The comments were getting long and burdensome so I thought to start a new post on the same subject. There's still more to cover on this issue.
A few years ago I trapped a very pregnant female "feral" cat. I took her to be spay/aborted. She hated me for 10 days while I kept her in a cage. Then I released her back in the same place and didn't see her for 3 months. Of course, I worried about her all this time. I was putting feed out one morning and up she walks, pretty as you please, came over and started rubbing against my leg and purring. I can't being to tell you the guilt I felt. She did get a nice home after that.
And she was one of the reasons why I feel TN&Release is so cruel. I would have to say that my experience has been that nine of ten "feral" cats I have trapped have come out of the trap friendly. It is difficult finding them homes, however, because there are so many cats out there. But I tried and did with very few having to be put down. I will not adopt out cats that are FiV positive.
And on that note, I watched a colony go down within two weeks of each other, about 15 cats. Vet ran tests and found two of the cats were FiV positive, so we assume the others were too. Since they shared water and food bowls, it is a good assumption.
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6 comments:
Cowgirl, could you take the time to tell how much is involved when you trap for altering?
I work with a group of about 15 women/men and we have about 60 traps available. We never leave traps unattended and cats are removed as soon as they are trapped. Other cats observing trapped cats can become leary of the trap so we take them away to avoid this. Prior to trapping we go to each house in the surrounding neighborhood and tell people we are trapping and to keep their own cats inside until we finish.
Trapping 34 cats is a major chore. And I'm sure you are doing all you can to make sure that none of the cats are owned. Although I didn't care if they were unaltered, I took them any way. Also I have a question, since the cats were in a horse trailer, did they stay in that trailer until you could release them? I had to hold cats a minimum of 3 days afterwards and pregnant ones for 10 days? That's a lot of work, feeding, changing litter, etc. especially when the cats are supposedly "feral". Do you keep them in the traps or in carriers? If you put them in carriers, then are they truly feral if you can handle them?
Can you relate your experiences which is what we are looking for in this discussion. Thanks. Honesty.
My experience with TNR has lead me to decide that it is nothing more than prolonging their misery. It's not a good thing like they lead us to believe. I see the fear in the faces and I wonder what happened to them when I no longer see them. I love cats much too much to do this to them any more.
Just wanted to make a couple comments about FIV. Read the Cornell website...FIV is spread through deep bite wounds (unsually tomcats fighting). It is not spread through food bowls, etc. FIV+ cats can live to be elderly cats with no health issues. Putting an aymptomatic FIV+ cat down is not euthanasia; it's just killing. My mom had adopted 3 FIV+ cats, and they have been great cats, though we have to deal with morons that think they can get AIDS from a cat. Please spread the word that it is not contagious to humans or dogs (or even spread very easily from cat to cat), and thank goodness shelters are increasingly trying to place these cats. As the Cornell vet site says, it is even relatively safe to mix them with negative cats within a household if the cats don't get into horrible fights.
Anon:46 You are wrong, go back a re-read. Because it is an immune system disease, they recommend not place FIV cats together. And there is good reason for that.
I'm not spreading any myths that put other animals in danger.
Cornell vet school website:
Casual, non-aggressive contact does not appear to be an efficient route of spreading FIV; as a result, cats in households with stable social structures where housemates do not fight are at little risk for acquiring FIV infections.
Anon:57
""does not appear to be an efficient route of spreading FIV;"" and households with a stable structure is not enough for me to risk my cats.
I have known too many people who ended up with their cats infected because they were told this shit.
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