Wam Bam Thank You Ma'am!

No thank you, no nothing. That’s what I get for getting these cats spayed and neutered, and then letting them back out into the world after having their shots, and the promise of returning them to where they came from.  Hector, the tabby from Hayward, spent a very quiet night in the trap on my porch, filled with food and water, which I found upside down this morning, but that was ok.  I got it out, refilled everything, put it back.  Billy from Baldwin was a better houseguest.  He is such a nice kitty.  It was very hard to let him go this morning, but out he went, walking over to the sidelines while I filled the food bowls there.  Most will run and hide when they are released, but Billy just sat over to the side, watching.  He was probably wondering what happened to him in the past 24 hours!  J

Nothing too unusual this morning.  I have not seen mama kitty or her calico kitten on Second, two days in a row now.  I did, however, see two little itty bitty things run from the shelter on 7^th as I walked up and turned the board covering the entrance over.  I barely saw them, but they were little.  I have borrowed two kitten traps from a friend who does the same thing as I do in Livonia, with many more obstacles than I have if you can believe it, and I will use them tomorrow morning.  I am hoping that the offer still stands from a woman and her daughter who offered to take the other kitten if I could get it.  I will continue each day until….  Another sad thing is the black kitten that I believe is/was pregnant on Short Street.  She couldn’t be any older than 6 months.  I have not seen her in four days now.  Sickening – to think of where these babies disappear to.

I am sharing some interesting (alarming) stuff I came upon, thought you might find it of interest also.

• Feral cats have an average of 1.4 litters per year, with an average 3.5 live births in each litter. That equals 4.9 kittens per year, per female feral cat. Indeed, a pair of breeding cats and their offspring can produce 420,000 kittens over a seven-year period.
• Of the approximately 146 million cats in the United States, about half are feral/unowned.
• In California, more than $50 million per year (coming largely from taxes) is spent by animal control agencies and shelters for cat-related expenses.
• Every day, 10,000 humans are born in the United States, while 70,000 kittens and puppies are born. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all of the animals, resulting in the euthanization of many of them.
• Each year, almost 9 million dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters in the U.S. because there are not enough homes. In California alone, 750,000 to one million animals are euthanized for this reason. Indeed, more than 60% of the animals impounded in California shelters die there.
• Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is more cost-effective than trapping and killing feral cats. Altering a cat costs about $50, while euthanizing a cat costs more than $100.
• An established TNR program can effectively reduce the feral cat population in both the short and long term.

No neuter/spay law can regulate the breeding of feral cats. No city or county agency is structured to humanely reduce the feral cat population. (this is a crime in my opinion - especially due to the statistics above!!!). The Solano Feral Cat/TNR Task Force i California seeks to replicate the extremely successful programs in the city of Berkeley and San Diego County. As those programs have demonstrated, the only effective way to address the overpopulation problem is through an aggressive TNR program.

TNR programs benefit all cats, including domestic cats. Animal control resources that now must be directed toward feral cats could be used to provide shelter and services for adoptable domestic cats. As detailed below, the city of Berkeley and San Diego County have reduced the euthanasia rates for all cats brought to their shelters by about 50% since free spay/neuter clinics for ferals have started in those areas.

Stuff to think about, eh?

Have a great day everyone!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”