• Feral cats can minimize rodent problems,
keeping their populations in check and discouraging new rodents from moving into the area. • People who help care for feral cat colonies can enjoy the same benefits as having a companion animal, such as extended life expectancy, lower blood pressure, and lower stress levels. • Feral cat caretakers are often elderly and live alone, a population at risk for depression, loneliness, and isolation. Cats relieve these conditions and often bring a sense of happiness and purpose to people who help them. • Individuals who cannot commit to the full-time commitment of adopting a companion animal can participate in programs to help feral cats. • An established, stable, vaccinated, and sterilized colony of feral cats deters other stray and feral cats from moving into the area. This decreases the risk of humans and pets encountering unvaccinated cats, and will virtually eliminate problem behaviors like fighting and spraying. • Feral cats can improve public health when the supervised colony is vaccinated against rabies. These vaccinated feral cats act as a buffer between the wildlife who might carry rabies and the domestic neighborhood cats who have the most contact with humans.  This is Thoma . . . At about five months old (three years ago) she found herself going through our program. Without this TNR program she would have had alot of kittens by now. |  This is Martini . . . Currently living in downtown Reno in the historic Bungalow District. He and Thoma are in a healthy and stabilized colony of six. They are well fed and greet their caretaker who comes with food. Worried about the birds?
Studies have shown that cats prey on rodents, insects, and reptiles far more than birds. Habitat loss and encroachment by humans is the primary threat to bird populations, also raccoons and opossums are the primary predators of nesting birds. Feral cats benefit the ecosystem more than harming it.    |
