You found a healthy cat outside and take it to the City of Waco Animal Services. They scan the cat for a microchip and, finding none, turn you away and tell you to put the cat back where you found it. This can be puzzling or even frustrating for a you, a compassionate individual wanting to help. Here I will discuss some of the important reasons behind this policy and ways you can help cats in your community.
In the Waco community, outdoor cats that are both friendly or feral are referred to as community cats. These cats are often cared for by known or unknown people. You may hear them called feral, stray, wild, alley cats, barn cats, or neighborhood cats. If these cats are healthy, they should not be going to the shelter. Community cats are not allowed to be accepted by the City of Waco Animal Services unless they are ill or injured.
Shelters taking cats can do more harm than good.
There are several reasons why a shelter is not a good place for a cat that was found outdoors. First, only 0.5% or fewer cats found outdoors are ever reclaimed from a shelter. Healthy cats found outdoors are more likely to make their way back home to their owner or their community/colony on their own than if they entered the shelter system.
Shelters are also not good places to domesticate a feral cat. Nearly 100% of not friendly cats are euthanized at shelters. By not brining these cats to the shelter you are helping to reduce the euthanasia rate at the shelter and keeping those cats that need the shelter healthier. Reducing euthanasia rates also prevents depression, burnout, and staff turnover at shelters.
Cats are safe outside.
Cats have been outside for 1000s of years. A fun fact I learned when researching this blog is that cat litter wasn’t invented until the 1940s. Before that, most cats were using the bathroom outdoors. Community cats choose places to live that have readily available food and shelter, both of which could or could not be provided by a human caregiver. Research from mass spay and neuter clinics indicates that community cats can be just as healthy as cats that are kept as pets (source). In addition, community cats have healthy lifespans (source) and healthy weights (source).
You aren’t at risk because there are outdoor cats in your neighborhood.
Most diseases that cats can get do not spread to humans. Any disease that can spread to humans can only be spread by direct contact with the cat, which is unlikely to happen as most outdoor cats avoid humans. In addition, many community caregivers of these outdoor cats are getting them spayed or neutered and their shots using local resources like Animal Birth Control Clinic and Wonky Whiskers Rescue. You can tell if a cat has been to the vet by the presence of an ear tip or notch in one of the cat’s ears.
Removing cats from their outdoor home just makes new cats move into the area.
Removing community cats from their outdoor home by taking them to the shelter or worse can temporarily reduce the population of cats in your area. However, other cats will move into your neighborhood very soon. As mentioned above, the cats were there in the first place because there was food and shelter. Once cats are removed, new cats or other wildlife will see the available resources and move right in.
What are the next steps?
First off, thank you for being a helper. If you found a healthy cat outdoors, check out our page about what to do if you find a cat. That page includes tips like having it scanned for a microchip, talking to neighbors, and posting on public forums and social media pages. If you are not able to find the owner after about a week and after following these tips and the cat is friendly, rehoming the cat is a great option. You can find information about rehoming a pet on our website.
If the cat is not friendly and you do not feel comfortable making him or her ready for adoption, spaying or neutering the cat and releasing him or her to their outdoor home is a great option to help. Animal Birth Control Clinic and Wonky Whiskers Rescue both offer a TNR program. TNR stands for Trap, Neuter, Return. In this program, the community cat is spayed or neutered and given shots. TNRed cats live a healthier life, do not reproduce, and are less of a nuisance to the community (source).
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