Considering adopting a cat? LFFAC would like you to consider adopting bonded cats. Some people may think cats are solitary creatures, or that they won’t bond with their human family if they have cat friends, but in reality, cats are social creatures and have the capacity to love more than one person, more than one cat, and more than one species.

Benefits from adopting bonded cats:

• Easier transition from a shelter to a new home. Your new cat family members can more easily welcome new surroundings and new people if they have a familiar friend or friends to help them acclimate.
• If you’re gone during the day for work or have other obligations, a single cat may be lonely…and bored. What could be better than a play buddy or a friend to snuggle with on the sofa.
• When you’re home, cats can be very entertaining as they chase and hide from each other, running through the house having fun.
• Better grooming. Cats groom each other as a sign of affection. Bonded friends can also help keep faces and ears groomed — places that are hard for cats to reach on their own heads. What’s more relaxing than watching cats groom each other, and then plop down in a pile of purrs?
• Stronger social skills. Having a bonded pair of cats means they know how hard to play with each other, how to share territory, and how to communicate their needs. In the future if you decide to adopt again, the social skills your cats have developed and maintained may make adding another cat an easier transition for all.
• Better health. If you have more than one cat, you increase the chances them staying healthy, because even as they get older, they’ll have someone to play tag and wrestle with. An active lifestyle can increase your cats’ lifespan and keep them healthier overall.
• And most important of all, it’s very difficult for cats to be separated from their siblings and friends. Please consider adopting a pair.

Zander, Honey, and Callie are lucky cats. They had a rough start as kittens in their mobile home community in Federal Heights. Zander and Honey were turned outside and abandoned by their human family, finding shelter under a shed. Callie was born into a small colony of cats who were not socialized to humans, probably the offspring of abandoned cats within Federal Heights. As difficult as their lives were in the beginning, caring people saw the hardship they faced and began feeding and caring for them. Kurt, who took care of Callie and her colony, and Barb who stepped in to help Zander and Honey, combined forces to make sure all the cats were neutered or spayed and vaccinated. Then they asked LFFAC to take in first these three to help them get off the streets, and then later an additional two less socialized cats, as Kurt faced losing his rental home. It took Zander, Honey, and Callie months to gain trust in new caretakers, our LFFAC volunteers, but they have blossomed into loving, trusting, and sweet cats. They are looking for a forever home and family. Please help us to help them find that lucky family.

Portland, Oregon (January 25, 2022): Animal lovers who care about both cats and wildlife are offered a solution in a new study published open-access in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.

Experts in population modeling, economics, wildlife conservation, and animal welfare collaborated on the bioeconomic research, which shows the projected cumulative costs, plus long-term decreases in free-roaming cat (FRC) populations, associated with different management interventions.

“The work helps answer crucial questions for the animal welfare community, policymakers, and conservationists,” says co-lead author Valerie Benka, Director of Programs for the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs, which facilitated the research. “It gives insight into what must be done to see lasting change in cat populations, as well as the related cumulative costs for organizations.”

The model simulations show that Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) can work extremely well, but the best outcomes and economic efficiency require that sterilizations be “frontloaded” and performed intensively early in the intervention. Authors defined that as quickly sterilizing 75% of intact cats, and continuing to sterilize that proportion of remaining (or new) intact cats over time—something that will yield a high percentage of sterilized cats in the community with many fewer sterilization surgeries needed in the maintenance phase. Gradual TNR interventions can be costly without yielding significant reductions in population numbers long-term. They also aren’t as effective at reducing numbers of “preventable” cat and kitten deaths relative to doing intensive work up front.

The model shows that removal of cats successfully reduces populations over time. Removal for adoption is highly effective, but very costly. For results to be significant and cost-effective, cats must undergo lethal removal at a scale not widely practiced because of the constant and intensive killing required, and the desire of communities for more humane alternatives. The model shows that the more sporadic removal typically seen in communities is both costly and minimally effective.

“One big take-away from this research is that TNR works—and works well!—but it must be done strategically and intensively at the start for positive long-term results,” explains Margaret Slater, Vice President of Research at the ASPCA®, and co-author of the study. “The results are a call to action for TNR advocates, animal welfare organizations, and grantmakers to reflect on how they implement and fund TNR.”

And no matter the intervention, abandonment and immigration of new cats can quickly undermine progress, speaking to the importance of identifying sources of new FRCs, supporting vulnerable owners and pets, and focusing on access to veterinary care in underserved populations.

“This paper comes at an important time and aligns well with research from the DC Cat Count,” explains wildlife biologist Dr. John Boone, who participated in both initiatives. “The DC Cat Count brings valuable new ways to calculate numbers of cats in communities. This modeling work shows us what to do to manage them.”

The complete article can be read at no cost here. For those seeking practical take-aways from the modeling without all the technical background, the study authors created this user-friendly guidance document. It covers key findings from our research, and the recommendations and guidelines that result. More information on the research can also be found on ACC&D’s website.

About the study collaborators: This study is the product of an unprecedented joint effort by experts in cat welfare, wildlife conservation and veterinary medicine. Contributors come from the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs (ACC&D); American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA); Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG); Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University; Great Basin Bird Observatory; Hunter College Program in Animal Behavior and Conservation; United States Department of Agriculture – National Wildlife Research Center (USDANWRC); and University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. ACC&D coordinated this study; the work was made possible by grants from the ASPCA, Merial (now Boehringer Ingelheim), and Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust.

ACC&D is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance non-surgical sterilants and contraceptives for cats and dogs and to promote their global accessibility. For more information visit www.acc-d.org.

Foxtails, named for their resemblance to, well, fox tails, are the name for a group of grasses that have a bushy tip that’s perfect for seed dispersal. Unfortunately, those seeds can disperse in the bodies of our furry friends, which puts dogs and outdoor cats at risk.

What you can do:

• remove any foxtails from your yard
• avoid areas where foxtails grow
• check your pet after they’ve been outside

Signs to look for:

• sneezing, runny nose
• partially closed, reddened eye
• pawing at ear
• limping when walking, raised lump on paw
• gagging, coughing, retching, repeated swallowing

If your pet exhibits any of these symptoms, contact your vet ASAP, because foxtails need to be surgically removed, and they can be fatal.

Sources:

Four Hazards of Foxtails for Pets By Dr. Fiona Caldwell, a veterinarian and writer for Pets Best

Beware: It’s Foxtail Season in Colorado by Alta Vista Animal Hospital

A catio (think cat + patio) is an excellent way for your furry feline to enjoy the outdoors and get in a little exercise without you having to worry about predators, protecting wildlife, or irritating your neighbors.

Cats who roam outside are unfortunately at risk. If you live on a busy street, you have to worry about traffic (and given some cats will roam up to two miles, traffic will be an issue no matter where you live!

There are also predators of the animal and human variety, and the risk of contracting a disease. Or, heaven forbid, your kitty might bring home some parasitic friends to share with you and your family. Yuck!

Thankfully, a catio is the perfect solution. Catios are outdoor enclosures, typically made of wood and mesh, that can be built in any size or shape to support your cats’ needs. Some people opt to have them built off their house, so their cat can easily access the catio from a window, while others opt for a free-standing option. In addition, you can build your own catio, work with a company to build a catio, or purchase a kit that you just have to assemble. The only limit is your imagination!

And what goes into a catio? Whatever your kitty needs for enrichment! You could put tree branches for scratching, or build a climbing area using tree stumps. A ladder could serve as a way for your cat to access the catio, and you could drape tarps over the top to keep out excess sunlight or rain/snow. It’s important to consider what goes into the catio so your cat is safe from the elements and protected from predators, but also stimulated by the sights, sounds, and smells of the outdoors.

No matter how you look at it, a catio is the perfect solution to allow your furry feline to experience the outdoors without any of the negative repercussions that a free-roaming cat would experience.

Links to Outdoor Shelters

• Community Cat Shelter Options
• Information on Cat Shelters – Google Search
• Outdoor Enclosures – Ideas for outdoor cat enclosures