illustration by Marina Daineko
Cat friends helping cat friends helping cat friends. …
Browsing Tag
feral cats
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| www.NationalFeralCatDay.org |
Cynthia: Happy Feral Cat Day!
Marcy: Didn’t we just do this last year?
Cynthia: Yes. Every year on October 16th we recognize feral cats and society’s efforts to help them.
Marcy: Why would you help cats that can’t help themselves?
Cynthia: That’s precisely why we do help them, Marcy. It’s not their fault they are living on the streets. In fact, you would have been a feral cat if someone didn’t help you and your two brothers.
Marcy: Gasp.
Cynthia: This year’s theme focuses on TNR which stands for Trap/Neuter/Return. Cats are humanely trapped, sterilized/vaccinated, and then returned to the area where they live.
TNR is the best, most effective, and humane way to reduce the stray cat problem. Once the cats stop reproducing, the colony gradually reduces through natural attrition until there are no more.
Marcy: I thought if one cat dies then another stray cat comes in to take its place.
Cynthia: Sometimes this happens but most often it does not. Two colonies I TNR’d and am able to monitor have not had this happen. One colony of nine cats is now down to two over a six year period and another colony of five cats is down to four over a two year period.
Marcy: You’re seeing other cats behind my back?
Cynthia: The resources out there for helping these cats are growing and growing. So if you see stray cats and kittens in your neighborhood and want to help them, simply do a Google search of cat rescues or TNR in your area. I bet you’ll find several groups that can help solve the problem.
| source unknown |
Marcy raises her Friskies can. Cynthia raises her martini glass.
Marcy and Cynthia: Happy National Feral Cat Day!
Marcy: And big slurpy kitty kisses to all those compassionate people helping to alleviate the suffering of society’s neglected and abandoned feline friends.
*You Might Also Like:
The (50 Second) Scoop On Feral Cats By Jackson Galaxy
Wild Thing, I Think I Love You: National Feral Cat Day Is Today
| Kitty Stardust Charity Tee by Langley Fox x Wren |
Cynthia: The photo above is artist Langley Fox wearing her own designed tee for Wren called “Kitty Stardust”. It’s $65 and 100% of the proceeds go to NKLA – No Kill Los Angeles Animal Shelters.
It’s so exciting that Los Angeles is poised to become the largest “No Kill” city by the year 2017.
Marcy: Who are they not killing?
Cynthia: Adoptable cats and dogs.
Marcy (horrified): Why would they kill adoptable cats and dogs?
Cynthia: Because so many thousands of unwanted animals go into the shelters that they have no room for them. I thought you knew that.
Marcy looks stricken.
Cynthia: But it’s getting better!
Years and years of hard work by nonprofit rescue groups (big and little) as well as individuals, and the shelters themselves, are finally paying off. It is so incredibly encouraging.
One of these big organizations is Best Friends Animal Society which is a huge proponent of the NKLA movement. They contribute through grants, advertising, staff, and even set up a gorgeous new adoption facility just a few blocks from my apartment. In fact, there is a rumor that because of their proximity to the West LA Shelter, the West La Shelter is already a No Kill facility. They are a force I tell ya.
Best Friends is also actively involved in TNR (trap/neuter/return). They work with FixNation in sterilizing feral cats. FixNation has sterilized over 100,000 community cats since they opened in 2007. To be able to use these resources as a trapper has been such a relief.
Marcy: Why?
Cynthia: Because it now feels hopeful out there. It really feels like there’s a way out of this horrible mess. And when you reach out for assistance or guidance… it’s actually there.
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| Kitty Stardust Charity Tee by Langley Fox x Wren |
Cynthia: Plus, as you can see from the Langley Fox/Wren collaboration, it is now super stylish to be an animal advocate.
Marcy raises her Friskies can. Cynthia raises her martini glass.
Marcy and Cynthia: Cheers to NKLA for providing resources and hope. And to Langley Fox and Wren for furthering the cause with fabulous feline fashion.
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| Juliet and Cappy |
Marcy: What’s that?
Cynthia: That’s my friend’s little girl, Juliet, looking completely adorable in her Cat In The Hat costume with her best bud, rescue kitty Cappy.
Marcy: It doesn’t sound like Seuss. It sounds like Shakespeare.
Cynthia: Actually, this is a kind of Horatio Alger rags to riches story. Cappy was an older kitten living with his colony on the mean streets of Los Angeles back in 2008.
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| Cappy and his semi-feral siblings |
Cynthia: I worked with The Kris Kelly Foundation to TNR (trap/neuter/release) the colony. We found homes for five of the littlest kittens but the teenage kittens (the ones pictured) were really too feral to find homes for. Except Cappy. Kind of.
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| Cappy and his brother living on the streets in Los Angeles |
Cynthia: He was very scared but curious.
Marcy: Curiosity killed the cat ya know.
Cynthia: In this case, curiosity saved Cappy. He would linger a little longer after he ate to see what I was up to. Eventually, he started brushing up against my legs. And that was when I knew I had to at least try to find him a home.
Marcy: Who wants a semi feral cat? No one.
Cynthia: That’s what I thought. No one. I put out a plea on Facebook anyway, and lo an behold, my friend Heather asked to meet him. She fell in love, took him home, and spent a tremendous amount of time taming him. She also spent a lot of money on vet bills since Cappy had health problems I wasn’t even aware of…
Marcy (admiringly): I bet he was bad. Feral cats are so bad. Just like the Cat In The Hat. He’s such a bad kitty.
Cynthia: Yes. It was quite challenging. Taming a semi-feral cat is not for the faint of heart. But Heather and her husband, David, are extraordinary people. And now look at him!
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| Cappy at home |
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| Cappy performing Neighborhood Watch duties |
Cynthia: Instead of living on the streets, he is living in house with people who love him and take wonderful care of him. Plus, he has a new friend – Juliet – a cat lover and future cat advocate. I mean, did you take a close look at her sneakers?!!
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| Juliet and Cappy |
Marcy: That Cat in the Hat is so bad. He’s transforming little kids into bad kitties. He’s my hero. He’s so bad.
*It is very easy to get depressed and feel hopeless as an animal rescuer. The problem is so immense. Someone compared it once to trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. So when a cat I have rescued has such a happy ending as Cappy and his Juliet, it makes me so incredibly happy.
Cynthia: Marcy, today is the day that we honor Feral Cats and the wonderful people who help them – those tireless people who do TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) and maintain TNR’d cat colonies.
And – celebrate that you are not living in the streets.
Marcy: Whatever.
Cynthia: Hmpf. I expected a little more enthusiasm from you.
Marcy: Yeah, why.
Cynthia: Because. You are not eeking out a paw to mouth existence, prone to disease and injury, having litter after litter because you aren’t spayed.
You are living in a cozy house with a warm bed, human friends, and all the Friskies you can eat. Show a little appreciation. Show some compassion for those kitties out there not as fortunate as you.
Marcy yawns.
Cynthia: Show some humanity for those kitties who didn’t ask to be living in the streets but through no fault of their own –
Marcy (interrupting): Humanity? It was humanity that put my species in this position in the first place.
Cynthia: Now you’re talking!
Marcy: Yeah, well this is how I show my appreciation.
Marcy stalks off to the sunspot in the living room. She curls up with her longtime buddy, Scooter, and takes a 2 hour nap. Later, they watch the world – and the feral cats in it – go by.
Cynthia: That’ll work too.
*A big kitty shout out to organizations like FixNation, The Kris Kelly Foundation, Alley Cat Allies, Stray Cat Alliance, Vox Felina, and Kitten Rescue that work their butts off in trying to alleviate kitty suffering and reducing the feral cat cat population through humane strategies.
*Since 2007, FixNation has spayed/neutered over 80,000 feral cats in Los Angeles! Their service for ferals is free! Thank you, FixNation! I don’t know what Los Angeles would do without you!
*And, because it is so wonderful, I am reposting Jackson Galaxy’s 50 second PSA about Feral Cats.
