Feral Cat Day 2024 is on Wednesday, October 16, 2024: What use on God's Green Earth is a breeder of cats?
Wednesday, October 16, 2024 is Feral Cat Day 2024. Feral Cats Need - A Different Kind of Care Get advice from the experts.
Feral Cat Day was produced by Alley Cat Allies who're a nationwide advocacy organization devoted towards the humane treatment and the protection of feral felines. These were the very first organisation introducing the Trap-Neuter-Return approach to control feral cat colonies in the usa.By creating and marketing standards of care, the business has marketed the humane management of felines in to the national spotlight. Their approach has become accepted by major metropolitan areas and animal protection organizations around the globe. In two decades the planet presently has a much better understand and respect the lives of these feral felines.
How do you think all those feral, unwanted or uncared-for cats got that way? Irresponsible people who have treated them like objects rather than living things. Having a pet is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. Irresponsible people who fail to spay/neuter the cats are the most at fault as also are people who let their cats outside to become strays or get parasites, diseases or become lunch for a coyote.
If you go back and look at the questions in this forum, you will notice that most of them are from people who know very little about taking care of their cat or they either don't have enough money or don't want to take their cat to the vet. These people maybe should not have the pet in the first place. Many of the intelligent answers are from the cat breeders who have made it their mission to know how to take care of cats. Most of them show cats, too. They love cats and want to promote the breed as a hobby, not a business. Part of the money raised by cat shows goes to animal welfare agencies, local shelters and the Winn Foundation, which does research into diseases of cats. Most breeders control the breeding very strictly and do not raise many cats.
The purebred cats that are placed as pets are usually altered before leaving the cattery, so they do not contribute to the problem of excess cats. People are more likely to treat their cat as something special if they have to pay real money for it. Most breeders interview prospective owners to be sure they know how to take care of the cat. Some even recommend books and send home instructions. Some will take the pet back if you can't keep it or become allergic. That keeps them out of shelters. Most also provide advice and answers anytime you need to ask. They want you to ask.
So now that we've tackled the cause and what we need to do to prevent it, now let's talk about the solution.
1. More no-kill shelters and more donations to help support them.
2. Low cost spay/neuter clinics
3. Education (shelters send home a book "How to Care for your New Cat" or something similar with every cat)
4. Volunteer
To address your concern about purebred cats competing for owners with cats from shelters, let's put it this way: Would you pay $400 for a purebred cat or get a cat from a shelter? For most people this is a no-brainer.
So now that you've "blasted" cat breeders let me ask you this: How many shelter or rescue cats have you ever had? What have you contributed to rescue agencies or shelters recently? What have you done to promote the good? It's easy to sit in front of your computer and sling blame, but it's much more difficult to think about it and offer solutions.
There are many children in need of assistance as well. Any thoughts about that?
Will some groomers clean semi-feral cats?
There is no such thing as a semi-feral cat.
A cat is either feral or it is not.
Feral cats are those born and raised without any contact with humans. They consider humans a treat and will avoid them at all costs. If cornered with no way to escape, feral cats will fight, tooth and nail, to get away.
You might have a cat who is not very friendly but you don't have feral cat - you said you have had the cat since it was born - it is not feral.
"Feral" is often used incorrectly to describe a cat who is not friendly to people, it is often used to mean "wild."
In referring to a cat as being "feral", the meaning is as I stated it above - a cat born and raised with no contact with humans.
Read the first part of this it talks, among other things, about the effect of not having contact with humans has on kittens.
Part of what it has to say is:
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The more human contact the better - the sooner the better.
Interact with kittens as soon as possible. Studies show that a litter of kittens born in a location inaccessible to humans will, as early as two to three weeks, hiss at humans. A litter of kittens from the same mother, if handled daily, will not react fearfully. Some research suggests that handling kittens each day during the first month of their lives may improve their learning ability.
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With a feral cat, it is likely that they will grow up with no contact at all with humans.
Even ferals as young as 8 to 10 weeks require a long time to tame.
We just spent 8 months taming a feral kitten we got when she was 7 weeks old. She, we named her Cece, is not completely tamed, but she is enough to let her have the run of the house. It will take much longer to try and remove all of the "feral" behavior from this kitten and she will never be exactly like a cat who had contact with humans from birth.
If a female is abandoned and has kittens without contact with humans, those kittens will be feral. Any offspring they have will also be feral.
A stray cat is also not a feral cat. A stray is a cat who once had a home with humans but lost it for one of many reasons.
Most strays, unless their experience with humans has been very bad, can be taken in and adapted to living with humans again fairly easily.
Feral cats often require months of work to tame and even then you may not succeed.
Trust me, we have trapped and taken 10 feral cats and unless they are quite young - say under 10 weeks - it can be very difficult, if not impossible to tame them.
What you have is simply a cat who is not well adapted to humans and, as a result, is difficult to handle.
As regards groomers - get the telephone book and call some of them and describe your cat and see what they say.
Should I get a feral cat vaccinated?
Keep in mind that cats can breed by about 5 months, so get them spayed/neutered as quickly as possible. At minimum, they need the rabies vaccine and preferably the FVRCP one too. Ideally they get vaccines and then spayed/neutered, but with strays/ferals they will do vaccines and surgery the same day. Be sure to tell the vet to ear tip them (the universal sign that a feral or stay has been "fixed") and that they will be released and to use dissolvable sutures. Call your local shelters - many of them have very low cost programs, especially for ferals and strays.
