Prior to the early 1940’s all cats were considered “free roaming”. House cats became very popular when kitty litter was developed and marketed in the 1940 era. Over the years, many of us have felt that kitties were deprived and unloved because they were outside. I would like to share with you some of the things I learned through Alley Cat Allies, an organization dedicated to “free roaming cats” better know as feral and barn cats. In many states, Montana included, there is much confusion about feral cat versus barn cat. Many people actually do not know the difference between the two and there is a difference, a big difference. A feral cat is generally the offspring of a domesticated cat that has been abandoned. Their kittens are born without any form of human contact and must learn to fend for themselves. They are completely wild and generally live in colonies with other feral cats. Barn cats are a little different. In many cases they are very shy with humans, however, they will eventually come around and maybe, just maybe allow a human to actually pet and touch them. It is much easier to bring a barn cat into our human environment then a feral cat. Barn cats are not as territorial as feral cats. A true feral cat will not allow another cat to invade it’s colony. The female cats can have as many as three litters a year (barn or feral). Many feral kittens do not survive unless they have some kind of human intervention. The lucky colonies have human kind, feeding, watering and giving some kind of shelter to the colony. Several colonies are lucky and have people tending the colony. Many communities have a TNR (trap, neuter, release) program to control the size of the colonies. It is far better to control the colony through TNR then to try and kill all the cats in the colony. That has been tried in many place and the plan has failed. New cats move into the colony to replace the ones that have been killed. It is much wiser and humane to control the population of the colony with a solid spay and neuter program then to try and destroy it. Spay Montana now has the ability to actually go into the colony and spay and neuter on site. This practice is far more humane for the kitty then moving it to an unknown place and environment. I would almost equate it to the following scenario. Picture this, you are walking down a street, all of a sudden you are grabbed, stuffed in a cage, thrown in a car or pick-up and hauled away. You have no car keys, no cell phone, no way of communicating with your family or anyone else for that matter. You are totally alone and defenseless. You are terrified, you don’t understand what is happening to you. Well, this is how it feels to that feral cat that was just grabbed and removed from its home. We need to revisit how we think of feral and barn cats and the role they play in our communities.
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Over the years, many of us have felt that kitties were deprived and unloved because they were outside. I would like to share with you some of the […….