By Melissa Martin-Simmons
Towson University students can help reduce the feral cat population on campus by capturing these animals and bringing them to a veterinarian to be neutered, a volunteer for Pet Rescue of Maryland said last week.
Gloria Kendall, who works at a travel company full time, said feral cats run away to protect themselves and consider the outdoors their homes. House cats, by contrast, are friendly, like to be petted and “meow” as a way to communicate with humans.
“Feral cats are similar to raccoons,” she said. “They’re harmless, shy and aren’t approachable.”
Kendall urged students to follow the trap-neuter-and-return process when they have identified a feral cat.
The trap process begins by feeding a feral cat on a regular schedule, Kendall said.
“If the cat is spotted in an area where no one is likely to be feeding her regularly, she will be hungry and might be trapped immediately,” she said.
If the cat is wary of the trap, Kendall said food should be place in the trap for several days until the cat is used to going into the trap.
While feeding the cat, an individual should make reservations for the cat to be neutered. Kendall suggested that people avoid veterinarians who don’t have experience with stray or feral cats.
“The SPCA is a great place to go,” she said, referring to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Food should be withheld from the cat 24 hours before the cat is captured, she said. That way, she said the cat will be hungry enough to enter a trap.
Once the cat enters the trap, an individual should cover it with a towel to keep the cat calm.
Kendal suggests using a cage that is roomy with an easy to release rear door. For cats that are trap savvy, Kendall suggests using a Tomahawk wire box trap that is propped up with a stick to which is tied a very long string.
The cat should not be removed from the trap until the veterinary appointment, she said.
“Never leave a trapped cat outside, unmonitored,” she said.
Once the cat is neutered, an individual should keep the cat in a safe, temperature-controlled location at home. The cat is unable to regulate body temperature while recovering from anesthesia. Once the cat is clear-eyed and alert, the cat can be returned to the area where it was trapped. The recovery process usually takes one or two days.
Kendall discourages individual from taking feral cats to a shelter where they will be euthanized.
“Catch and kill is expensive and inhumane as well as ineffective,” she said. “If cats are removed from an area, other cats will move in to take advantage of food and shelter and they will breed.”
Kendall said that cats who survive removal attempts will move to other locations and continue to breed.
“TNR [trap neuter and return] allows the cats to fill up the area and not breed,” she said. “The colony can die out naturally.”
TNR also improves the behaviors of cats, according to Kendall. Growling, fighting and other behaviors linked to pregnancy and mating are common in cats that are not neutered, she said.
Kendall was invited by Towson Tiny Tigers, a group established in 2004 that feeds and provide shelter to 10 to 15 feral cats in Glen Woods. She is good friends with the group’s advisor, Dr. Meg Algren, associate professor in the department of mass communication.