A Question About TNR

First off, I know that there are not homes for every stray cat and dog but about the TNR....we have strays that live in our neighborhood. That is acyually where I got our Spots from, her mom had her in the bushes and left. There is a couple on our street who trap them and have them spayed/neutered and then release them again, but a good majority of them have also been hit by cars or died from some sickness or injury....
There HAS to be a better answer! Fix them only to see them die later? Especially the ones who are struck by cars and are not yet 'gone' but laying on the side of the road in pain....I am totally against putting down healthy animals but I feel worse when I am in bed at night and hear them fighting or see one on the side of the road.....
Sorry, just had to vent...

It would be painful to have to see cats die like that!

The only better answer to the cat overpopulation we have right now is:
Spaying and neutering.

It's really as simple as that. The problem you are seeing was started at some point by people who didn't feel like having their pets spayed/neutered, and let them out, and thought having litter after litter was adorable. So stopping that is the best answer.

The best thing you can do now is to help the people who are doing a TNR program, and help rehome the kittens to indoor homes.

A successful TNR program eventually (like, in years) leaves an area with no cat overpopulation. The cats who have been neutered/spayed continue to patrol their territory, but no new ones, either kittens or other adults, come in.

It is tragic that they are hit by cars, but that also happens to cats who have homes that let them outside. Also, the ones you hear fighting likely have not been TNR'd yet, so even more reason to help out!

That must be a very frustrating situation for you, though.

Originally Posted by mowsluver

First off, I know that there are not homes for every stray cat and dog but about the TNR....we have strays that live in our neighborhood. That is acyually where I got our Spots from, her mom had her in the bushes and left. There is a couple on our street who trap them and have them spayed/neutered and then release them again, but a good majority of them have also been hit by cars or died from some sickness or injury....
There HAS to be a better answer! Fix them only to see them die later? Especially the ones who are struck by cars and are not yet 'gone' but laying on the side of the road in pain....I am totally against putting down healthy animals but I feel worse when I am in bed at night and hear them fighting or see one on the side of the road.....
Sorry, just had to vent...

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TNR is the most humane method we have to work with the feral and stray population. The only other alternative is to take them to the shelter where they will be IMMEDIATELY euthanized. Although euthanization sounds humane....putting down a cat simply because it COULD die outside is not humane in my estimation.

I agree with Zissou'sMom....help these individuals who are trying to TNR these cats so that they no longer have kittens. Once a colony is 70% fixed...it does help to stabilize and then deminish the colony.

Could your neighbor be feeding these cats too close to the road?? It may be effective to move the feeding stations further away.

To learn more about TNR go here:

http://www.alleycat.org/visitor.html

Katie

Originally Posted by TNR1

Could your neighbor be feeding these cats too close to the road?? It may be effective to move the feeding stations further away.

Click to expand...

Yes, I too had this thought reading about the frequent car-accidents.

... and the most likely reason they're fighting is because females are in heat. That doesn't happen when they're spayed and neutered (the females don't go into heat - yet if there are unspayed females, neutered males won't fight over them).

The problem with trapping and then killing them is that it doesn't stop the problem. I think it's more cruel, because then people do not have to take responsibility for a situation they created to begin with - which means they're free to just perpetuate it.

People MUST be educated as to the importance of spaying and neutering, and cats should not have to pay the price by being intentionally killed for our lack of education.

I took on some outside ferals after my agency had adopted out the kittens. I live in the country, and have a fairly safe area for outside cats. But one kitty (Captain Feathersword) disappeared pretty quick. Another (Peaches) made friends with a stray who turned up after I adopted the 3. I trapped the new stray and got him neutered. He was so wild that the vet even commented on how feral he was. I released him immediately after he was recovered from the neuter. But somehow Peaches got injured...I found her the day after her buddy got neutered with severe facial injuries. Maybe something went wrong with the trap, and she got injured. (I had 2 traps out.) Or maybe having her buddy gone and unable to protect her left her open to a raccoon or other predator. I did see her one more time, I think. At least it was a kitty with her coloring, and it seemed to be fine. The 3rd cat, Jeff, hung around for at least a year. And he and Captain Feathersword were brothers, and looked pretty similar. The kids would have occasional Captain sightings, but I don't know if it was him or his brother Jeff.

I believe they are all gone now. Whether dead, or moved to another area. We have lots of cats near here, as it is farm country.

Long story...but several people at my rescue think it would have been more humane to euthanize the 3 ferals. I'm glad they had a chance, and some time to live away from the feared people. And due to Peaches, I was able to trap and neuter her buddy.

And if you TNR in the place of origin, I think you have more success with keeping the kitties. They are already part of a colony.

Ideally, someone would build a couple of huge enclosures, so the ferals can live safely. But that is a huge responsibility. And without TNR, the outside cats will never quit reproducing, and there will never be enough enclosures.

I am a strong advocate of TNR. One of my current foster kittens will go back outside to where he came from if he does not tame enough to be adopted. He has a safe place to go, and reality is that there are more kittens and cats than homes to place them.

Edited to add: My shy foster went to his first adoption show today, and did just fine. He will not be going back outside, but is destined to be a housecat. I knew he had tamed some, but today he showed that he could tolerate a lot more people than I thought he would. Compared to his hissy brother in the next cage, who spit at anyone who got too close, Wit looked positively tame! (Yay!)

My cat is spayed and she is an indoor outdoor cat.

She gets into what sound like horrible fights with any cat who comes into her yard.

The fights sound worse than they are. Sometimes I see her screaming like she is in a fight but she is just sitting there. Oh the drama of it all.

Just so you know cats do fight when spayed too.

Before Will was neutered, he got in several fights which caused severe injuries. Since he has been neutered, he still chases off stray cats, but he no longer fights until he is bloody. He gets some scratches, but no where near the severity.

If all the cats in the area are neutered through TNR, the colony quits fighting. I'm guessing they would have minor squabbles over food, etc, but not the bloody battles over mating.

What Are the allternatives to TNR?

Do Nothing: Eventually the problem will reach unmanageable levels and cause untold suffering. One unaltered female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in just seven years.

Trap & Kill: Aside from being inhumane, this approach is not a solution. The problem is everywhere. More cats will simply move in to fill the void and start the cycle over again. This method is also more expensive than trap, neuter, return.

Catch & Tame: With the exception of young kittens, this approach is not realistic. Wild adults cannot be socialized to humans to the point where they are able to find homes as pets. For a small minority that could be tamed, the time and effort that goes into helping just a few cats is prohibitive. Even with very young kittens, taming can take several weeks of intensive socialization work.

Relocation: There is no other place for them to go and studies show that if you remove cats from their original location, others merely move in to take their place. This is known as the vacuum effect.
What happens with TNR?

Trap: Cats are humanely trapped using food as bait.

Neuter: The cats are taken to a veterinarian where they are spayed or neutered. Their left ear is tipped so people will recognize that the cat has been sterilized.

Return: After the anesthesia wears off and the cat has begun to recover from the surgery they are returned to their original environment where caregivers continue to provide them with food and water.

Unfortunately there's not a perfect solution. We've been TNRing for 9 years now at a nearby park. It has really worked for us. Sadly things do happen, but at least with TNRing you're preventing more unwanted kittens being born. With proper care from dedicated caregivers ferals can have a fairly good chance at a halfway decent existence.