Over to the Cat Side: Enticing Cat Skeptics in Your Life to Support Feline Rescue and TNR

Article by MRFRS Shelter Director, Britney Fox Hover

We all know at least one family member or friend who is OBSESSED with cats. If that feline-frenzied enthusiast happens to be you, you have probably encountered someone in your life that does not share the same love and affection for the smartest, cutest, most agile, playful, intriguing (I could go on) animals to ever walk the face of the planet.

Do you ever find yourself having heated discussions defending and endorsing why these animals need our protection and love? If so, we have put together some compelling arguments about why everyone should support and donate to their local feline wellness programs, even if they do not like cats.

For those of us who love cats, we argue that they deserve the same status and compassion as dogs enjoy. They are creatures who have incredible memories, complex and deep social structures, and unmatched resilience – why would we not want to fight for their well being? But there are others who fear or despise our feline friends for a number of reasons – some justified.

The good news is that we have a RARE opportunity for two sides of an issue to come together and work towards the same goal: spay and neuter as many cats as possible. Us pro-cat people want to keep the feline population down to work towards a world where there is less over-population so that all cats can be wanted and loved. It is estimated that there are currently more unowned and feral cats in our country than cats that are considered pets. And for those anti-cat people out there, they have to agree that the fewer cats there are, the better.

Let’s explore some arguments as to why reducing the feline population as a whole could benefit those cat skeptics we know:

Better For The Environment

House cats are not endemic to our country and wreak havoc on local ecosystems. Nature lovers, particularly hardcore bird enthusiasts, will argue that cats kill millions of birds every year and have been the cause of several species going extinct. While there are no good scientific studies proving just how many birds are killed by cats, we all know that cats hunt birds. Even a well-fed cat will kill birds just to seek out that hunting action high– they are simply programmed to do this regardless of how many Temptation treats they eat throughout the day.

Fewer cats will mean birds, particularly young birds or “fledglings”, will have a better chance of survival. Fledgling birds learning to fly spend more time on the ground and are therefore more susceptible to cat predation. Birds serve critical roles in the life cycle of our forests, meadows, oceans, and many other types of environments. From pollinating the plants we grow and the food we eat to spreading seeds for the growth of various plant life that feeds a multitude of species, we need birds more than birds need us.

Better For People Across The Globe

Given that cats procreate frequently and quickly, their numbers can increase exponentially in a short period of time. From male cats fighting and yelling at night to cats eating out of dumpsters and stealing table scraps, people find these situations either annoying or distasteful. On individual levels as well on larger scales, cats can carry diseases that spread to people (toxoplasmosis, rabies, ringworm, etc) which leads to public health concerns.

Cats also carry parasites that can spread to people. Tapeworms, coccidia, and fleas are all creepy crawly critters that can negatively impact the health of human beings. Humans can (and do!) contract these parasites on a regular basis. The fewer number of cats, the fewer number of hosts there are to spread the aforementioned parasites.

For as many birds as cats kill per year, they kill even more rodents. This impressive feat is also biologically programmed into our house cats. Rodents compromise food stores even today and spread various diseases that spread to humans. Rodents procreate extremely quickly and keeping this arms race at bay is what the feline species excels at. In fact, it is the main reason that cats have found world domination.

As cute and wonderful as we find them, our ancestors found their rodent hunting abilities far more productive in their everyday life than say, their perfect and adorable faces. So our human ancestors put cats on ships and let them out at every port. We need to remember that the reason that cats are so plentiful and widespread is that they serve an important purpose, integral to human survival even to this day. Working cats are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.

How Do We Achieve Lower Feline Population?

As cat lovers, we don’t like to discuss this topic but there are plenty of people out there who advocate for killing cats over trap-neuter-return “TNR” programs to decrease feline population. If you hop onto any environmental FaceBook group or forum and look up what people say about cats, it is not pretty. I have to think this mainly stems from people simply not understanding how TNR is just as (if not more) effective than euthanizing feral cats.

For one, studies show that simply euthanizing cats DOES NOT decrease the population. As a rule, mammals will breed and grow their numbers to a size that their food source can support. There is absolutely no way that every single feral cat in the world can be trapped, therefore there will always be intact animals in an environment that will mate and replenish population size, no matter how much they are removed. It is quite simply shoveling against a tide.

The practice of TNR is far more effective at achieving a “maintenance” level for cats within an area. It is important for everyone reading this to note that neither culling nor TNR will achieve a level of zero cats. Even so, TNR has more upside than destroying perfectly healthy feral cats. For one, TNR allows feral feline social groups to remain intact. Such social groups will often time increase the survival of insiders but any outsiders looking to join the group, especially males, will be met with opposition from the alpha tomcat.

This single cat has a lower chance of surviving if not part of the group. Also, when it boils down to it, TNR is simply more humane than euthanizing feral cats. I would like to think that anyone can win an argument by showing that TNR is effective and humane and that the alternative option does not achieve either of these successes.

All in all, it is very difficult to convert a cat skeptic but it is not impossible. Here at our shelter, we hear countless stories of “dog people” who meet and fall in love with a cat and add “cat person” to their title. In the long run, it is important for cats, humans, and the environment for people to understand how critical feline rescue and TNR programs are. Many of us who love cats and dedicate our lives to improving their welfare need to take a step back and understand the viewpoint of people who don’t see eye to eye with us. We know that our fellow cat lovers are on board and have our backs but we need the support of more than our feline-loving army to instate real and lasting change.