02/21/2025
Why didn't I end up with a colony in my backyard?
It's interesting, I've lived in my little cabin for 40 years. It's a very rural area, a previous recreational development,and over those 40 years I've seen cats show up in my backyard. As soon as they showed up I would get out my trap, catch that little cat and get him neutered (99% of the time it was a boy). I released them, but they rarely stayed around – they had been boys roaming around looking for the girls I'm sure. A few did stay, and I worked on socializing them outside. And once they got to the point of liking to be touched and picked up, I worked on finding them homes. But I never ended up with a colony.
I thought about this today because I'm getting ready to help a nearby neighbor TNR the 30 cats and kittens in her area. She lives about a quarter mile away from me but within the same development. 30 cats and kittens.
Last year I helped a neighbor who found a litter of 4 kittens in his garage. I retrieved the litter, trapped the mama – and using my cameras found the daddy and the sister and… A total of 7 adult cats and 4 older kittens. I TNR'd the whole colony, put all the kittens into foster, and was able to get the people to take on feeding and providing shelter for this very sweet colony. They live a half a mile away in the other direction. 15 cats and kittens.
Two years ago I helped a man in our development TNR 20 cats and kittens. The kittens were all fostered and went to homes, several of the adults were actually fairly friendly and they ended up getting homes. Only a few needed to be returned to his site. They live on yet another road in this development, a quarter mile away from me. 20 cats and kittens.
So why did these neighbors end up with all these cats, and why didn't I? One simple reason. I didn't wait. I didn't wait to see if the cat would stay around. I didn't wait to see if it was a boy or a girl. I didn't wait thinking "this isn't my cat, it's not my responsibility" – and I didn't think "this isn't my cat, I can't get it fixed". Plain and simple, I didn't wait. I saw a stray cat on my property, I arranged an appointment to get it neutered and I trapped that cat. Quick and easy and definitely less stress than ending up with 30 cats!
So that's the lesson for today – don't wait! Because if we all take care of the cats in our own backyard, if we all make a plan and take action as soon as we see the cats in our own backyard, pretty soon there will not be a problem.
