CatNappers

If anyone can help, these kittens are in need. Rescues,etc.

Being held at Lee County Animal Shelter. Very sweet, but doing poorly in this environment, and their days are numbered.

This is such a great idea. Would be amazing if other towns, counties and state park authorities followed in their footsteps.
Be the change - do something! Say something!

Did you rescue that cat? Or did you steal it?

This can be a very touchy subject in the world of Rescue, because when you find a friendly cat outside you want to rescue it. You want to bring it inside and keep it safe and warm and well fed. And it can be hard for rescuers to be non-judgmental about people who allow their cats to go outside. But does that make it right for you to take that cat?

Here's an important point to consider; you work hard to find perfect homes for your rescues and you feel so good when they go to a home and you know they're warm and safe inside. But do you really know? Because once you have released a cat for adoption that cat belongs to his new people, and if they choose to let him go outside, is he better off with his new people than he was with his old?

How about the fact that many people who allow their cats to go indoor outdoor love their cats? While in your mind they are wrong to expose the cat to danger, they have reasons why they are allowing their cat to go outside. But you take their cat and they grieve - and frequently that cat grieves as well. And in time they go get another cat who once again goes outside.

There are so many scenarios with friendly cats in the outdoor world of rescue. Sometimes it is right to take the cat - sometimes you can't find the owner, sometimes that cat is being severely neglected or perhaps abused, sometimes the cat just won't go home even when you try. This post is not to say you should never rehome a friendly cat. It is to point out that simply because it's a friendly cat, you don't have the right to sn**ch it up and say I can find it a better home. Do the work, find out if there's an owner, find out if the cat is being cared for and if it is wanted. Of course always check for a microchip. And if this cat has shown up in a colony, take the time to observe and see – as someone who has fed multiple cats at a colony and found out many of them had homes but just liked visiting the buffet, I would be horrified to know I had removed them all thinking they needed homes.

Mr. Orange cat in this picture showed up at a feral colony and proceeded to stay for over a month. He was very friendly and he was not neutered. We had him neutered for his caregiver and instead of ear tipping him we placed a microchip- because this very friendly boy probably had a home. And two days later we got a call from the microchip company, this cat had been reported as found. It turned out when he went home his owners saw something had been done to his "posterior" and were concerned, they took him to the vet to make sure everything was OK. They were delighted to find out we had microchipped him when we neutered him, and that we would transfer the chip to their name. Fortunately he was due for vaccinations because we had given them as well as flea treatment. We were able to give some educational information and encourage them to keep him inside at least during the night hours. But in the end this cat had a home, and he had people who loved him. The fact that he went home after his neuter tells you that was his home. What a good feeling that we didn't end up stealing their pet.

Just give it some thought next time you are considering taking a friendly cat. Do your due diligence, make sure there isn't someone who's going to be missing him if you do decide he needs a new home. Rehome, but don't steal.

** Edit note - Trolls on this post - or any of our posts - will be blocked. Opinions always welcomed, whether you agree or not, but keep it civil please.**

Carriers are NOT optional!!!

How many times have you been in front of a vet or spay/neuter clinic and seen cats loose in a car? Seen people walk up to the door holding the cat in their arms? And heard them scoff at the need to confine the cat – “MY kitty is fine – s/he’s so mellow, there is no worry” :( Maybe they show up with the cat in an open box…

This concerns people who simply do not think they need to use a carrier! And the true heartache happens when that cat – that mellow, no worry cat – gets frightened and bolts from the owner’s arms. Rescuers often spend hours, days, weeks looking for that terrified cat, who is now lost in unfamiliar territory. This is a tragedy that does not have to happen!

Little Mr. G, pictured below, is a kitten saved long ago – he actually WAS in a carrier, but his human took him out to show him to someone else – in an open car in a huge parking lot. In the blink of an eye he was gone – and only found 3 weeks later due to intense work and dedication by a group of rescuers. He came so close to never being found…

This is not an easy one to solve, but it requires all of us to work on educating the community. ALWAYS make sure those who adopt from you have a carrier. Make sure they understand WHY they need to always use it. Ask friends and family if they have a carrier – it is shocking how many people own cats and yet have no carrier! If they cannot afford one, get them one – carriers are often given away by rescue groups when they get old, or they can be found for $1-2 at garage sales. Carry an old carrier in the car – not only is it good for emergencies you find, you can have it to give away if you see a risky situation. Supposedly a pillow case is a good emergency use for someone who has no carrier – personally I’ve stopped recommending this as I’ve seen cats rip their way out :( Offer to make a poster for your vet’s office explaining why a carrier is required – not optional. And don’t be shy, if you see someone in public with a cat not confined, explain why that is not a good idea. Perhaps starting the conversation with “oh, you know just yesterday a tame cat got scared and escaped, and we haven’t found him yet. You need to confine your cat – may I help you?” Most clinics will have a spare carrier to loan, offer to go inside and get the carrier for them.

Education is a never ending process. Even if it feels a bit awkward, do speak up when you see this happening – it may be uncomfortable, but you just may save a life.

Can Cats Mate When Pregnant?

Not only can cats mate while they are nursing, but they may in some cases also mate while they are already pregnant. Pregnancy doesn’t necessarily stop a cat from going being in heat. The initial mating induces ovulation and the female cat can mate multiple times during her heat period, which usually lasts about 7 days. If this is the case, she may conceive multiple times. This fascinating event is called superfetation. It means that there can be kittens of different ages (although only a maximum of a week apart) in the same litter!

Since cats can mate while they are pregnant, it’s also possible for them to mate with different male cats during one heat cycle. If this is the case, it would mean that they can carry kittens from different sires in the same litter. This even more amazing phenomenon is called superfecundation. It is even technically possible for each kitten in a litter to have a different father!
However, cats will not go into heat during the remaining bulk of their pregnancy which lasts about 60 days. Superfetation and superfecundation can only happen in their initial heat period during which the first pregnancy took place. This is because their heat period hasn’t yet ceased and they can be open to mating for about a week more. After their heat is over, they will not go into estrus until after they’ve given birth.

I, personally, don't like a front line entrance, unless you have some kind of shield from wind or rain as it can go straight through. I prefer a side entrance where there is some room for them to snuggle in the portion that isn't directly in the wind tunnel.

Emergencies happen, works in a pinch.

Need an emergency cat shelter? A cardboard box covered in plastic or a trash bag to make it waterproof will do the trick. Fill it with with straw and you have a quick easy safe haven for a cat in need. For more cat shelter, heating, feeding tips please visit http://indyferal.org/index.php?page=shelters and join the community cat group https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndyFeralCommunityCat/

Female cats are “seasonally polyestrous”, meaning they have multiple estrus cycles during the breeding season. As the amount of daylight begins to increase at the winter solstice, the reproductive cycle of intact females kicks into gear, and most will go into heat by late January. A female cat will keep coming back into heat every 1 to 2 weeks until she gets pregnant, or the amount of daylight decreases (October). The feline gestation period is 63 days (give or take), so the first kittens of the season can start arriving as early as February.

NOW is the ideal time time to neuter community cats to get ahead of kitten season and end the breeding cycle before it starts.

😂😂😂😂😂

Of course you have to be careful where this would be used, but it could be a great option if used on your own property.

This is a creative feral cat shelter made by a very kind hearted man that is caring for a colony of 7 cats that we have fixed. A small truck topper filled with and surrounded by straw. Very warm and weatherproof for those kitties!

Removing cats from an area by killing or relocating them is not only cruel—it’s pointless. Animal control agencies and city governments have blindly perpetuated this futile approach for decades. But scientific research, years of failed attempts, and evidence from animal control personnel prove that catch and kill doesn’t permanently clear an area of cats.

Scientific evidence indicates that removing feral cat populations only opens up the habitat to an influx of new cats, either from neighboring territories or born from survivors. Each time cats are removed, the population will rebound through a natural phenomenon known as the “vacuum effect,” drawing the community into a costly, endless cycle of trapping and killing.

The vacuum effect is a phenomenon scientifically recognized worldwide, across all types of animal species
Well-documented among biologists, the vacuum effect describes what happens when even a portion of an animal population is permanently removed from its home range. Sooner or later, the empty habitat attracts other members of the species from neighboring areas, who move in to take advantage of the same resources that attracted the first group (like shelter and food). Killing or removing the original population does nothing to eliminate these resources; it only creates a “vacuum” that will inevitably draw in other animals living nearby.

Scientific research has observed the vacuum effect across many species—herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. When studying mountain lions, for example, one researcher noted, “When you remove resident lions that have established home ranges you create a void.” He continues, “Other resident lions that have home ranges that may overlap the individual you removed now find that territory empty. This allows them to expand their range, as well as create openings for transient lions to establish a new home range.”

Simply put, when mountain lions are removed from their habitat, other mountain lions move in. This behavior has also been documented in possums, badgers, and raccoons.

A habitat will support a population of a certain size. No matter how many animals are removed, if the resources remain, the population will eventually recover. Any cats remaining after a catch and kill effort will produce more kittens and at a higher survival rate, filling the habitat to capacity. As one study found, “populations greatly reduced by culling are likely to rebound quickly.”Over time, the number of cats in an area where a feral cat colony has been killed or relocated will simply recover and return to its original size.

Removing cats from an area is a futile effort—one that cannot succeed
The only documented “successful” effort to remove a population of cats occurred in a cruel program on uninhabited, sub-Antarctic Marion Island. It took two decades and ruthless methods—methods that are impossible to replicate in areas inhabited by people including poisoning, hunting with guns, and introducing disease—to clear the island of cats. As scientists tried each method, they noted “the recolonization of preferred habitats, cleared of cats, from neighboring suboptimal areas…” In other words, like the mountain lions, whenever they killed cats in the best habitats, the cats next door simply moved in.

The Marion Island example proves the vacuum effect while it also proves the impossibility of permanently clearing an area of an entire target population. Municipalities engaged in any type of catch and kill efforts are fighting a cruel, endless, losing battle against nature that is a gross waste of taxpayer dollars and ends hundreds of lives.

Years of failed catch and kill policies prove this method’s ineffectiveness
Animal control officers all over the country have observed the ineffectiveness of lethal methods firsthand through years of misguided policy.

Joan Brown, President and CEO of the Humane League of Lancaster County (PA), says that her organization made the switch to Trap-Neuter-Return when they started to realize that they were never making any headway with catch and kill.

“I finally went to the board and said, ‘Where in our mission statement does it say euthanize? Because all we’re doing is taking [feral cats] in to euthanize them…we’re not only doing an inhumane thing, we’re actually contributing to the problem, creating a vacuum effect that will just be filled again—and probably at a faster rate than when we started,’” says Brown.

Brown says that they noticed it was a never-ending and growing problem, draining their resources and their morale: “At the very least, we were standing still. That was clear, and it seemed as if we were running forward, but actually moving backward.”

Other animal control and shelter organizations nationwide have also taken a stand after acknowledging the failed results of their catch and kill efforts. Maricopa County, Arizona’s animal control website says, “We have over 20 years of documented proof that traditional ways of dealing with feral cats don’t work. The catch and kill method of population control (trap a cat, bring it to a shelter, ask that the cat be euthanized), has not reduced the number of feral cats. The cat may be gone, but now there is room for another cat to move in…So, catch and kill actually makes the problem worse.” And the Humane Society of Ochocos (Oregon) agrees: “…[W]e know now, that more than 30 years of trapping and killing cats has done nothing to reduce the feral cat population.”

The National Animal Control Association amended its feral cat policy in 2008 to be more supportive of Trap-Neuter-Return, in part because, as then president Mark Kumpf put it, “[i]t’s recognizing that in some cases, certain jurisdictions and communities are more interested in maintaining a stable cat population than they are in simply bailing the ocean with a thimble.”

He continues: “What we’re saying is the old standard isn’t good enough anymore. As we’ve seen before, there’s no department that I’m aware of that has enough money in their budget to simply practice the old capture and euthanize policy; nature just keeps having more kittens.”

If catch and kill had any long-term effect on cat populations, animal control officers nationwide—and their leadership organizations—would have observed it by now. Instead, they are reading the writing on the wall and switching to the method that works.

Trap-Neuter-Return is the responsible, humane method of care for feral cats
Trap-Neuter-Return stabilizes feral cat populations. The cats are humanely trapped, vaccinated, and neutered, so no more kittens will be born. They are then returned to their original location to live out their lives in their outdoor home. Not only is Trap-Neuter-Return the humane option for feral cats, it also improves cats’ lives by relieving them of the stresses of mating and pregnancy. In the end, unlike catch and kill, TNR works.

It’s time to stop the killing.
Cities and shelters across America have experienced great success with Trap-Neuter-Return—it is now official policy for feral cats in Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Chicago. It’s time to learn from past mistakes and move forward instead of going around in circles—it’s time to stop fighting the endless battle of catch and kill and protect cats’ lives.

We hear so often “I’ll just get the girls fixed and wait on the boys until next time.” FIX THOSE MALE CATS!!

While we view our cats as family members, it's critical to remember that they have essential needs that differ from us. Cats are obligate carnivores and must receive vitamin A from meat sources.

If you have any of our traps, please return them. I have a large emergency job to do and I'm short enough traps to do the job. People think I know where they are, and I'll get them if I need them. NOT TRUE. It doesn't work that way. IF you use them, it's your job to get them back to us when you return the cats and let them out. From now on I will not be able to let anyone use my traps if people can't be responsible for them. I can't afford to replace them, and I don't have access to more of this quality. This should NOT have to be said. Please return my property, they don't belong to you, and they don't become yours at any time. I understand things happen, but you need to understand I'm not giving you traps. They don't just become yours. When you keep them, you are depriving other cats of the help that they need. Otherwise, this organization would have closed shop when yours were finished. We exist because there are thousands out there needing our help. I won't be rude to anyone if you return them, but I need my traps, right now. I will NOT be nice to you if I find out who you are if you don't return them. Not next week or when you can get to it. NOW. This is a crucial and immediate situation.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=603800371785957&id=100064679981530&mibextid=Nif5oz

Is Mealtime Causing 'Issues'? - Catster Is cat mealtime causing issues? Actions and attitudes at mealtimes can trigger stress-induced medical conditions or spur on unwanted behaviors in cats.

🛑 DON'T GIVE PETS AS GIFTS!
🛑 DON'T GIVE AWAY PETS FOR FREE!

Here's an actual FB post from a community page that we came across a few months ago. We've sanitized the post to protect everyone's privacy. We had to share it to PROVE why 1) you shouldn't give pets as gifts and 2) any time you rehome or adopt out an animal, you should collect an adoption fee to discourage people who do not have the animal's best interests in mind.

The poor rabbits that this person collected were probably initially given as gifts. When they outwore their welcome, the owners gave them away to this person.... who ATE them. Did the owners know the rabbits would become dinner? Probably not. They probably thought the rabbits were going to a good home.

✋ Please DO NOT gift an animal without the recipients' full knowledge and approval.
✋ Please do not get an animal if you cannot care for it it's entire natural life.
✋Don't give an animal to someone looking for a freebie. Someone who is looking for a free animal likely cannot afford to care for it (including spay/neuter) and certainly does not have the animal's best interests in mind.
👍If you have to rehome an animal or are adopting out a litter, make sure to collect an adoption fee to w**d out the worst prospects.

Please protect the animals!