Community Cats of Desoto

“Community Cat” refers to the collective term given to the thousands of un-owned, homeless, outdoor cats we’ve all seen darting through our yards at night, rummaging through our exposed trash bags on trash day, sprinting across the street when we step outside to take the dog for a walk, sprinkling chains of tiny, muddy paw prints across the hood of our car after an evening storm, and, come each spring, the exasperated first-time mother of six we see prowling the streets for dinner while sporting a trail of devoted kittens stumbling drunkenly behind her like the ducklings lined up in Momma Duck’s wake at Arkabutla Lake. They are all of the outdoor cats and kittens throughout Desoto County who know no home except the streets of our own neighborhoods.
Whether these cats were abandoned by owners, lost pets, products of our neighbors’ outside cat who was allowed to roam unaltered, or born to homeless mothers themselves, they are now permanent residents in our neighborhood just as we are, and a contributing factor to their increasing presence in our communities lies at our feet.
As such, they are now collectively “owned” by the community, AKA “Community Cats of Desoto,” and regardless of their origin, have one thing in common: their ability to reproduce exponentially.

Since each of the estimated 80M outdoor cats around the country has the potential to produce 20-25 kittens annually, it’s clear why an effective strategy of population control becomes necessary.

The key to helping our outdoor cats, regaining population control, and stopping the constant influx of new community cats is: first, collectively accepting responsibility of local outdoor cats, and second, taking the initiative to ensure these cats can no longer continue producing kittens doomed to the same homeless fate. So, how do we safely and effectively help these cats while also preventing them from producing hundreds more without removing, relocating, harming, or euthanizing them?

By implementing the most effective, successful, and humane overall solution to the homeless cat crisis ever created: a Trap, Neuter, Return program, or “TNR” for short.

In a nutshell, the Trap, Neuter, Return process involves setting a humane animal trap to “trap” an outdoor cat, then transporting the cat to a feral-friendly vet clinic for spay or “neuter” surgery, then safely “returning” the cat exactly where it was originally trapped.
While at the vet, the cat is also usually vaccinated to prevent any possible spread of disease, then “ear-tipped” under anesthesia to signify to neighbors that this cat has already been through the TNR process.

Communities who actively practice TNR begin to see their community cat population stabilize, then reduce over time- eliminating the possibility of new litters being added to the neighborhood while simultaneously decreasing the strain on our animal shelters by reducing their massive kitten intake each spring, which accounts for nearly 3/4 of all total shelter intakes yearly.

As much as the little fur balls tug at your heartstrings, you know you definitely can't bring inside all of your neighborhood’s homeless cats, but you still want to help them if and when you can, and the easiest way to help them would probably seem to be simply feeding them, right?

So that’s exactly what you do. You find yourself putting cat food outside to help combat their hunger, putting fresh water outside for them when our southern heat waves roll through, worrying about them when a thunderstorm strikes and you begin hearing the rain pounding the pavement like drums in the marching band, and year after year, you watch the new litter of cute baby kittens grow a little taller and a little longer and a little larger, transforming into teenage kittens in the blink of an eye, until— beginning around the 5 month old mark— you begin to notice the slight swell of their bellies that seem to be drooping much closer to the ground than they usually are, and the sudden realization hits that you’ll soon have a new litter of cute kittens to watch. 

So, why should you feel obligated to also “fix” them just because you feed them? After all, learning the ropes of the TNR method, understanding the safety guidelines of trapping, finding the right kind of trap, locating a feral-friendly vet, transporting trapped cats to and from the clinic, not to mention coughing up the surgery fees for cats that don't even belong to you when your own cat still needs his annual checkup and boosters-- that's A LOT of work, time, and effort. Isn't keeping them alive by feeding them regularly good enough?
What's the real harm in feeding without fixing?

Like everything else in nature, this cycle of homeless kittens producing more homeless kittens will continue nonstop without some sort of interference. In the case of kittens born outdoors to Community Cats, this interference typically comes in one of two forms:

1. Mother Nature. Lack of access to food can cause malnutrition, lack of access to water can cause dehydration, and lack of access to basic veterinary care and core vaccines can cause illness or infection to quickly overwhelm young kittens’ immune systems, resulting in sickness or death from completely preventable diseases. Outdoor kittens are also vulnerable to effects resulting from exposure to the elements; hypothermia and heatstroke are often fatal without prompt medical care. As a result, the majority of kittens born outdoors fail to reach adulthood, often suffering unpleasant, painful deaths. The 25% of kittens that do survive until adulthood are shown to have a far lower life expectancy than their indoor counterparts.

2. The other form of interference in the cycle is you. Of course you mean well by feeding them, but without the “fix” part of “If you feed them, fix them,” outdoor kittens are destined to fight the same agonizing battle so many others suffered before them, eventually bestowing the same fate to their own litters.

By actively utilizing the TNR method as a tool to intervene in the homeless kitten reproduction cycle instead of simply feeding those trapped inside of it an occasional meal, you are effectively interfering in its perpetuation enough to not only temporarily disrupt its continuation, but permanently shattering its ability to trap anymore of those cute kittens inside of it.

Decades of animal research have shown the “Catch and Kill” method of controlling Community Cat populations is not only antiquated, cruel, and ineffective, but also wildly unproductive due to mother nature’s “Vacuum Effect.”

Although the TNR method is simple enough for even inexperienced beginners to understand and practice themselves, familiarizing yourself with the basic safety guidelines before setting your first trap is essential to maintaining the cat’s’ safety and ensuring its’ health and wellbeing remains intact throughout the TNR process. 

Desoto County/Memphis area TNR Resources:  Pet Compassion Centers, Pals of Paws Society, Spay Memphis, Bluff City Feral Friends, 901 Feral Project, Memphis Pets Alive, Homeless Animal Relief Project, or Shelby County residents can submit a Memphis Animal Services Community Cat Help Request

For more regional options, explore these resources or search Save A Cat’s list of Mississippi animal/TNR Resources