Chances are you’ve encountered a stray cat before. Mary Morton Ph.D. ’18, founder and director of Miss Dixie’s Kitten Rescue in Seneca, South Carolina, offers steps on how to proceed the next time you meet a four-legged friend outdoors:
Observe
After spotting the stray cat, look around and see if there are others in the area. Often if there is one cat, there are many cats.
Investigate
Look at the cat’s ears. If the tip of its left ear is missing, then that cat has already been trapped, neutered, vaccinated and returned through a program called TNR, and this location is its home.
Contact
If the cat does not have the tip of its ear missing, contact your local humane society or rescue and alert them about the cat(s) you have discovered.
Check
If the stray cat is friendly, get it to a local veterinarian to scan it for a microchip. You might be one phone call away from finding its family!
Leave
Not all cats are made to be indoor pets. An outdoor cat that has been properly vetted through a TNR program is not a candidate for adoption and should be left to live its best outdoor life.
It is a fine thing to work with cats as described, however feral cats are an incredible wildlife problem. Cats kill 6 million birds every day in the U.S. and several million small mammals and lizards as well. This is a difficult problem, but neutering doesn’t solve it. I am not a fan of euthanasia, but if cats are left outdoors, even sterile, the slaughter goes on. Anyone who has a pet cat should (must) make them an indoor pet. Cats are not native, and they destroy our native fauna.