Sunday, October 16, 2016

National Feral Cat Day 2016

Happy National Feral Cat Day!  For the last five years, every October 16 I write about NFCD for Alley Cat Allies. It is a great event that brings recognition to the feral cats that we share our neighborhoods with.


This year's theme, "All Cats All Communities" reflects Alley Cat Allies' belief that every cat's life in every community around the world is important. 

Alley Cat Allies' has even provided a fun NFCD 2016 coloring page that you can print out here.

Feral or stray cats have many names. They are also known as community cats, outdoor cats, alley cats, street cats, barn cats and even tomcats. Outdoor community cats and pet cats are the same species, Felis catus, the domestic cat.

Studies show that outdoor cats are as healthy as pet cats and can have the same life span. "Feral" describes behavior, feral cats are wary of people and live on their own outdoors. Community cats are not adoptable because they are not socialized to humans.

An eartip is the universal symbol to identify a neutered and vaccinated cat. The top 3/8 inch of the cat's left ear is removed during surgery. More than 40% of Americans have cared for an outdoor cat!

Cats live everywhere. Cats have lived outdoors alongside humans since before the pyramids. Outdoor cats live in family groups called colonies. Cats are bonded to their environments and colonies. 

More than 70% of all cats who go to a shelter are killed there. For community cats, that rises to virtually 100%. Removing community cats doesn't work. Catching and killing is ineffective, outdated and cruel. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the only humane, effective approach to care for community cats.

Community cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped and then returned to their outdoor home. To learn more about community cats, visit here.

Read last year's post 2015 & previous years: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.



Information was provided by Alley Cat Allies. Sandpiper Cat Blog was not monetarily compensated for this post but did receive free promotional and informative items. 


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