But...that's going to kill a lot of domestic cats who are "outside" cats as well. That's terrible and not a well thought out solution. At all.

I'm glad my kitties stay indoors...but there are a ton in my neighborhood who are clearly fixed and belong to someone, but they like to wander around.

I'm definitely going to write my Senator about that because this is just not the way to handle it.

I used to live in a University town, and three of my cats came to me as formerly abused or dumped adults who showed up right around the time that classes let out. I fostered countless litters of kittens, bottlefeeding some and finding them homes. When I didn't have a room-mate the front bedroom was the feral kitten room.

Every quarter when I got my financial aid, I would set aside enough to trap two ferals and take them in to the vet to get fixed.

A university town is one that is known for a nearby university or college, but more than likely doesn't have much else around it. Chapel Hill, NC (um...I *think* it's Duke) is an example of a university town.

There are large amounts of strays because college students think it's fun to have a critter, but then either go home for the summer (parents won't let them keep the critter or bring it home) or can't find housing that allows pets or graduate and find a job out of the area. They abandon the critters.

And note I'm calling them critters here, because they certainly aren't thought of as pets by these kids...

there's also those who try to help but it seems rather overwhelming.

But not so overwhelming that we just quit. The animals have to have somebody. And the three we've kept are the most loving creatures. They're so happy to have a new home. Though at the moment they're really not sure why we insist on inflicting kittens on them!

Towns around colleges. Students get pets, and when they graduate, a lot of times they just dump the pets, frequently by turning them out of the house/apartment as they move and just leaving them.

I have two cats with MASSIVE abandonment issues because of this.

Letter printed and I'll mail it when I leave (petitions don't do much) work.

People make me crazy. *sigh* I'm out of the fostering business though, as of today- Dallas's crappy new pet limit law (you can go over for fosters if you allow them random inspections, but since I'm over the limit, period, that's no good for me.) I just don't know what I can do.

Well, I got kicked off and put on the no-volunteer list for at least the larger private groups because I was really active in the group advocating against the law change, (and others won't accept me as a volunteer at ALL because of my intact dogs - stupid, I can see not adopting to or allowing foster even, but it's become a stupid political thing. And I am NOT lying about my dogs just to go volunteer somewhere, and it makes me very, very angry to be treated like an irresponsible person because I *CHOOSE* to responsibly own intact dogs and potentially, one day, help with breed preservation efforts.) and the city shelter doesn't accept volunteers because of 'liability'. I can drive to the next city over but dammit... I liked what I was doing before.

Yup. Lizzie is a Mittelspitz- there's about 80 in the country. She's very nice, sound mover, balanced drive (they ARE a companion breed, but she's got good little play drive and adores people), and pending her health testing and titling (in agility and probably ASCA obedience), yes, will probably be bred- I'm importing a boy (or semen) from Australia for that.

Mal is a collie - he's being shown in breed and obedience and will probably do some herding. I don't KNOW that I'll breed him, but I'm thinking about it. His breeder would like me to, and he's got traits that I really do like about the breed. (I like his drivier sister better, but she's spayed so I can work her, and he's not bad, just lacks some of the initiative that I'd like to see- he's also a CEA carrier, but that's not necessarily a deal-breaker. His hips prelim'd good, still have to do his thyroid testing.) Regardless? I'm goign to do it RIGHT- all health testing, serious screening, and I'm mostly breeding for what *I* think would make a better working collie- yeah, I show too, but if I can keep the pretty I have and add some working ability, it'd be fantastic.

Because apparently, my breeding a litter means 4-5 people that would otherwise somehow magically want a shepherd, lab, beagle or pit mxi puppy (there *are* other puppies in the shelters, but those are by FAR the majority- and people who want an adult dog sure wouldn't want a pup, period!)

We *do* have collies in the shelters- and oversized Poms (Poms are the bred-down version fo the spitz and I looked at getting a rescue Pom before I got Lizzie, but I couldn't find one that was sound for agility- patella problems are SO common.) Breed rescue exists for both breeds, but it's not in such numbers that dogs of those breeds are dying in the shelters (especially the smooth collies, which don't pop up much in rescue, although it does happen occasionally.) locally on any kind of ongoing basis. And people who just want 'any dog' aren't going to generally be interested in my dogs. But the rescue groups - or at least the extremists, because I feel the vast majority of people who want to help animals are much more sensible than this- that any home that wants a dog should get a shelter dog, period, and it's completely irresponsible to have ANY dogs born while there are dogs in the shelter. This just doesn't work, in a practical sense- we realistically need MORE good breeders (who screen buyers, who take back puppies ANY TIME, who health test, who prove their dogs)- not fewer.

Even Senators who don't like cats at all should consider this:

Cats are like coyotes. You can't kill them out. They have more young when there are fewer neighbor cats to put them under stress. They can travel long distances in search of new territory. They are prolific and intelligent and very good at not being seen. Trying to eliminate ferals just wastes a lot of money and causes collateral damage.

That's why I am in favor of feral cat colonies. Trap them, sterilize and vaccinate, and put them back, and for the rest of their lives those cats will keep other cats out of their territory--while not producing more cats themselves, howling all night, or spreading disease. Repeat as the original ferals die of old age and new ones do move in.

Sometimes I think that our Congresscritters have trouble grasping the plain fact that some problems do not have absolute, never-have-to-do-it-again solutions.

Ugh. It seems like (to steal from/paraphrase Melissa McEwan) we're bailing out the ocean one teaspoon at a time, and my arm's getting tired.

I have a friend (who probably is reading this) whose father has been trapping and sterilizing feral cats. She's been caring for and finding homes for kittens that were basically dropped on her porch. I really respect what they do. There are virtually no no-kill shelters in my area . . . *sigh* One teaspoon at a time.

Signed, sent around a bit. I'm also going to write a letter to my racist sexist fuckwad Senator. Maybe his aide will schlep it over to his coffin so he can read it while hiding from the merciless sun and drinking the blood of the poor.

Well, I was just telling the truth, sadly. :/

I have sent mail to Kit Bond (I used to live in Missouri), Barbara Boxer (doesn't require you to give your sex in her email form!), both my state senators (Roberts and Brownback), and my representative (Moore, who is semi cool for an old white dude) pointing out that this a stupid idea that won't work and isn't cost effective.

Awww... That does make me really angry!

I mean, I don't want to go cuddle a feral cat or anything, but I really respect the people who maintain feral cat colonies. At the HSPCA, we would get really annoyed at people who started trapping feral cat colonies and bringing them to us. (There were several in the Houston area that would mark their colonies when they trapped them to spay/neuter them. That should serve notice to leave them be!)

Anyway, yes... I firmly believe in controlling the population, not eradicating them.

Ironically enough, I'm typing one handed rather than disturb a sleeping calico kitten. She's the one from a feral litter who went tame. :) My other two girls are also rescues.

I've signed the petition, but it looks to me like this piece of legislative idiocy is well on its way to a quiet, ignominious and richly deserved death in committee. It's ill-considered and poorly written, and those are its good points.

The thing is that while such things as cats (and horses and starlings and dandelions) were originally brought over from Europe, they've become part of the ecosystem in the intervening several centuries. That clock can't be turned back, and if feral domestic cats were eliminated now, there isn't a comparable predator to fill their niche. I wonder if the congresscritters would look at cats differently if they were presented as an "organic self-replicating rodent control system."

You mean "use their brains"?!

No, I mean use ours against their lack of. "Feral animals" = "bad". "Rodent Control" = "good". That might actually be simple enough for them. :)

Wait- what? So my cat could be killed because he goes without a collar? What if I put a collar on and he slipped out of it?

That is way too sketchy and definitely does not solve the problem. I'm also sure it costs less to neuter than kill. Or at least the same. Geez :(

In established neighbourhood, I don't think killing is a good option.

In other cases...well, I am Australian. I live half an hour out of the nearest town. There are a great many feral cats in this country, who have been feral for so many generations that they'd be hard to tame even if there were homes for all of them. Especially in the Outback, where they prey on our wildlife; much of which is endangered. In those cases, neutering isn't going to cut it.
They're not native, and they're killing animals that are. I love domesticated cats, but in the wild I'd rather the bandicoots and so forth survived.

I have mixed feelings on cats because so many people allow them to wander; years ago my folks had a friendly cat bird who used to follow my mom around the garden. The idiots three houses down used to come out weekends. They had a Cat. They would leave said cat to forage all week outside. Said cat attacked the catbird in front of my mother who drove it off, then nursed the bird through a dislocated jaw. The poor bird healed up pretty well, but her bill would never close properly after that.

I just wish people would realise that cats are hunters and that any bird that feeds on the ground is dinner. Ditto in spades for birds that habitually nest on the ground. I used to have Towhees in my garden, until the local cat population moved in, also no more quail.

There's a family of feral cats living under my grandparents' smokehouse... a mama cat and at least two or three kittens. I've written a letter to both my senators, and I'll mail it tomorrow.

Sounds familiar! It really puts abortion into perspective, doesn't it?

Birth control, too.