TNR Handbook - Neighborhood Cats

The Neighborhood Cats TNR Handbook
5. A healthier and less visible colony. Neutering, regular food and adequate
shelter greatly improve the colony’s health. One benefit of this is far fewer
parasites, including fleas. In addition, neutered cats tend to roam much less and
thereby become less visible.
6. Removal of the pity/sadness factor. Concerned neighborhood residents no
longer have to observe such plights as hungry cats or dying kittens.
7. The presence of a caretaker. With TNR, someone is there to take responsibility
for the colony, watch over them and work out any problems with neighbors.
8. Prevents a new, unaltered colony from forming. Removing most or all of a
colony leaves the territory vulnerable to re-colonization by new, unaltered cats
and the resumption of the same problems as before. Neutering the colony and
then leaving them in place breaks this cycle.
• The advantages of TNR - community level
The advantages of TNR when the method is practiced on a community-wide scale
extend well beyond each individual colony:
a) Feral and stray cat population reduction for the community as a whole.
Current theory holds that when 70% of the homeless cats in a given geographical
area are neutered, births equal attrition and the population stabilizes. Above
70%, the population starts to decline with the rate of decrease growing
increasingly faster as 100% altered is approached.
b) Lower euthanasia rates. Fewer feral cats in the community as a result of TNR
lower euthanasia rates at local shelters in two ways. First, fewer unadoptable
feral cats are brought in and immediately put down. Second, fewer feral kittens
are brought in and adopted out, freeing up shelter space and homes for cats who
otherwise would have been euthanized for lack of these resources.
c) Fewer complaints to animal control. A declining feral cat population achieved
through TNR means less nuisance behavior in the community at large (yowling,
fighting, unaltered males spraying, marks on cars, feces) and so fewer complaints.
d) Mobilization of volunteer work force. Because TNR is life affirming, it attracts
large numbers of volunteers unlike efforts to trap and kill feral cats. With
estimates on the number of feral cats in the U.S. in the tens of millions, the ability
to mobilize an army of volunteers is essential in order to put an end to feral cat
overpopulation.
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