Thank you, Laura and Heather for sticking up for the ferals - they need us! Other rescuers ask me all the time why I don't do more tame pound cat adoptions rather than tamed former feral kittens and I tell them, "Because who will help the ferals then?" A friend of mine calls us The Secret Army because so many people are so awful to feral colonies and so few help them. Most of those cats are dumped and we find tame ones at colonies all the time who we test/spay/neuter/vaccinate and then adopt out to good homes. We actually had a 10 year old cat dumped there that was neutered, totally tame and declawed front and back and we found him the best home ever in just three days. He was so beyond sweet and such a lap-hound that we would have loved to have kept him, but I would rather keep a place in the ever-revolving cat hotel for cats that aren't so adoptable to be tamed and have a chance at a good home.
One thing I do want to point out is that it is much better to have barncats around than for your alpacas to eat hay that hundreds of mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits and opossums have used as a restroom. Our feral cats have never peed or pooped on hay yet - but tomcats and male cats that are neutered when they are older will spray urine on hay. So I do suggest that anyone who wants to add feral cats as barncats get spayed/tested/vaccinated feral females of any age or 1 year old or younger neutered feral males. Unless you have a lot of stray cats in your area, you only need to vaccinate them one time, it does give them 70% protection. If you like, you can re-trap them every three years and re-vaccinate but I haven't found that necessary unless there are sick kitties around. They keep the ground squirrels away just with their scent but they don't kill them but I will tell you, our mouse and rat population went from hundreds to almost none in just a few months with just two outdoor cats. We free-feed them dry cat food and I never saw any kills after the first couple months they were here (and there were only a couple mice, rats and one baby rabbit), they used to bring them as gifts to our porch and I know their scent alone can keep them away. I do know they have never killed any birds because there are always feathers as a result of that.
Susan Olson
Alpaca Loco
Riverside, CA
In a message dated 4/6/2013 6:46:23 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, lauraroberts518@gmail.com writes:
I was discussing this subject with my dh this morning and told him I wasn't even going to reply, because so many see this as black and white and it clearly isn't!
I agree with you Heather and I think comparing cats with dogs running at large is ludicrous. Cats are survivalists. My standard joke is that when we are long gone, the cats and cockroaches will still be around.
I cannot imagine any landfill or junk yard without cats, nor barns, nurseries, etc. I don't think the average person has a clue as to how overrun we would be with rats and mice without cats. Sure, rodents can be controlled with poisons, but I sure don't want that on my farm!
I also find the likelihood of feral cats keeping all the ducks and geese away from a pond very unlikely. More likely was some type of disease or lack of food. Heck, if feral cat colonies could keep the Canada Geese away, I think we'd see the Golf course owners and airport owners employing them! As it is, I have friends employed to harass the geese off of the runways and golf courses with their Border Collies. To think all they need is a colony of ferals to do the job! If only.
As far as being injured by a feral, I know this happens but is usually human error. I have seen people bitten by squirrels but we don't try to get rid of them all!
I am sure there are studies on this, but I can only think that sterilization and vaccinating and releasing is the way to go, not eradication. Besides, I am a firm believer than every species eradicated brings us humans one step closer to extinction, too.
Btw, I work at a low cost spay and neuter clinic and we try to do our part for the ferals and their rescue groups. We will will spay/neuter, vaccinate and ear tip for a lower price than an office visit and exam by most veterinarians!
Laura
who just brought one of our barn cats home from the vet after having his leg amputated due to bad break of unknown cause. Cookie is mending and enjoying the icu indoors! Our tri-pod cat may be an indoor cat if he chooses to stay inside, but I suspect he will be asking to go outside very soon.
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