of birth....I can't afford it.....I really don't care, my cat lives outside anyway!" All these excuses have been given as to why people do not spay and neuter.

Don't take the passion and concern for the cats here as anger towards those not in the know. Most of our members have seen the reality of how cats and kittens are put to death in shelters. Euthanasia is a pretty word to cover an ugly crime against these animals, who are put for death for only one reason- because people are to lazy, unmotivated, uncaring to do the right thing and spay and neuter.

Hissy of course says things far better than I.

But I just feel like adding that the Domestic Short Hair and the Domestic Long Hair are not in any danger of extinction. My local shelters "put to sleep" roughly 30,000 animals a year. Over half are probably cats. Most of them are DSH/DLH's.

Originally Posted by Kathylou

OK. I am relatively new to TCS and I guess the full meaning of TNR just sunk in. Obviously, I need to do some more reading about this subject.

When I was younger, cats just had kittens and everybody in town could be trusted to actually give them good homes. I somehow got the idea that females would be happier if they had a litter before they got spayed. Yeah, I know I'm living in the past and I'm naive and all that.

But somehow I find it hard to swallow that natural genetics are bad.

Sometimes I have noticed on this site that a newcomer feels that the oldtimers are getting mad, because the first questions are "why wasn't this cat spayed or neutered?"

I really like this site, and I don't want to get in the middle of any arguments. I just want to learn everything I can. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Kathylou...you aren't the only one who has had that opinion...but as Hissy said....times have changed. It is very important to spay/neuter to bring down the numbers of unwanted kittens/cats. In my state over 57,000 cats/kittens were euthanized last year. eatrawfish is correct..there are far too many moggies.

If you would like to know more about TNR or how to get involved with a group....let me know.

If no cats were abandoned outside, and left to fend for themselves, we would not have the feral problem. If EVERYONE who had cats would watch out for them, and get their kittens adopted out, we as a society could probably absorb a lot more cats.

But many are abandoned, unspayed, unneutered, out on the streets to fend for themselves. Then they fight, get sick, and reproduce at an alarming rate.

I once thought a female should go through their first heat before being spayed. Because of that belief, we had a litter of mongrel puppies! I allowed my barn cats to reproduce (about 8-9 years ago). One kitten that I gave to a dear friend was not spayed, and was allowed outside. She had several litters. You begin to see that it is easy for a choice you make to add to the overpopulation problem.

One reason I get overly aggravated at the unplanned litters is that if this is how catlovers are handling things, what about the average person?!? And I know so many cats are euthanized yearly, that I sometimes look at mine, or my fosters, and know that somewhere someone just as beautiful died, simply because they had no one to love them. As cute and sweet as kittens are, I will never allow them again for my cats. (All I currently own are speutered, and all I ever own will be, unless I make a MAJOR change and become a breeder!)