Kildare Rescue Tails: How volunteers help feral cats
Cat trapping with the KWWSPCA
The KWWSPCA operates a TNR Service (Trap / Neuter / Return) as a humane method of controlling feral cat colonies and giving these cats a healthier life. Our team of volunteers can trap a cat humanely, bring it to the vet for neutering or spaying and then return the cat to the exact location where it was trapped.
It is important to return to exactly where they took the cat so that the cat can easily recognize the places that they know and where they have marked their territory.
During surgery, the vet will make a nip in the cat’s ear. This ‘eartip’ is the best method of identifying in the future that the cat has been neutered. In some cases, if the cat is friendly and receptive to human contact, we try to find a new domestic home for the cat rather than returning it to the wild.
If kittens are found in a feral situation and are young enough to be tamed, they will also be rehomed as domestic cats.
There are so many benefits to TNR: neutering/spaying helps to extend the lifespan and quality of life of cats; tomcats do not spray and will be more pleasant and relaxed in themselves; they no longer receive injuries resulting from fighting with competing males and female cats that are spayed benefit from a reduced risk of mammary cancer and unwanted pregnancies.
When you consider that a female cat can have up to three litters in one year, usually producing three to five kittens in each litter, then it is easy to see how the population can increase so rapidly.
In recent weeks our volunteers have been tackling quite a large colony of cats, up to 50 in fact, with several of the females currently pregnant. They have trapped and neutered about 80 per cent at this stage with most of them returned. One was kept for eye surgery and one heavily pregnant five-month-old kitten was kept in a foster home to deliver her kittens safely.
The yet untrapped pregnant cats will eventually be brought in for spaying once their new kittens are weaned and these new kittens will be taken into our care to hopefully get new homes. We are grateful for our many dedicated volunteers who spend hours in all kinds of weather conditions trapping the cats in order to stop the continuous cycle of unwanted kittens being born in the wild.
Our shelter is open every Saturday at the moment, without appointment, between the hours of 1.30pm and 3.30pm to facilitate cat adoptions. Please check our website and social media for information.
