It Takes a Village to Eliminate Suffering--We Can Do This!

It's been three months since our last post because we have been inundated with requests for trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) help and acquired a new location with more cats than we currently have in any one of our three village locations. It is all overwhelming and the answer to effectively solving the problem of cat overpopulation and subsequent suffering is to expand our community of cat trappers, transporters and people to recover the cats.

So much need.

Jellybean was born in a tough colony environment. Despite heroic efforts he didn't make it.

Since March we have had five people in Lutz and Odessa reach out and ask for TNVR assistance. Countless cats roam three of the five areas. The cats have clearly been breeding for some time. Another area has readily recognized the problem caused by three female cats and one male, producing three litters of kittens this spring. Another smaller location knew right away they needed to spay two calicos and one male Siamese before kitten season.

The easy part is finding spay-neuter clinics. The hard part is the time investment in trapping, transporting and recovering.

So much suffering.

Gaspar came out of a tough colony environment. He had a ruptured eye that had to be removed.

On top of the TNVR needs, the long-time colony that has had unbridled breeding for years has been fed and watered. But, it greatly needed TNVR. Partnering with Cat Man Chris has made it possible to spay-neuter-vaccinate 20 cats in the area. But more needs to be done, because the suffering has been great among these colony members. The kitten mortality rate has been greater than 80 percent. And, two cats lost their lives under suspicious circumstances. No need to go into the details of suffering, but the suffering has been of the worst kind.

We are working against the clock all the time, understanding the cat gestation period is 60 to 70 days. Meanwhile, more kittens surface, compounding the efforts needed to stop the suffering.

Expanding our TNVR efforts means less suffering, but we need help.

Staying true to our mission of helping others through education, resources and tools to actively eliminate the suffering of feral cats, we recently purchased one caregiver of a large colony a trap. He can now trap on his own and know we are here to support him.

The more of us trapping, the bigger difference we can make. If you want to begin trapping, but need help getting started, let us know. Send us an email at catpassionate@gmail.com.