coming soon; to a feeder near you

(why just feeding isn't enough, and counter-productive to boot)

The reality is that if you are feeding cats, you are already significantly affecting their lives…you’ve already established some sort of relationship to them in the ecosystem.  The most relevant effect you will have is that by feeding them, you will enable the females to birth larger litters than they might otherwise…as the feline reproductive nature is based on availability of resources…that means more food = more kittens born.  Because males and females alike will have to spend less time hunting for food, they will have more time to mate…once again resulting in more pregnancies and more kittens.
 You may also unwittingly cause more conflict between cats already in close proximity to one another by creating a resource to compete for…food…so males who may have ignored each other for the most part before may now tangle over the last plate of Savory Seafood or Turkey and Giblets just like they would over the last mouse on the block…if they ran into each other.  Not to mention that the more kittens the colony pops out, the more cats you will end up feeding (which means greater cost for you), and the more attention you will bring to the colony itself…and not necessarily positive attention.


So should I stop feeding them, then?  They won’t have as many babies…and maybe they’ll just go away…?

Even if you were able to stop feeding (the likelihood is that you won't grow less compassionate overnight), the truth is that the cats were there before you started feeding them (they just weren’t as visible) and they aren’t going to disappear if you stop.  Cats are highly territorial - and they are most often in an area because it is attractive to them for one reason or another.  The available resources in the area, like food, water, and shelter can be human-provided but is more often pre-existing in the environment. If you were to cease feeding, the cats would search to find food elsewhere and looking for food only makes them more visible and often more problematic, engaging in behaviors such as rummaging through trash bins and moving closer to the houses of those who may not want them on their property.

Compulsory "feeding bans" are a perfect example of this principle...communities that enact feeding bans have historically NOT seen a decline in the feral cat population - in fact, because feeding bans make the practice of TNR supremely difficult (in order to facilitate a successful trapping, cats must be on a regimented feeding schedule - our workshop discusses this in detail) - these communities have actually witnessed a spike in the feral and stray population on their streets.  This empirical evidence disproves the theory that it is feeders who create the street feline population to begin with, or that it is only their continued feeding that maintains them.  Click HERE to find more info on why feeding bans are inhumane and impractical.

The goal of TNR is to take an already-existing phenomenon (feral cat colonies) and responsibly manage them into smaller, stabilized, healthy populations rather than out-of-control breeding populations subject to starvation due to scarcity and competition for resources or those subject to disease as a result of non-vaccination and those illnesses passed through fighting, mating, and birthing of kittens.

Cats have lived outside for thousands of years...it's humans that decided to "fine-tune" the domestic cat to pop out litters of kittens far faster and in greater numbers than resources and the environment can support them...so ironically, yes - colonies which have no caretaker may experience a higher rate of kitten mortality...but colonies which are "lucky" enough to HAVE a human caretaker (even an accidental one - in other words, those who have found access to a regular food source not necessarily intended for them, such as a restaurant or supermarket dumpster) will reproduce significantly faster, and with a lower mortality rate than those without. That is why it is ESPECIALLY important that we practice RESPONSIBLE compassion...the second you think to put down a food dish, you should be planning to put down a trap. Otherwise you are, albeit unwittingly, contributing to the very issue (collective animal suffering) that you aim to alleviate by providing food, shelter, and a watchful eye.

Feeding=Breeding unless you are fixing.  PLEASE be a responsible caretaker - We are here to HELP!


to learn more, visit www.siferalinitiative.org