Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The New Face of TNR

More Strays, Faster Pregnancies
seems to be the way it's going with our TNR this spring.
So far we've spayed 2 mamas with 5 & 6 week old kitties. Both were pregnant already, while still nursing. That's frightening!
We're trapping more strays this year than in the past. It's one of the delimas of TNR. It's always been our belief that if a cat has a good feeder, someone who has their cats TNR'd and provides food, water and shelter while monitoring the colony for new cats or medical needs, that that cat is pretty lucky. However, when there's a recent release who's sweet, scared, and used to being a pet, the lines get blurred. Not being a shelter, we can't house the cats for any length of time. We have fosters that will do temporary care but with the number of strays we're finding. Shelters are besieged with people giving up their cats and dogs and often can't take another. Many of the areas we cover have been heavily effected by the economy, release of pets is unfortunately, inevitable. If you have a solution to offer, please do.
Out of 5 cats last week, 3 were pregnant, 15 kittens were prevented. One of the mom's, with 6 in her belly was still nursing 2-6 week olds. Two out of 5 cats today were friendly strays.

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