San Diego CA – October 16 is National Feral Cat Day. To honor the day and bring awareness to San Diego County’s feral cat population, the Feral Cat Coalition (FCC) will strive to spay and neuter 200 cats during the month of October. A tax-deductible donation of $25 spays or neuters a feral cat in need at FCC’s facility, Feral & Friends. If you would like to help the Feral Cat Coalition reach its goal, or would like to make a reservation to have a feral cat spayed/neutered, please call (855) FCC-CATS or visit www.feralcat.com. Help FCC achieve its mission to reduce the suffering and overpopulation of feral and abandoned cats through free, humane, trap-neuter-return programs.
“Feral cats are the same species as pet cats, but they live outdoors and can’t be socialized to people,” said Mary Davis, medical director, Feral Cat Coalition. “Neutering feral cats is essential to a program called Trap‐Neuter‐Return, which ends the breeding cycle and makes feral cats better neighbors.”
Through FCC’s Trap-Neuter-Return program, outdoor cats are humanely trapped, neutered and returned to their outdoor home. While under anesthesia, the cats are vaccinated for rabies and FVRCP, receive a dewormer and flea treatment and are eartipped—a small portion of the ear will be removed for identification. After recovering from the sterilization surgery, the cats will be returned to their outdoor homes. Hundreds of local governments now have ordinances endorsing Trap-Neuter-Return, which is rapidly becoming the predominant approach to feral cats.
“Trap‐Neuter‐Return makes cats healthier and it ends behaviors commonly associated with mating, like yowling and roaming,” added Becky Robinson, president of Alley Cat Allies, the national advocate for feral and stray cats, foremost authority on Trap-Neuter-Return and the organization that launched National Feral Cat Day in 2001. “It helps people and feral cats get along peacefully.”
More than 70 percent of all cats who enter pounds and shelters are killed there. That number jumps to virtually 100 percent for feral cats. A national survey conducted for Alley Cat Allies by Harris Interactive found that an overwhelming number—81 percent—of Americans prefer to let outdoor cats live out their lives than have them caught and killed.
About Feral Cat Coalition
The Feral Cat Coalition (FCC) is a San Diego County nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering and overpopulation of stray and abandoned cats through humane Trap-Spay/Neuter-Return. Since 1992, FCC has spayed and neutered more than 35,000 feral cats, and in 2012, opened its own spay/neuter clinic, Feral & Friends, where more than 4,500 cats have been sterilized to date. For more information www.feralcat.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/feralcatcoalition.