Rethinking Cat Management
Strategies
Rationale and recommended practices
Kate Hurley, DVM, MPVM, Dip. ABVP (Shelter Medicine Practice) www.sheltermedicine.com
[email protected]
Cats in Fresno County
(including city)
• ~ 190,000 pet cats
• ~ 60% indoors
• > 80% spayed/neutered
• ~ 140,000 community cats
• 100% outdoors
• < 5% in colonies
Historical pathways
3 Return to owner
Adoption
Humane euthanasia
Suffering, painful death
and/or causing
unacceptable problems or
risks out in the community
Important difference between cats and dogs
4 Fewer than
1 in 10 cats
recovered
by a call or
visit to a
shelter
More than
1 in 3 dogs
recovered
by a call or
visit to a
shelter
Repeatable results
• Random digit dialed national
survey of > 1,000 households
• Of households that had lost a cat,
75% were found
• 1/54 by visit to shelter
• 48/54 by returning on their own or
searching neighborhood
5 +28%
-1%
+24%
-32%
-40%
-30%
-20%
-10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Intake Euthanasia
California 2000-2010
A different approach
.
San Jose's animal shelter is
among the first in the
country to try a new
approach to dealing with
feral and stray cats. Instead
of euthanizing those that
aren't adoptable, the shelter
spays or neuters them and
releases them back to the
vacant lot or back alley from
which they came.
It worked!
TNR Diversion/Return to Field (RTF)
• Targets healthy adult cats (+/-
older kittens)
• Sterilize, vaccinate, ear tip and
return to location found
• TNR Diversion: bypass trip to
shelter entirely
• RTF: outcome for cats brought to
shelter
Repeatable results
TNR impact on complaint calls
11ICMA/HSUS Community Cat Management Guide, page 31
Why?
“Contrary to expectation, the relative abundance and
activity of feral cats increased in the cull-sites, even though the numbers of cats captured per unit effort
during the culling period declined. Increases in
minimum numbers of cats known to be alive ranged
from 75% to 211% during the culling period,
compared with pre- and post-cull estimates.”
13 R
RT
14 R
RT
15 RT
16 R
RT
Rethinking how to be of service
• 1 in 6 people in America live in
poverty
• 1 in 5 people in America speak a
language other than English at
home
• Cultural norms and expectations
as well as access to services can
vary
• > 90% of people in marginalized
communities have never been to
a shelter at all
17 Keeping families together
• Most pets in marginalized
communities adopted from a
source other than a shelter
• Leaving cats in place keeps
families and pets together
• TNR for friendly free roaming
cats can close the loop on
sterilization and vaccination
18 HSUS Pets for Life Report 2014
3% from shelter
or rescue
55% from family,
friends, neighbors
New understanding
19 Return to owner
Adoption
Humane euthanasia
Suffering and/or causing
unacceptable problems or
risks out in the community
TNR diversion/RTF
What about when TNR is not available?
Remember this
“Contrary to expectation, the relative abundance and
activity of feral cats increased in the cull-sites, even though the numbers of cats captured per unit effort
during the culling period declined. Increases in
minimum numbers of cats known to be alive ranged
from 75% to 211% during the culling period,
compared with pre- and post-cull estimates.”
DO NO HARM
It is the position of NACA that indiscriminate pick up or admission of healthy, free-roaming cats, regardless
of temperament, for any purpose other than
TNR/SNR, fails to serve commonly held goals of
community animal management and protection programs
and, as such, is a misuse of time and public funds
and should be avoided.
Spay/neuter
Vaccinate
ID
Shelter medical team triage
1 2. Surgery
necessary for
release from shelter
4. Safety net services to
divert intake (including
TNR)
5. Targeted TNR (not
immediate intake risk)
1. Sick and injured
animals
3. Foster kitten
support
6. Public services
(spay/neuter, general
TNR, vaccination)
All the science
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.84708 1/full