National Feral Cat Day is October 16, 2016
And Winter is Coming …
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If you see cats wandering around your home or neighborhood – think about their existence and safety in the winter. Help us help them by dropping off your supplies and we will make the shelters for you. Then place them around your home so these little creatures stay warm and survive the winter.
Contact Pat at 440-725-5462 for Cleveland, Ohio drop off location.
Drop off supplies for feral cat winter shelters include:
- 25 to 31 gallon Rubbermaid “Roughneck Tote”
- 1″ polystyrene sheets for insulation (white foam insulation board )
- Duct Tape
- Silver Mylar Emergency Blanket – sheets of mylar found at camping stores or online
- Straw – not hay
Or make your own –
INSTRUCTIONS OPTION #1 ~ INSTRUCTIONS OPTION #2
Feral Cat Facts
- Cats have lived alongside humans for more than 10,000 years. They are part of the natural landscape. Feral cats are the same species as pet cats. Feral cats, also called community or outdoor cats, live in groups called colonies and can thrive in every landscape. They are just as healthy as pet cats, but they are not socialized to humans and are therefore unadoptable.
- Trap-Neuter-Return—a humane approach to managing and caring for community cats—is the only effective method of stabilizing cat colonies. In the last decade, the number of local governments with official policies endorsing TNR has increased tenfold, with hundreds of cities and towns successfully carrying out TNR programs.
- However, in the majority of cities, cats are still caught and brought to animal pounds and shelters where they are killed. The shelter system is the number one cause of death for cats in the United States. About 70% of cats who enter shelters are killed there, including virtually 100% of feral cats. That’s why it’s so important for people like you to join us for National Feral Cat Day®, and every day, to help change society and create compassionate communities for cats.
Animal Shelters are Leading Cause of Death for Nation’s Cats
Speak Up and Stay Alive will honor National Feral Cat Day (NFCD) on Oct. 16 to bring attention to the unnecessary killing of cats in animal control pounds and shelters, the leading documented cause of death for cats in the United States.
“Feral cats are the same species as pet cats, but they live outdoors and can’t be socialized to people. ” “Most animal shelters across the United States kill virtually all feral cat who come through their doors because they can’t be adopted. We’re honoring National Feral Cat Day by urging shelters and pounds to adopt a new approach to feralcats that saves lives and improves communities.”
On Oct. 16, hundreds of groups will come together at events nationwide to raise awareness about feral cats and Trap-Neuter-Return, the humane and effective method of care that improves their lives. Alley Cat Allies, the national advocate for feral and stray cats and the foremost authority on Trap-Neuter-Return, launched National Feral Cat Day in 2001.
Through Trap-Neuter-Return, outdoor cats are humanely trapped and brought to a veterinarian to be evaluated, spayed or neutered and vaccinated. While under anesthesia, the cats are eartipped— a small portion of the left ear is painlessly removed for identification. After they recover from the sterilization surgery, they are returned to their outdoor home.
“We are calling for a revolutionary change in shelter practice and policy,” said Becky Robinson, president of Alley Cat Allies. “We already know we have the support of hundreds of thousands of citizens and groups nationwide, including [YOUR ORGANIZATION]. National Feral Cat Day is our collective call-to-action for this movement.”
Hundreds of local governments nationwide now have ordinances endorsing Trap-Neuter-Return, which is rapidly becoming the predominant approach to feral cats. But in many communities and shelters, feral cats continue to be killed.
“More cats are killed in our nation’s animal control pounds and shelters than die from any other documented cause,” said Robinson. “This National Feral Cat Day, we’re challenging cat lovers to partner with their local shelters to launch Trap-Neuter-Return efforts and other programs that will save cats’ lives.”
More than 70 percent of all cats who enter pounds and shelters are killed there. That number jumps to virtually 100 percent for feral cats. A national survey conducted for Alley Cat Allies by Harris Interactive found that an overwhelming number—81 percent—of Americans prefer to let outdoor cats live out their lives than have them caught and killed.
For more information about National Feral Cat Day, see www.alleycat.org/NFCD.
