Over-Population & Feral Cat Colonies
Over-Population
Did you know that 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every day in the United States compared to only 10,000 humans? In six years, one female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies. In seven years, one female cat and her young can produce 420,000 cats! There can never be enough homes for all of the animals unless we work together to reduce animal overpopulation.
According to official county records, thousands of homeless dogs and cats are euthanized every year. What can you do to help prevent this tragedy? You can spay and neuter your pets and encourage your friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers to do the same. Spaying and neutering helps your pets live a longer, healthier life. It can reduce the incidence of cancer and many communicable diseases. Altered pets are less likely to bite and roam away from home. Contact your veterinarian today to make an appointment. If you or someone you know would like to have an animal spayed (females) or neutered (males), but cannot afford it, please, contact us, as we may be able to help. You can also sponsor a friend or neighbor’s pet for spay/neuter with their written permission.
In addition to spaying and neutering, as a responsible pet owner you need to protect your animals from some of the extra dangers that they may encounter in a rural community. Animals that bother livestock are sometimes found poisoned or shot. Dogs that run loose, even in their own neighborhood, run the risk of being picked up by "bunchers" who will sell them to research laboratories. If you have a small dog, cat, or rabbit, watch out for dogs running in a pack, who may attack your animal right in your yard.
How can you protect your pet? Keep it in your home, on a leash or in a fenced yard at all times. Make sure that your pet has a collar with a rabies tag and a tag with your phone number and "reward" on it. Have your pet "micro chipped" so that it can be identified even without the collar. Develop a neighborhood watch for strange trucks and vans in your area. If you must find a new home for your animal, contact the Humane Society or place an ad in the newspaper and charge a fee. Never place a "free to a good home" ad in the newspaper, because bunchers answer them. Get a rabies shot for your pet every year since it could be bitten by a rabid wild animal like a raccoon. Give your pet a heartworm pill every month, because living in a lake community means more mosquitoes, who carry heartworm disease.
Feral Cat Colonies
What is a feral cat ? What is a feral cat colony ?
The Board, Volunteers, and Friends of Pet Haven of South Carolina operate a Feral Cat Program to help the unfortunate feral cat populations in South Carolina. Our aim is to set up feeding stations, trap the cats when possible, get them spayed/neutered, allow them to recuperate, and then, hopefully, socialize them. We will even assist you, if you would like to build a feeding station yourself. If the cat is unable to be socialized, we will release them to farms that offer the cats shelter and food or back to where they were.
Our goal is to STOP the population of the cats by spaying and neutering and helping those that we can find good homes for. It is of utmost importance that by reading this you will get a sense of our commitment to helping animals and promoting our NO KILL policy and our continued community support. We will provide the guidance + assistance you may need to help a feral cat colony stop producing and find homes for the little kittens, who can surely be socialized.
Definition: A feral cat is a cat which has been separated from domestication, whether through abandonment, loss, or running away, and become wild. The term also refers to descendants of such cats, but not to Wild Cats, whose ancestors were never domesticated. Feral cats usually cannot be re-socialized. Feral kittens, however, can be socialized to live with humans if they are taken from a feral colony before they are about twelve weeks old.
Feral Cat Program Guide
If you are witness to a feral cat colony and would like to help stop their production and help save them, please contact us at [email protected] or call 864-350-3735.
What is a Feral Cat Colony? A feral colony is a social group of cats who avoid human contact, and breed with each other to create a growing population of homeless cats.
They are born outdoors and usually are hidden by their mothers; they have little or no human contact in the formative months. As they are often nocturnal, you may not be aware of their presence or total colony size.
You might be aware of the spraying, nighttime mating, and the strong smell of urine from the intact males. Adult feral cats are not good candidates for adoption, unless someone is willing to spend considerable time with them...
