Helping Cats and People to Co-Exist

Part of Ireland's TNR Manual

How to Help Community Cats

Adapted for Ireland from Alley Cat Allies.

What you can do

As the colony caregiver, you are the link between cats and people - you become the cats’ public relations firm. These steps will help maintain their good image and their good neighbour status in your community. Go to our Community Relations pages for more indepth instructions, tips and samples. If neighbours do not know who 'speaks for the cats', they have no one but animal control to contact with complaints or problems. Being open about caregiving can protect the cats. One way to maintain good relations is to establish and maintain a friendly dialogue with residents living in the cats’ neighbourhood and readily address all neighbour concerns. When talking with neighbours, it can help to have science behind you. Check our Scientific Evidence pages for research showing TNR is the humane and effective approach for managing feral cats.  Make yourself available and provide the public with a way to contact you.

Dealing with Concerns

Establish a friendly, ongoing discussion and know your facts

Explain to residents living in the cats’ neighbourhood what Trap Neuter Return (TNR) and colony care entails - explain that the cats are cared for and pose no health risk. Additionally, providing written information from CATalyst will lend credibility to your effort and help answer specific questions and concerns. You may find that other neighbours are feeding the cats as well, and you can combine your efforts and set up a schedule. It may be a good idea to produce leaflets yourself - provide information on living with community cats, useful websites (like ours!) and your own contact information to each of your neighbours. This way neighbours know you are being proactive and understand their concerns.

Explain that the cats have lived at the site for a long time, that they have been (or will be) neutered, which will virtually eliminate behaviours such as roaming, fighting, yowling and spraying - and that a managed colony will be stable and healthy. Also explain that if the present colony is removed, new, unsterilised cats are certain to move in. This is a phenomenon known as the Vacuum Effect.

Remain calm and constructive in all of your dealings

Present information and interact with others in a reasonable, professional manner. You will give neighbours confidence that you know what you are doing and care about their interests. Should you get to the point where you feel you can no longer control your temper, put the brakes on the discussion and ask someone else - perhaps a fellow caregiver or neighbour - to help mediate.

Determine the specific problem and do your best to resolve it

Address individual complaints by listening patiently and asking questions that uncover the specific problem. Problems that may seem on the surface to be about community cats, may instead be about you or a neighbour’s cat. Instead of arguing or pointing the blame elsewhere, do your best to find a solution to any problems that arise. In most cases, the problems are very easily resolved, when dealt with quickly and in a calm and helpful manner.

Best Practice

Always remember that being friendly and approachable will get you positive results nine times out of ten – while an irritated, angry or aggressive approach will almost always get you the same back. No matter how irritating, ignorant or irrational your protagonist may appear to be, take a deep breath, reign your emotions in and approach each situation calmly, professionally and with good cheer. You – and, more importantly, the cats – will benefit from it every time!

In addition, though you may sometimes feel like killing people, it’s probably best not to.

Avoid Problems

  1. Trap Neuter Return. Neighbours are often bothered by behaviours associated with breeding, such as roaming, fighting, yowling, spraying and the birth of litters of kittens. Your Trap Neuter Return program will virtually eliminate these behaviours.
  2. Clean feeding areas and follow feeding protocols. Keep the cats’ feeding stations or areas clean and rubbish free. Building attractive, but inconspicuous, shelters and feeding stations can help maintain cleanliness. Don't put out more food than the cats will finish in one meal. Remove what they do not eat after 30 minutes and clean up the area. Never leave food out overnight as this can attract unwanted wildlife.
  3. Keep the location of feeding stations and shelters discreet. Cats can be discouraged from climbing on cars or other private property by gradually moving their shelters and feeding stations away from these areas. The cats will follow the food and shelter.
  4. Provide litter box areas. To keep cats from using neighbourhood gardens as litter boxes, build one or more litter boxes, or place sand or peat moss in strategic areas for the cats to use as litter (do not use conventional litter as it will be ruined by weather). Be sure that the litter area is in a quiet, sheltered space. Scoop regularly to alleviate odours and keep flies away. Be prepared to scoop more often in hot weather.
  5. Use humane deterrents to keep cats away from places they are not wanted. There are many safe, low-tech methods to discourage feral cats from hanging out where they are not wanted, like neighbours’ gardens or vehicles. Read more about humane deterrent techniques. Always offer to provide and apply these methods for neighbours at your own expense. Consider pooling resources with other caregivers, if possible, to cover the cost of such items.
  6. Address threats. While you are assessing a community cat colony, you may encounter violent threats to the cats by uninformed people. There are steps you can take to put a stop to these threats and ensure the ongoing safety of the colony. Learn more about how to deal with poison threats.
  7. Maintain colony records. Though you should take every step to prevent neighbours from calling animal control, you should always be prepared for the possibility. This is why you should always maintain current, accurate health records, including vaccination data if relevant, and photographs, for all the cats in your colony.
  8. Protect yourself and the cats. Draw up an agreement with the neighbour who has concerns, describing them and what it is you plan to do to address them. Make a note of who is responsible for the costs and the deadline for every action. Each party should receive a copy of the agreement. You should each sign the document to indicate that everyone agrees to the proposed solution. Then each party should sign the agreement again upon completion of the plan. This document will be written proof that you addressed your neighbour’s concern and they agree that the situation has been resolved.

 

Next Step: Planning for substitute colony care. Who will care for your cats when you cannot?

 

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Part of Ireland's TNR Manual

How to Help Community Cats
View the Manual