Hey guys. Wally here. Tomorrow, October 16, is Global Cat Day, a day that was started back in 2001 by Alley Cat Allies as a way to educate people about feral cats…or what are now called community or outdoor cats…and promote programs like Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR). It’s also a day to honor and recognize the millions of people who care for community cats. Alley Cat Allies is the only advocacy organization that is dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of community cats.
TNR is a proven method to help save cats lives. But despite all the efforts of promoting and educating about TNR, there are still lots of myths that exist about it. We, along with the Garden Center cats, Chip and Slim, our favorite community cats…wanna bust those myths.
For those of you not familiar with Chip and Slim, they’re a couple of cats that showed up at the dad-guy’s garden center a few years ago. The mom and dad-guy trapped them, got them fixed, and they’ve been living the good life at the garden center ever since.
Myth #1 – Community cats are still a nuisance even after TNR.
FACT – Fixing cats fixes bad behavior. Fixed cats are less likely to go into heat, spray or fight.
FACT – Fixed cats roam less. Spaying and neutering helps to reduce a cat’s desire to roam.
Myth #2 – TNR puts unhealthy and suffering animals back on the street.
FACT – The majority of community cats are healthy and disease-free. Studies have found that most cats that have been TNR’ed are healthy enough to be fixed. And TNR actually helps to keep community cats healthy. Spaying a female cat reduces the risk of tumors and infections, and neutering males helps to deter fighting thus preventing bite wounds.
Myth #3 – Eartipping is cruel.
FACT – Cats that are TNR’ed have their ear tipped to indicate that they have been TNR’ed. Eartipping is painless and it helps to prevent unnecessary surgeries.
Myth #4 – TNR will never stop cats from killing wildlife, like birds.
FACT – Cats are natural-born hunters, but the best way to protect wildlife is to have fewer community cats in the environment. If cats are fixed and no longer can reproduce, the overall population of community cats will decline over time. Some conservationists blame cats for millions of bird deaths every year. Most of these claims are extremely exaggerated. When cats are fixed and their numbers gradually decline, both the cats and the birds win. And community cats help to keep the rodent population in check.
Chip and Slim are doing well. They may not have all the comforts of an inside cat…but they get good food regularly, have a nice sheltered area, and people who care about them. Chip and Slim are examples of how TNR can work for outdoor cats.
Despite these myths and misconceptions, TNR does save cats’ lives. It’s a proven method of stabilizing and reducing populations of community cats. More and more cities and towns are recognizing that TNR really does work. But more needs to be done until TNR is the only acceptable way to care for community cats.
Photo courtesy of Alley Cat Allies
If you would like more information about TNR and how you can help community cats, visit globalcatday.org or the Alley Cat Allies website.
Do you take care of any community cats?
31 Responses to “TNR Mythbusting with Chip and Slim, the Garden Center Cats #GlobalCatDay”
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The misconceptions are a heartache for those of us who know better. And Audubon advocating killing them…i.e. Community Cats…makes the uninformed reader out there seeing “news” articles even more sadly uninformed.
Humans who can’t see the value in TNR should win a Top Idiot Award!
Yes, we have done TNR several times in our neighborhood. In fact, we are going to TNR an un-neutered male next week (God willing).
Great post!! Lots of good information!
The Florida Furkids
great information. i learned a lot.
Chip and Slim! YAY!
Yes, The PO’M and Sweetie are also community cats, and they live the good life in our yard, with shelter and food and lots of care.
We are big supporters of TNR here! Thanks for letting us know about Global Cat Day – we almost forgot!
Chip & Slim sure have it good at your Dad-guy’s store, Wally! I’m glad they got the TNR workup!
We have a program like that here, too; petcretary once knew a lady that had cats and each year there were kittens galore, with all kinds of health issues, cause said lady was elderly and couldn’t properly care for them all. So Allie Cat Allies came by and trapped them at intervals and did TNR so she could still have her kitties, but no new kittens.
Petcretary tried to have some of those cats come here to our den, but the lady’s family was not cooperative and petcretary has no idea what happened to them after that lady passed away. There was even a Meezer in that group. Sad:(
applause applause – well said. The eartipping comment is the one that makes mom bang her head – she got frustrated with someone at one point and actually said “it’s not like we do it while they are AWAKE!” 🙂 As for the birds, our feral girl Allie has on more than one occasion walked right by a bird on the driveway to get to her food in our garage.
What a great post!!
Hugs Cecilia
If the questions were a quiz, I got 100%
That is such a great post. We have been TNR for awhile now and have done 7 cats so far. It truly does make them better cats and I have never seen any of them go after birds. That is such a wonderful post and we hope lots of people see it. If we didn’t do the TNR, there would be hundreds of cats around here and that would be a problem. So glad Chip and Slim have such a great home.
chip N slim…..wavez two ewe doodz !!!!! itz all wayz grate ta see ewe N heer frum ewe N thiz post rocks….thanx for postin N sharin…spesh a lee de….. BURD izzue ~~~~~~
while we due knot haz community catz rite round trout towne we due help thoz ina nayborhood a few
over N down de street N round de korner bye sharin food N blankits ~~~
♥♥♥☺☺☺
Meow meow Wally mee not know about Tee-En-R an now mee iss furry inn-terested. Mee asked LadyMummy about Tee-En-R an shee said shee an Aunty Sheila take care of a colony inn a downtown low-cation! There are onlee 4 catss there an all are fixed. This Tee-En-R reelly works! An Chip an Slim iss wonder full to meet you both.
***purrss*** BellaDharma
LOVE this post dispelling so many silly myths. Pawsome job, Chip & Slim!
Excellent post. TNR is so important.
Thank you for busting these myths for those who think that! TNR works!
We can’t believe anyone has doubts about these wonderful programs. But there are naysayers everywhere, aren’t they? We love seeing Chip and Slim, and believe they have a good life there. ♥
very informative post–and I agree with what you say about the importance of helping feral cats!! Have a great day!
It’s sad there’s so many myths about kitties but we’re thankful for kitties like Chip and Slim who are great ambassadors to the TNR life!
Very interesting information Wally.
Fabulous post guys!! Hoping those that NEED to see this WILL see it!
Great TNR info!
I truly wish people would listen. In our area, a few years ago, one of the cities agreed to try TNR and you would not believe the ugliness toward ferals that came out. People actually believe they are harmful or “bad.”
Chip and Slim, you are the purrfect kitties to share these facts and bust those myths! We really wish more people would realize how important TNR is, and how feral cats are just as beautiful and deserving of our care and compassion as indoor kitties.
Great post! Chip and Slim are both adorable and they are indeed a great example of how TNR works.
Great post and very important!
Purrs xx
Athena and Marie
You’re so right, Wally! TNR DOES work! Our mom visited the Atlantic City Boardwalk Cats, who are overseen by Alley Cat Allies. That program is proof that TNR works! We wish all communities did this.
WoW! What a great post for Global Cat Day! Chip and Slim are quite the guys and what great poster cats for TNR and Community Cats.
We don’t have any here where we live, but we contribute regularly to RAPS Richmond Animal Protection Society) does a ton of great work in our city and even has a special area for those community cats that are FIV and FeLV.
Purrs
Marv
TNR totally works. We know because there are some feral cat colonies here that have really helped make a difference.
Here here on everything you have published on this subject and thank you for enlightening the public.