COMMUNITY CATS
OUTDOOR CATS
Outdoor community cats, sometimes referred to as “feral” cats, live outdoors in family groups called colonies. They spend their lives in city parks, alleyways, rural areas and urban neighborhoods. They are part of the natural landscape; they were born there, raised there, and in most cases, spent their entire lives in the same area when possible. Despite what many people believe, community cats can live long, healthy, and happy lives outdoors, and their populations can be humanely reduced through Trap Neuter Return (TNR) programs. Within colonies, cats breed quickly. A female can begin breeding at 4 months of age, and she can become pregnant while nursing a litter. It is estimated that in one year, one female cat, all her kittens and all their kittens can produce more than 12 cats. And, it’s speculated that in just five years this number can reach more than 10,000. To reduce the constant breeding cycle and the number of cats living outdoors, humane action must be taken.
A NO-KILL ATTITUDE
Through our Community Cat Program, we have the opportunity to help provide a better future for outdoor cats. Often, when unaltered colonies are targeted to receive TNR services, neonatal kittens are found in a state of need. This gives us a chance to take in these homeless kittens into our Foster Program and socialize them, provide them with medical care and enrichment, and provide them with an opportunity at a better life through adoption.
As well as kittens and outdoor cats, our team is also contacted about semi-friendly and semi-feral cats that we can assist in adopting out through our Working Cat/Barn Cat Program. This is our no-kill attitude at work. Save the lives of animals in need while reducing the homeless pet population and exponentially increasing the amount of animal lives saved.
LIVE IN THE CITY OF WATERLOO OR TOWN OF IXONIA?
The Quirky Cat Project has been created to assist the Waterloo and Ixonia areas with a growing feral cat population. This program will provide low cost, subsidized, and in some special cases, free spay/neuter surgeries for outdoor feral, barn, or working cats only; kittens must be 8 weeks old or older. This program will not provide surgeries for cats who live in homes as "pets." This grant will provide assistance to addresses in Ixonia and Waterloo only at this time. Proof of residency must be provided and there will be a limit of cats allowed per address. Click here for details on our Quirky Cat Project.
IT TAKES A COMMUNITY TO SAVE A COMMUNITY
If you're interested in becoming a foster family for feral kittens that can be rehabilitated, socialized and adopted into forever families, or a foster for domestic indoor house cats, barn cats, or feral cats recovering from surgery, please complete our online foster care application. Every now and then, we come across community cats that are domestic and prefer the comfort of living indoors. In these cases, we convert the cats into indoor house cats and provide them with opportunities to get adopted into a loving forever homes. If you need assistance with a colony or single community cat, please contact info@whsadopt.org and we will be in touch.
*Thank you to Adopt to Save for this Community Cat Information!