Those of us who volunteer our time, energy and resources to feral cats, find the work to be less than glamorous. The work can even put us in the line of public criticism and complaints. We are, in fact, serving the community with our efforts and definitely helping the animals. We do this out of our love for cats.

Just because we are volunteers, does not mean that our time is not worth as much as yours. The truth of the matter is, most of us have full time jobs and families. Even if retired, it doesn’t mean we have unlimited hours to donate. Coming to bail you out of your problem impacts our lives greatly, yet some people out there have the audacity to complain about our methods, if we are abrupt on the phone, or say that you may have to wait in line.

It never ceases to amaze and anger me when I hear of snide comments made by people behind our backs, people who have no clue what we go through in our efforts to help both the feral cats and the communities in which they live. We always hear the comments and who made them, so don’t think that it won’t get back to us. The better thing to do would be to educate your self as to what Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) means then work with, not against us.

We receive many calls each day asking for help in trapping and removing a feral cat colony. We often find these cats are not really feral but a neighbor’s pet who became pregnant and had her kittens in the caller’s backyard. Sometimes the cat actually belongs to the person on the phone, pretending innocence in hopes of a free handout of spay/neuter, vaccines and flea treatment for the lot. Still, the key word here is “colony.”

Every colony, or clowder as it is known, begins with one intact female. When a feline goes into heat, she “calls” unneutered males to her with both scent and oral signals. One or more toms will answer that call, sometimes from MILES away, so don’t think living in a country setting far from civilization will keep your only female from being impregnated. The urge to breed is ingrained, and an animal will go to great lengths to fulfill that need.

But back to the public and the call for help…

The clowder now consists of at least five or six cats, but more often the numbers are in the double digits. The question we want to scream into the phone is, “Why did you wait so long to call us?” Trapping five or six cats is one thing, requiring a few hours. Trapping a colony of 10-25 takes a few days preceded by hours of prep time and often several people.

The job has now just elevated from a simple TNR to, “What are you going to do with all these cats? They can’t come back here!” It has now suddenly become a Catalyst for Cats problem.

The responsible answer is to have all your indoor/outdoor pets spayed and neutered, and there are laws in most parts of Santa Barbara County requiring this now. Why then, is the public resisting compliance yet continuing to complain when we tell them we have no room to take their unwanted kittens?

Please understand we are not a dumping ground or rescue group for unwanted tame cats. We are dedicated to helping the feral, wild ones that dwell in the shadows and sometimes breed with domesticated pets. Yes, we do take in kittens to foster, but we choose the ones born to feral queens if they are young enough to tame. If your pet has had a litter of kittens they your responsibility, not ours. Please spay and neuter them all before adopting out; giving intact animals away does not help alleviate overpopulation.

Another major problem we have when dealing with the public is they don’t listen or follow directions very well. There are really very few of us who do the TNR, and we often engage the caller to at least take some ownership of the situation and participate in catching the cats. We always give specific directions from our tried and true experiences, yet many individuals decide to do it their own way resulting in no cats or too many being trapped.

Trapping is done only when appointments have been set up with a veterinary clinic for the following day. When these appointments are not kept, it impacts the schedule of the doctor and also our schedule for the TNR jobs waiting in our queue. We cannot just take in some other cat(s), because as with humans, the animals must have fasted before surgery.

TNR is a dance. To make it work, both partners need to know the steps. Please help us help you. Pardon my ranting, but sometimes it just needs to be shouted before people will listen.