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Feral cats, only a problem for humans

Posted: July 3, 2013 - 11:34pm
Nancy Baker
Nancy Baker

It happened again this week. I got a frantic call from an acquaintance. Her neighbor has been feeding stray cats and now there are three new litters of kittens on their block. Isn’t there someone who can do something about all these kittens? I used to spend a lot of time on these phone calls, but now I just send people to Alley Cat Allies at and let them figure it out for themselves.

You see, the problem of feral cats and kittens is not an individual’s problem, or a community’s problem but a societal problem and it can’t be solved by an individual, though a community pulling together can handle it in their corner of the world. You see feral cats are a problem only for us; the cats are fine with it.

Feral cats exist for two reasons. One, they fit in very well to our urban and suburban environments. They can coexist well with us, living in our out buildings and feasting on the food garbage we throw out and the mice and rats that are attracted to it. And two, disreputable folks abandon non-spayed and non-neutered cats to the wild thinking they’ll be OK. That cats can fend for themselves. And they can to a certain extent.

The average life span of a feral cat is six years, same as for a pet cat. However, if that cat is a queen, a female cat of reproductive maturity, which means over six months old, she will go into heat twice a year, once her first year of life and twice each year thereafter. That’s on average 11 heats before she dies, more each year she lives. And she will undoubtedly be bred. At an average of eight kittens a litter, that’s 88 new cats out there, and each of them will be breeding in six months.

People who feed stray cats have their hearts in the right place. We should be kind to animals. However there is an unintended consequence of feeding strays: a well fed stray breeds more often and has bigger, healthier litters with better survival rates for the kittens. So as I always say, “If you’re feedin’ ‘em, you’re breedin’ ‘em.”

There are folks who think the only solution to feral cats is to kill the lot of them. But this only works till the next person abandons a cat. Then it will find that suitable environment that supplies food and shelter and move in and start another colony.

So how can society work together to reduce the incidence of feral cats? We can try to clean up our environment to reduce a cat’s usable habitat, but that’s not very effective because all it takes is one person to have an overgrown area and the cats are in business again.

We could make it illegal for people to abandon their cats. Oh wait, that’s already illegal in Georgia. We could make it illegal to not spay or neuter cats. This has had good success in Jacksonville, Fla., but they have a huge, low-cost spay and neuter clinic there to make neutering and spaying easy for folks and they have an enforcement arm that makes it uncomfortable to own an un-altered cat.

Feral cats have co-existed with humans for eons. They are not going to go away. The only program I’ve ever seen succeed with reducing feral colonies is the Trap-Alter-Release program promoted by Alley Cat Allies. This program promotes the trapping of entire cat colonies and subsequent spaying or neutering. Then the cats are released back into their colony. The cats are also given rabies shots and the tip of one ear is clipped off while they are under anesthetic. This ear tipping marks them as a member of a feral colony with a caretaker watching out for them and notifies all that they have been spayed or neutered. By altering a whole colony at once you keep the cats from reproducing. And by releasing the cats back into their wild home you keep other un-altered cats from moving in to the area and starting the reproductive cycle all over again.

Got a problem with feral cats? Don’t call me; I can’t help ‘ya. Contact Alley Cat Allies at and get with the program, the Trap-Alter-Release program.

Comments (16) Add comment
Woodsman 07/05/13 - 04:40 am
The TNR Con-Game

Here's how these ignorant, self-serving, and uneducated TNR-advocates are destroying your planet and all life on it.












Woodsman 07/05/13 - 05:10 am
TNR CAUSES Rabies Outbreaks

I think the worst part of all, anyone associated with TNR aren't adhering to the mandatory REQUIRED BY LAW SIX-MONTH QUARANTINE for any animal when harvested from the wild and intended for any sector of the pet-trade. This is why rabid kittens are now being adopted direct from shelters. Like this one of hundreds for example, Google for: RABID KITTEN ADOPTED WAKE COUNTY.


But these TNR advocates, and the community-college educated veterinarians with web-based degrees, and the moron shelter managers, and local government "officials" who don't even have high-school educations, and all those that support them? EACH AND EVERY ONE IS IN *DIRECT* *VIOLATION* OF WELL-ESTABLISHED *NATIONAL* & *INTERNATIONAL* DEADLY-DISEASE CONTAINMENT *LAWS*. They ALL need to be sued so fast, hard, and deep that they never recover from it for the rest of their sorry and criminally negligent lives.


Rabies Outbreak Caused by TNR! 50+ Pets Euthanized. ALL Stray Cats Destroyed. All livestock destroyed. More than a dozen homeowners pay for their own $3000+ rabies shots.

Google for: Rabies Outbreak in Westchester County

Google for: Rabid Kitten Jamestown Exposure



Yes, The Plague is alive and well in the USA, and it is now being spread by CATS. Google for: Cat-Transmitted Fatal Pneumonic Plague, for a fun read. One of hundreds. Totally disproving that oft-spewed manipulation tactic by cat-lickers that more cats could have prevented The Plague in Europe -- cats can CAUSE IT!

Now add on top of that that anyone who feeds these cats is training them to approach humans for food (contrary to them always claiming feral cats run from humans). What happens to the child or foolish adult that reaches down to pet or try to pick up that now seemingly friendly "cute kitty"? The wild animal lashes out and bites or scratches the hand that has no food for them.


Don't be surprised at the number of search-hits you get nor the horrendous stories that go with them. The number of suspected rabies cases and the then required mandatory rabies shots for each individual costing them well over $3000 out of their own pockets, has been growing as exponentially fast as cats breed. Ask a vet that released that cat, a cat-feeder, or your local government to pay for your shots and lost work-time and suffering? Neither they, nor shelters, nor the local government who supports TNR carry ONE PENNY of liability insurance for the deadly dangers they are bringing to your communities by allowing them to feed and TNR stray cats. Two reports even document rabid cats entering a home through their pet-door and one even came through their ceiling searching for human-supplied foods -- one attack so bad it required hospitalization for the family.

Woodsman 07/05/13 - 05:06 am
The ONLY Solution That Actually WORKS!










Woodsman 07/05/13 - 04:58 am
A 100% NATURAL Solution!

I also found a perfectly 100% natural solution for those who don't want to take more direct, more humane, and more effective measures (firearms and air-rifles) against free-roaming invasive species cats. Anyone who has criminally irresponsible cat-lickers in their area need only plant lilies on their properties. (Must be from the Lilium species, not just with "Lily" in the common name, see notes.) Cat-lickers always want their more responsible neighbors to grow plants around the perimeter of their properties that will repel their cats for them (from the cat-owners' own criminally negligent and criminally irresponsible behaviors and values). Well now you can brighten up your yard AND repel cats naturally! -- PERMANENTLY

(WARNING: If these plants are not native to your region don't plant these if they cannot be contained, or risk introducing yet another potentially harmful invasive species!)

Google for: lily toxicity cats


Everyone happy! You get to have the kinds of plants that you want, they get to have the kind of pets that they want -- if they take care of it like any responsible grown-up would. Or are cat-lickers now going to demand that you can't plant flowers on your own property? That would be their next and usual move, wouldn't it.

A perfectly natural solution to an invasive species animal that didn't evolve with Lilium species around. Plus it's a good incentive plan for cat-lickers to finally educate themselves all about ecology, native species, and evolution. :-)

Doing a little research on ASPCA's toxic plants lists (Family: Liliaceae).


Common-Name | Scientific Name

Asian Lily (Asiatic Lily) | Lilium asiatica

Easter Lily | Lilium longiflorum

Red Lily | Lilium umbellatum

Rubrum Lily ** | Lilium speciosum cultivar

Stargazer Lily ** | Lilium orientalis

Tiger Lily ** | Lilium tigrinum

Wood Lily | Lilium umbellatum

(not of the Lilium species)

Orange Day Lily | Hemerocallis graminea

( ** see notes below)



Be sure they are from the Liliacea Family, has "Lilium" on the plant label or are common N. American Day Lilies. Some plants with the word "Lily" in the common name are not true Lilium species and may be toxic to other species of animals, always double-check. On further investigation I found out that all plant-parts, the blossoms and pollen being the most toxic, if harvested and dried (for year-round use) are just as deadly toxic to cats (if not more-so because of the unknown toxin being concentrated), and the drying makes them even more palatable to cats. What a great mulch for gardens! (Or powdered spice for a special outdoor can of tuna.)


Woodsman 07/05/13 - 05:01 am
Origin and Proper Use of "Cat-Licker"


They are now licking their cats clean.




ugottabekiddin 07/05/13 - 06:25 am
Horrible Headline!

"Only a Problem for Humans", is a complete lie. They are a problem for EVERY living thing excepting those crazy enough to support them. Cats decimate the populations of everything smaller than themselves in an ecosystem. They should be exterminated as an invasive species, much like the feral hogs on the barrier islands.

Geechee 07/05/13 - 08:11 am
"only a problem for humans"

Tell that to the birds.

old hippy chick
old hippy chick 07/05/13 - 08:30 am
nothing like

a good healthy dose of crazy first thing in the morning to get you going, is there??

mershadonn 07/05/13 - 09:09 am

So mr Woodsman
You admit to shooting and burying
Adopting then shooting and burying hundreds on your own lands
Like some cat landfill
Just because You Know All About
Cat Disease bla bla bla and dislike them
That makes it ok to shoot wheather collared
Or not
No flies or fleas or parasites or rodents on your land?
Is that the answer to everything ?
Shoot it bury it /adopt it shoot it bury it ?

I hope you stay on your cat landfill property
I don't think your neighbors would like what you are doing
Unless they all are shooting burying
adopting shooting and burying...
What else you don't like Do you have in your cat land fill

Woulda made a great reality show
"The cat exterminator"

Woodsman 07/06/13 - 08:46 pm
After Cat-Lickers Have Hijacked Your Lives and Lands

After cat-lickers have hijacked your lives, homes, properties, and lawmakers (with their usual bullying and death-threats) to get their TNR con-game programs into your area (like forcing no-kill policies, etc.) the usual course of action that is spreading across the country is ....

1. Wait until these cat-lickers have bankrupted themselves sterilizing all their c-rats (if they even bother to do what they claim, see below).

2. Cull their TNR colonies by any means possible, stepping up their rate of attrition. After-all, this is how cat-lickers want all their cats to die you know, by "attrition". Their feel-good term for letting ALL their cats die gruesome inhumane deaths.

3. Rinse & repeat.

And here's exactly why you HAVE TO do this:



If you doubt what I claim about TNR-cat-hoarding addicts practicing "TNR-On-A-Budget", then perhaps you might enjoy this post I found to again prove everything I say is 100% true. They don't talk about this practice too openly, just like they like to hide their cat-hoarders' colonies and how they attempt to do so (also revealed in the thread this post was taken from, verifiable link below).

"Chris Cook



Not only is this criminally irresponsible TNR practitioner hoarding and feeding unsterilized cats, they even attracted MORE cats to keep reproducing -- which again disproves their oft-spewed "vacuum effect" LIE. While also lying to their HOA to boot. They even believe that what they are doing _is_ TNR, that's just how demented these people are. I'd say this person reflects the norm rather than the exception, since TNR advocates relentlessly lie about so much and so often.

Hint: for those permanently solving cat-hoarder's ILLEGAL TNR invasive-species colonies by stepping up their rate of "attrition" (i.e. death by any means necessary); look around for any game/field/trail-cameras that might be hidden from immediate view, then collect them as a souvenir and payment for your well-deserved efforts. As we all know, the only thing worse than having a feral cat colony around, is drawing TNR psychotics right to your home.

Google: Loews Hotels Feral Cats, if you don't believe me and see what these whack-jobs did to them.

Here's another recent replay of the same thing that these cat-licker-sociopaths did to Loews Hotels:

Google for: cats venice complex reprieve

A $150 million renovation project for low-income housing, put on hold, jobs lost, money lost, homeless still homeless, court costs and lawyers, just to save a few of their feral vermin c-Rats. And the saddest part of all, the vast majority of these TNR'ed cats had already died heinous inhuman deaths from TNR-practitioners' "death by attrition" re-abandonment philosophy. (Road-kill, diseases, parasites, injuries, environmental poisons, cat & animal attacks, exposure, etc. etc. Their all-encompassing feel-good blinders-on term of "death by attrition".)




Timo Svoren
Timo Svoren 07/06/13 - 08:55 pm

Is it safer to eat raw beef, raw chicken, or raw fish?

Timo Svoren
Timo Svoren 07/06/13 - 10:37 pm
I once saw a cat... it was winter and the cat was alone

The cat was abandoned and was licking the residue out of a bottle cap. I know my cats when I see them, having previously had a manx that was probably the most worthless jerk of a cat ever until someone stole it. Drove up in a car, a girl jumped out and took the cat and drove off. Good riddance, worthless manx cat, completely lacking loyalty.

So anyway this fine homeless cat was licking the bottle cap and I went to my auto and got some bread since I had this 40 gallon bag of freshly baked bistro bread that is made daily and at the end of the day I was tasked to pick up the unsold bread and take it to a mission for humans, getting a few loaves for myself, of course. So I lured the hungry cat indoors and shut the door, entirely convinced, per Woodsman, that the cat was going to leap up and bite a hole in my neck.

Once the cat was trapped I jumped in the car and went to an all night store and bought some canned cat food. I released the cat the next day and did not see it again for a week, at which time me and the cat, (Le chat et moi) repeated the ritual, cat again indoors. After that, we were good pals and never on earth did a more loyal animal roam.

The cat had claws and not ever clawed anything, attacked no birds, attacked no furniture. The cat had access to both outdoors and indoors, as obviously the cat knew its way around in the out of doors. As the cat aged, it preferred to stay inside. Never a cat fight, not once, but when a local cat came into the home, my cat chased it until pinning it in a box for me to see. It was quite a clever trick. The cat listened to classical music with great attention, was basically a superb domesticated animal. I am pretty sure in the long run that I caused the cat more trouble than it caused me. One night in the misting rain I buried it. It was a good cat and lived a long life. Hail to thee, cat. You were a good cat.

Woodsman 07/07/13 - 01:12 am
Cats -- Not Fit For ANY Other Animal's Consumption




I tried feeding one of the shot-dead cats on my land to the last few starving predators (almost all the rest of my larger native wildlife starved to death from cats destroying all their food sources). Thinking that for once these invasive-species cats could give back for what they had destroyed and wasted during their existence -- giving the remainder of the starved-out predators a much needed protein boost. They promptly died from some disease in that cat-meat. Something in that cat was able to kill the native predators (2 adults, 3 offspring they had while under my care). Cats truly are complete and total wastes of flesh. They can't even be used to feed wild animals safely. Leaving any of these invasive-species cats out in nature, alive OR dead, is no better than intentionally poisoning your native wildlife to death.


(Aside: Yes, the plague is alive and well in the USA and being spread by cats today. People have already died from cat-transmitted plague. Disproving the oft-spewed cat-lickers' lie that more cats in Europe could have prevented the spread of the plague. No rats nor fleas required if you have plague-infested cats around.)

Geechee 08/01/13 - 10:38 pm
"Feral cats are a problem only ...

... for us; the cats are fine with it."

And crime is only a problem for us; the criminals are fine with it.

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