Forgotten felines – the rising number of stray and feral cats in the UK

A lot of people notice cats in their immediate area, and assume they live somewhere. I know I did for a long time. Then an extremely nervous black and white cat appeared in my garden one day, and it was rather an eye opener regarding what’s happening all over the country.

The cat in question is the resident Romany Cat, Chi. When he first arrived, I recall my cousin and I peering at him under the lilac bush at the end of my garden and assuming he was no more than a kitten, he was so small. Attempts to find anyone he belonged to proved fruitless and when trust was finally gained it became apparent he was a little cross eyed, probably due to malnutrition.  After four months of trust building, Chi started coming into the house via a cat flap that was pinned open. He was chipped, neutered and became an official member of The Feline Mob. A short time later, a small black kitten began following him back to our house….then one day bolted in and practically lived under items of furniture for around a fortnight, only coming out when the humans of the house were in bed. I’d hear her creeping into the litter tray to go to the toilet, stocking up on food and then high-tailing it back to the piece of furniture that was the chosen bolthole at the time. Again, noone had reported this little one missing, so she was spayed, chipped and became the fifth member of the group.

This sequence of events got me wondering just how many cats are currently left to fend for themselves all over the country; and when you start to look into it, the figures are shocking.

http://www.messybeast.com/ukferal.htm

More and more cats are finding they’re fending for themselves, for a variety of reasons. People lose interest, people pass away and the cat is forgotten, people even move homes and purposely leave their cat behind. And some of the time, those cats are entire….meaning kittens are born outside, with no awareness of what it’s like to interact with humans. This means those kittens are wary and if they ever need any medical treatment, if anyone cares enough to try and help it is practically impossible to contain the animal to assist them. There are also, obviously, people who aren’t fans of felines that take exception to their noise when mating, marking boundaries by toileting excessively not to mention the din a sparring pair of entire toms can make.

This situation is on the rise, and it’s going to continue unless awareness is raised. If you see a cat locally to you and you aren’t sure if they live somewhere, don’t be scared to be seen as “interfering” – it’s possible, in the long run you could be saving their lives.

To learn more on the situation regarding ferals and strays in a localised area of the UK, and the TNR scheme that has been set up by a dedicated VN, check out the Feral and Stray Foundation site at the link below.

http://www.feralandstrayfoundation.co.uk/