SpokAnimal's Feral Cat Programs
GREEN ACRES (and Cheney) IS THE PLACE FOR CATS!

FARM LIVIN' IS THE LIFE FOR ME PROGRAM by Diana Roberts, PhD SpokAnimal is dealing with a huge overpopulation of cats. We are now handling more cats than dogs. While we have not euthanized a healthy, adoptable dog for the past few years, cats/kittens are another matter. While sterilization will mae a difference in the future, what are we doing NOW? Hard working rodent managers seek a chance for life on the farm. We are happy to announce our new program FARM LIVIN' IS THE LIFE FOR ME. We are developing and implementing a cooperative program with area farmers. SpokAnimal is serving as a resource for both shelters and farms in need. When a trapped cat comes in, if there are farms available, we will sterilize the cat (if it has not been done previously) and place it in a welcoming barn. This program will work ONLY if there are farms waiting.

We have written a grant to fund this program and are fairly confident it will be available. Additionally, we will start immediately for those already sterilized upon admission. So far this year, with a small program in place, we have placed over 45 cats in farm homes. We anticipate with additional funding, to place 150-200 cats. In our area, SCRAPS and SpokAnimal are handling about 1200 feral cats per year. This will help us make a huge dent in those numbers as well as effecting future numbers. Please call me if you would like to be a part of the solution. Please forward to anyone you think might be interested. Thanks in advance. - Gail

To participate in the program, contact Gail Mackie at 509-534-8133 ext 202 or gmackie@spokanimal.org

In the meantime, please spay or neuter your own animals! This will prevent overpopulation and enable you to offer a home to more who are in need.

Huge thanks to Diana Roberts, PhD, Area Extension Agronomist for WSU Spokane/Lincoln County Extension, and long time SpokAnimal supporter, who personally sent out an email announcement of the program to about 1,500 area farmers. She also submitted the news release to the editor of "Wheat Life" magazine, which goes out to 14,000 farmers and landowners. It was included in their July 2010 issue!

Trap, Neuter and Return

What Is a Feral Cat?
A cat born and raised in the wild, or who has been abandoned or lost and reverted to wild ways in order to survive, is considered a free roaming or feral cat. While some feral cats tolerate a bit of human contact, most are too fearful and wild to be handled. Ferals often live in groups, called colonies, and take refuge wherever they can find food—rodents and other small animals and garbage. They will also try to seek out abandoned buildings, deserted cars, even dig holes in the ground to keep warm in winter months and cool during the summer heat.

What Is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)?
TNR is the method of humanely trapping feral cats, having them spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and then returning them to their colony to live out their lives. TNR also involves a colony caretaker who provides food, adequate shelter and monitors the cats’ health. TNR has been shown to be the least costly as well as the most efficient and humane way of stabilizing feral cat populations.

How Does TNR Help Feral Cats?
Through TNR, feral cats can live out their lives without adding to the homeless cat population. “It is very important to have all feral cats spayed/neutered, because it is the only 100-percent effective way to prevent unwanted kittens,” says Aimee Hartmann, Director of the ASPCA Mobile Clinic. “Feral cats are prolific reproducers.”
Furthermore, by stabilizing the population, cats will naturally have more space, shelter and food, and fewer risks of disease. After being spayed or neutered, cats living in colonies tend to gain weight and live healthier lives. Spayed cats are less likely to develop breast cancer and will not be at risk for ovarian or uterine cancer, while neutered males will not get testicular cancer. By neutering male cats, you also reduce the risk of injury and infection, since intact males have a natural instinct to fight with other cats. Spaying also means female cats do not go into heat and therefore they attract less tom cats to the area and reduce fighting. If cats are sterilized and live in a colony that has a caretaker, their life span may reach more than ten years.

How Does TNR Benefit the Community?
TNR helps the community by stabilizing the population of the feral colony and, over time, reducing it. At the same time, nuisance behaviors such as spraying, loud noise and fighting are largely eliminated and no more kittens are born. Yet, the benefit of natural rodent control is continued. Jesse Oldham, ASPCA’s Senior Administrative Director for Community Outreach and the founder of Slope Street Cats, an organization dedicated to feral cat welfare, notes, “TNR also helps the community's animal welfare resources by reducing the number of kittens that would end up in their shelters—TNR creates more space for the cats and kittens who come to them from other avenues.”

What is Ear-Tipping and Why Is it Important? Ear-tipping is a widely accepted means of marking a feral cat who has been spayed or neutered. It also often identifies them as being part of a cared colony. Ear-tipping is the humane surgical removal of 1/4 tip of one ear. The procedure is performed by a licensed veterinarian, typically during the spay/neuter surgery. Ear-tipping is completely safe and rarely requires special aftercare. Ear-tipping is especially important as it prevents an already spayed or neutered cat the stress of re-trapping and more importantly, an unnecessary surgery.