Today is a very important day for us - it is National Feral Cat Day! As most of you know, all but one of us (Yoko) are former feral cats. If you have not read about our story - check out the interview on Mousebreath listed in the sidebar to the right.
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| Big Guy, Nick and Ivy living outside. |
So much has changed over the years, thanks to Alley Cat Allies. When Mom began working to get us all trapped, neutered and released, 14 years ago, very few local humane shelters would do anything to help ferals. Their first reaction was to euthanise. Mom ran smack into a wall with her local shelter. They told her we did not have a worthwhile life, living outside without human contact and we would best be put to sleep! That made Mom mad!
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| Lily's group |
She found Alley Cat Allies online. They were instrumental in helping her figure out the best way to trap us humanely. Mom also found a kind veterinarian in our area who was willing to work with her for a nominal fee to get us all spayed and neutered. Years later, the Director of that local shelter came by our house and was surprised to see us all living happily and healthily in the shelter Mom and Pop built for us, playing, having a great time. At least she had a more open view about feral cats than she did before.
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| Our present day cat shelter |
Alley Cat Allies plays a tremendous role in educating the public about feral cats and dispelling myths. They advocate vigilantly to end the killing of feral cats and get legally involved in cases where cats have been harmed to change laws to protect ferals.
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| Lily's kittens all grown up - Woody and Tabitha |
Alley Cat Allies promotes humane care for ferals with programs like Campus Cats, Every Kitty - Every City and the Feral Friend Network.
They provide educational tools and brochures to guide feral cat caretakers. You can get information on how to TNR, colony care, veterinary care and even how to socialize feral cats and kittens. People used to think feral cats could not be tamed, but hey, look at all of us! If you want to read about another feral cat that was rescued, saved from death in a shelter and tamed - check out Panther's story!
All cats deserve a chance at a happy healthy life, even ferals. Help out when you can - get involved, spay and neuter and maybe someday all pets will have homes! We can dream can't we?
14 comments:
You do an amazing job caring for all the ferals and gettings then see by a vet. Thank you.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Our two kittens who are now just over a year old were allie cats. They were only 2 weeks old when they brought them to us. Their mother had died.
My Mother use to care for the homeless cats in her block too. Poor babies!!
You are doing a great job!
Terrific post about the feral cats. They are great cats and can be tames if caught young enough. They make good pets even the older ones that stay outside since they cannot be caught. They are very loyal cats. Hope more people realize that feral cats are really nice cats.
keep up the good work!! how great that you were on the forefront of saving lives and changing minds. :)
We are so thankful that you did not go with the status quo 14 years ago. Thank you for sharing about National Feral Cat Day, and about important programs like TNR and feral cat colony management. And YES, of course ... we can (and do) dream! :)
I'm so glad things have changed so much for feral cats, but we still have so much more work to do!
Y'all totally rock! We love feral kitties and we love those who help them.
We think Alley Cat Allies is an amazing group too - and we agree with Random - KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
:-)
What an excellent post. Mom knew nothing about TNR until the last three of us were adopted from a TNR/rescue group for which she now volunteers. You are such great people for helping so many cats and giving them homes as well as educating others. Thank you. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
guys...N high paws N head bonks...ouch...to yur mom N dad for everee thing they haz done two help ewe all .....yur food serviss peepulz rock !!~~~ heerz two a grate week oh end :)!
Mew are the reason my human still has faith in humanity, if there were only more like mew! How compassionate, giving, loving, and respectful mew are to my fellow feral felines. I am a rescue kitty who one freezing winter, was dumped in the country due to give birth any day. Lucky for me, a house nearby with some caring humans took me in so i was able to give birth safely and then be brought to our local no kill humane socirty so my kits and I could live in a foster home until we were all old enough, healthy, and ready to find our forever families.
If it were not for those kind humans in the house I came upon my kits and I may never have survived, or if had would surely have become feral. My younger fur brother is a former feral foster failure, and a true example of what fabulous, smart cats with unique personalities feral cats are- just like we domesticated, socialized cats. My brother spent the first two years of his life on the streets, fending for himself. Our human believes he may have been adopted as a kitten, but not too long after was abandoned as when he first arrived one snowy day in our yard emaciated and freezing, he would not go near humans but knew enough to mew with his loud, scratchy voice from the bushes that he was hungry. He lived in those bushes for a few months only coming out to eat the bowls of food left out for him, until he slowly allowed Mom to get closer and closer, then lightly pet him, and finally agreed to move in to the heated garage. He immediately took to his soft, heated bed and endless supply of food, water, safety, and love. He even behaved pretty good on his first visit to the vet and recooperated well after his man surgery! After ten years with our family he remains a skittish, always on alert mancat, yet has blossomed in to a healthy, loyal watch cat who protects HIS family, house, doggie sister, and lovingly allows Mom to rub his tummy and ears whilst purring like a lion. All of this touch is on his terms of course, but that's fine with Mom as she cannot imagine life without him as a member of our family. We stand with mew in support and respect of feral cats everywhere, and know the dream WILL one day be a reality.
We totally value everyone helping ferals. We have 2 who were formerly feral - they truly have special needs as opposed to those domesticated from a very young age.
Pet lovers please check out my homeless cat blog archives for some informative posts and stories about the cat abandoned/feral colony I manage.
Debby in Arizona
http://www.homelesscatcare.blogspot.com/2013/09/operation-for-tiger-lilly.html
Great post! We're ex ferals too so we know how much good people like that do. Meow to you!
PS see you're being spammed with backlinks by Debby in Arizona too. How do you ban people from doing that?
Katz Tales - I have known Debbie in AZ for a number of years and she works with feral cats. She is not spam but trying to get people to follow her and be aware of feral cat issues. She is welcome to leave links on my blog.
cats of wildcat woods
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