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semi – feral cats

Feline, Marcy To The Rescue

National Feral Cat Day (2014)

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

 

 

 

October 16, 2014
Feline, Marcy To The Rescue

A Cat In The Hat Rescue Story, or cappy and his juliet

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.

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.

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!

Cappy at home
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?!!

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.

 

April 13, 2014

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