Last week in San Antonio, I looked out the front storm door one evening and saw this fellow relaxing on the sidewalk. I had to double-check to make sure Floyd was in the house, but of course he was.
We’ve seen this guy around. One of our neighbors participates in San Antonio’s Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR) program for the local ferals, and she says they’ve gotten most of the neighborhood kitties taken care of. I believe this fellow is one. We’ve seen him (presuming it’s a him — I’m really not sure) around the yard for the last year or so.I credit San Antonio’s move to the TNR method of dealing with the stray cat population for me deciding to do what I’ve decided to do in our area in Central Texas. The idea behind trapping, neutering, and releasing presumes a cat colony minding it’s own business is beneficial (as long as they aren’t reproducing). If cats are rounded up and taken to a shelter, most would wind up being euthanized, and the void in the community would simply attract more cats. If the cats are spayed or neutered and re-released into their community, it discourages more cats from showing up.
What I’ve tried to do in my little corner of Central Texas is similar to that. A couple of years ago, we had about 20 cats roaming in our couple block area. Animal Control trapped them, and I presume most of them were euthanized, because they were not socialized to humans, making them poor candidates for adoption. When I saw a foursome of young cats with a foursome of kittens, a couple of years ago, I could see the same thing happening all over again. I liked having a few cats in the neighborhood to keep rodents in check, but I dreaded the thought of how many cats we could have if they were not held in check.
That led me to trapping and getting the older ones spayed and neutered. That went fine. The kittens, as many of you will recall, were problematic. I trapped them, but they were too young to get spayed or neutered (by my vet, anyway), and they were too wild to be good adoption candidates (and winter is not prime kitten adoption time, either). That’s how I wound up with four more cats than I planned on having, but that does happen.
If you’re going to feed local strays or ferals, please do the humane thing and TNR.