Shelter Positive

This is a short list with summaries of 6 important studies relevant to humane community cat management. These articles are based on real data, peer-reviewed, and published in scientific journals. Not all of these articles are free to view, but you can usually get a free copy when you email the corresponding author. There are other published studies that can lend support to humane practices towards community cats, but this gets you started in supporting TNR with published data. I also recommend the Alley Cat Allies website, the Vox Felina website, and the book “TNR: Past, Present, and Future” by Ellen Perry Berkeley.

MEASURED IMPACTS OF TRAP-NEUTER-RETURN (TNR)

Levy, J.K., Isaza, N.M., and Scott, K.C. “Effect of high-impact targeted trap-neuter-return and adoption of community cats on cat intake to a shelter.” The Veterinary Journal, Available online 5 May 2014.
This study shows the impacts of a 2-year TNR program in a single zip code with a high intake rate for cats at the shelter. The program fixed 2366 cats and the shelter noted a 66% decrease in cat impoundment during that time. In a similar area without this high level of TNR, the intake rate only decreased 12%. This is the most recent study published!

Levy, J.K., Gale, D.W., and Gale, L.A. (2003) “Evaluation of the effect of a long-term trap-neuter-return and adoption program on a free-roaming cat population.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 222(1), 42-46.
This study shows that long-term TNR efforts lead to a decrease in a community cat population and eventually do prevent new litters from being born in the population, especially when new arrivals are also fixed as soon as possible. This study uses data collected on the same population over 11 years of TNR and adoption of kittens and socialized cats from the population. Between 1996 and 2002, the population decreased from 68 to 23 cats (66%). Four years after TNR was implemented, there were no kittens observed in the population.

MEASURED PREVALENCE OF INFECTIONS AMONG FERAL CATS

Wallace, J.L, and Levy, J.K. (2006) “Population characteristics of feral cats admitted to seven trap-neuter-return programs in the United States.” Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 8(4), 279-284.
This study shows that the vast majority of feral cats are not diseased to the point that euthanasia is recommended and demonstrates how necessary TNR is for community cats because of the data on pregnant female cats. The researchers looked at data from TNR of 103,643 feral cats throughout the US from 1993 to 2004 to determine population characteristics of community cats. In this large sample of cats, 15.9% of female cats were pregnant at their spay surgery with an average of 4.1 fetuses per litter. Only 0.4% of the cats admitted to the TNR programs were euthanized due to serious debilitating conditions. There were very few differences between populations by geographic area.

Luria, B.J., Levy, J.K., Lappin, M.R., Breitschwerdt, E.B., Legendre, A.M., Hernandex, J.A., Gorman, S.P., and Lee, I.T. (2004) “Prevalence of infectious diseases in feral cats in Northern Florida.” Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 6(5), 287-296.
This study concluded that the prevalence rates of infections in feral cats are the same or lower than the prevalence rates published for owned cats in the United States. This study was based on testing 553 feral cats in Northern Florida for FIV, Mycoplasma haemofelis, feline leukemia virus, Bartonella henselae, and M. hameominutum. The authors note that “feral cats assessed in this study appear to be of no greater risk to human beings or other cats than pet cats” for transmission of infectious diseases.

TNR RESOURCES SHOULD NOT BE WASTED ON FIV TESTS

Lee, I.T., Levy, J.K., Gorman, S.P., Crawford, P.C., and Slater, M.R. (2002) “Prevalence of feline leukemia virus infection and serum antibodies against feline immunodeficiency virus in unowned free-roaming cats.” Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association 220(5), 620-622.
This study shows that the prevalence rates of FeLV infection and FIV antibodies in unowned free-roaming cats are similar to those of owned cats in the United States. The researchers used test data for a total of 1876 unowned free-roaming cats in Raleigh, NC and Gainesville, FL for FeLV and FIV. It found an overall prevalence of 4.3% for FeLV and 3.5% for FIV.

Lister, A.L. (2014) “Transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) among cohabiting cats in two cat rescue shelters.” The Veterinary Journal 201(2), 184-188.
This study showed no transmission of FIV after years of FIV+ and non-FIV cats living together and sharing food and litterboxes. It also showed that all 19 kittens from 5 FIV+ mothers in the study tested negative for FIV. This gives support for the lack of FIV transmission in stable mixed households and between mothers and kittens.

Municipal shelters are typically open admissions and have a higher pet intake rate than most rescues. They are run by a city or by a nonprofit with a municipal contract. Most run on a mixture of donations and a budgeted amount from the city served.

Unlike municipal shelters, rescues do not take in all owner-surrendered and stray pets and thus they have more control over their intake rates. They typically pull specific pets out of shelters. Depending on the rescue, these pets may be a specific breed, have special needs, be a certain age, or be a good fit for the mission of the rescue in other ways. These rescues do not have funds from the city they indirectly assist, and they rely almost entirely on donations and sometimes grants.

Through their differences in function, both shelters and rescues serve a community. Both are needed for a no kill community to evolve. The nonprofit rescues help extend the number of homeless pets that can be helped at any given time; they increase the life-saving capacity of a city. The shelters are on the front lines of intake and provide immediate care for pets given up by the public, pets found as strays and waiting for their families to claim them, and pets from cases of abuse and neglect. Both shelters and rescues help animals in need to find their forever homes.

When a shelter has a no kill objective, it absolutely needs to work with rescues to reach its goal. The shelter may get some public attention because it provides a direct service to a city and because it has a higher and more noteworthy intake and transfer/adoption rate than a single rescue might. However, when a shelter has more publicity and subsequently more adoptions and public support, there is less pressure on the rescues to take in more pets more frequently from the shelter. Conversely, when a rescue is well-known, has a large amount of public support, and an impressive adoption rate, the rescue is in a better position to help the shelter by taking in more of the homeless pets from the shelter and finding them homes. Municipal shelters can benefit from rescues doing well, and rescues can benefit from a municipal shelter’s success.

It is typical for no kill and adoption supporters to pick one nonprofit to which they dedicate their time, efforts, and donations. That model of passionate volunteers and donors has helped many organizations become very successful in their missions. It is great to support and help one shelter or one rescue, but it doesn’t help its cause to bash the other. In a community where a shelter is committed to saving every healthy or treatable homeless pet, it would be inappropriate to say that a shelter is inherently better than a rescue, or a rescue is better than a shelter. The truth is that they have different functions towards reaching the same community-wide goal.

Shelters and rescues can mutually succeed. They can help each other too when the competitive aspect is set aside. These organizations and their volunteers can pool their resources occasionally and collaborate on adoption campaigns and fundraisers. As rescue and shelter supporters, we should celebrate each other’s successes and seek ways to collaborate. The field of helping homeless pets does not have to be a zero-sum game. New adopters and donors can be attracted through creative campaigns and through generating awareness and a positive atmosphere around pet adoption. General progress and increasing adoptions throughout the community helps us all, rescues, shelters, animals, and supporters alike, in our ultimate goal of no kill.

I haven’t updated my blog in a long time, and it’s mostly because of many things changing in my personal life. I feel like sharing what has happened, and I will start with loss.

My beloved cats Casper and Lavender passed away in Spring.

I had known Casper as Gibson at the rescue where I have been volunteering. I knew him and loved him for a long time before I adopted him in June 2012 with Disney, my “tripawd” orange tabby sweetheart. Casper had been at the shelter for five years in spite of being a Himalayan mix. Maybe he was passed over by other adopters because he was FIV+ and had allergies, but to me, he was a perfect cat. I’ll never forget the look of wonder he had when he came out of the carrier into his new home.

Casper became the little prince in my house. He slept next to me every night, sometimes on top of me. He enjoyed long brushing sessions and big meals of canned food. He would kiss my hand when I pet him. His sister Dorothy used to groom him; she was his best kitty friend, although he also got along great with his brothers! Dorothy and Casper would wait side by side while I prepared their food and she would lick his head. He would sit by his litter box looking upset and wait for me to scoop it if I had just woken up and hadn’t done it yet. He was very sensitive and easily upset, and I adjusted to his whims. He was a very happy cat. Once, I was giving all the cats some catnip and he was sitting on the side. I showed him the jar of dried catnip to get him engaged, and he immediately grabbed it and flipped it upside down over his head in delight, getting catnip all over his long white fur!

We would play together all the time with little stuffed sushi cat toys and his favorite toy, a little stuffed snake. Casper would try to grab at the toys from me around the corner of the hallway. It was hard to look down the hallway and not see him waiting for me to come play after he passed away. It was hard to see Dorothy waiting for her food without her brother next to her. And it was hard to lay down and not feel Casper’s little paws on the bed.

On April 13, we woke up when we heard Casper meowing in pain at 4:30am. His back legs were very cold and he was inconsolable. We rushed and got him from our home in Lawrence to the emergency vet in Overland Park right away. He had a saddle thrombus (major clot in the branch of the arteries going to the back legs) and a core body temperature that was too dangerously low for his prognosis to be good. We petted him and gave him lots of love in his final moments. It happened so suddenly and without warning… The night before, he had a good time getting petted on the couch with us and playing with his favorite toys. He ate his wet food and had his siblings’ leftovers like usual. The huge loss we felt was worsened by how sudden, traumatic, and unexpected his death was. It was also exactly a year and a week since I had suffered my first cat loss, my Ivan passing away after palliative care for an inoperable tumor. I was grieving again, and I felt shoved back deeper into grief. I also felt cheated; we did not even have a full year with him in our home, and he had waited so long for a home and deserved many more happy years in one. We are glad that we could at least be his family in the end. We will always love him and miss him.

Lavender also passed away unexpectedly on May 29. She was an amazing cat. We started fostering her earlier this spring, fell in love, and adopted her. Lavender was 10 years old and blind, and she had neurological issues and a heart murmur. We set her up so that she had a comfortable and consistent environment in our home office. We got her sensory cat toys with catnip that she would rub on to feel the different textures. She loved catnip but never became excited over it; she took comfort in the scent and took naps with her face against a catnip toy. She had a deep cozy bed that was her favorite place to sleep. She loved getting brushed and hugged; we would make sure to brush her and hold her as much as possible. I would walk around the house with her in my arms. When she was happy, she would rub her face hard against our fingers. She was my snuggle buddy.

Lavender was very brave. She explored her surroundings even when she was uneven on her paws. She hissed at the dogs without backing down if she bumped into them. She had a grumpy-looking face that I loved. She was even brave at the vet, walking all around the room and resting in the sunlight coming in through the window. She was smart too; she felt the edges of the couch or other surfaces and walked off of them backwards so she could hold on with her front paws in case the drop was higher than she thought. She trusted me wherever I placed her, and sometimes I would sit and hold her in my arms until she fell asleep purring.

Lavie seemed to be getting better and better at walking around and using her litterboxes. She started venturing out of her first space, and taking naps in the hallway. I was so proud of her for her progress. Steven and I considered her unique needs when discussing our housing options in the Philadelphia area, where Steven was moving for his new job. We hadn’t had Lavender very long, but we were planning to have her for the rest of her life which we thought would be much longer. Then, she went downhill neurologically very quickly and without warning. She had trouble moving and she was cold one evening, and we took her to our vet right before they closed. After some preliminary tests, we had to decide whether to see a specialist during business hours the next day, and we were worried that she would not last the night. She spent that night in our bed, cuddled in a blanket. I woke up every hour it seemed to check on her and make sure she was still wrapped in warmth and that the heated pad was still on. In the morning, we thought she had gone through that phase and gotten better; she walked down from the bed, ate her breakfast well, and used the litterbox without any problems. When she went into her bed for a nap, I thought maybe she was going to be okay.

I checked on Lavender before our specialist appointment and she was even worse than the night before. Her legs were completely stiff and she could not lift her head or move anything but her tail. We brought her to the emergency clinic, which was also where her specialist appointment was going to be, but at that point, the vet said that there was nothing that could be done. She suspected that a brain tumor may have been the cause of her neurological and sight problems and of her current state. We had to say goodbye to our darling, soft, sweet, brave Lavie. She had been such a close companion to me, and her loss so soon after Casper’s loss was extremely difficult. I will always remember my Lavender and love her.

We chose beautiful urns for Casper and Lavender’s ashes, and we hung photo frames of our beloved kitties. Casper’s snake toy is in a frame too with his paw prints. Lavender’s catnip toy is next to her urn. Their collars are around their urns. Going through these steps of picking out urns and photos helped me feel like I was keeping their memories alive and paying respect for the love and companionship that they gave us in their lives. I also believe in paying forward the chance that they had, in adopting other cats with particular needs to give them a forever home like we had done for Casper and Lavender. I’ll introduce Ralphie and Flagler, the cats that we adopted in their honor, in the next post.