Interview! Brianna Lovell, Outreach and Events Manager, at Alley Cat Allies
October 15, 2016
Interview! Juan Martinez, Founder and President, JMart Strategies
October 18, 2016
Happy National Feral Cat Day!
On this day I want us to take a moment to focus on what National Feral Cat Day means to us. I specifically want to focus on the word “Feral”. We’ve gotten a bit away from identifying our free-roaming cat populations and just putting all cats in the same bucket and calling them “Community Cats”. While I like to use the term “Community Cats”, I think we may be forgetting why we got started in all of this and that was because of feral cats and especially feral kittens.
Community Cats are made up of several groups of cats:
1. Owned, indoor/outdoor cats.
2. Somewhat owned indoor/outdoor cats
3. Abandoned cats
4. Feral Cats/Kittens (offspring of the above groups)
How we react with these subgroups may be different and identifying whether a cat belongs in groups 1, 2, 3, 4 may be a challenge. But for the purposes of this blog, I would like to focus on the 4th group and why it is important we don’t treat them like the others…
So what is different? Well, ferals need lifelong care and housing. They don’t go back and forth between and indoor/outdoor environment. They are very different in personality vs other cats, but they do look for a bond with others in their colony and even their caretakers.
On National Feral Cat Day, I ask you to think about the colonies/families of cats that are, in many cases, the offspring of abandoned cats. Think about the upcoming winter and their needs. Do they have proper shelter? Are they spayed/neutered? Eartipped? Do they have a regular feeder?
These cats are one of the many reasons why we are doing what we are doing day-in and day-out. We are making a long term commitment to these cats that live on the streets and in barns!
My hope is that over time, while we care for these cats, we are also reducing the feral cat populations. We won’t allow new additions to these colonies through forward-thinking. But for today, I want us to just take a moment to focus on the cats that are here that need our help and commitment.
Thank you everyone who helps make the lives of feral kitties better! Please take a few moments to celebrate your efforts and the efforts of your groups!
Congratulations and let’s keep going!
Until next year!
Stacy
