Feral Cats at MOSI

Winston, a former stray

Stray animals are a problem everywhere, even here at MOSI. We have several stray cats on property and when new ones arrive we try to find them homes.

Sometimes we get lucky and a stray cat is friendly, sweet and entirely adoptable as was the case with Winston. Winston was found behind our MOSI Kids in Charge building and approached every person who came near him. This sweet kitty had no tags, no microchip and seemingly no one who missed him. He was adopted by MOSI Outside’s Jill and is now terrorizing her other cats and threatening all breakable items in her home.

At least two of the cats on property at MOSI are entirely feral and I have never gotten closer than about 25 feet from either of them. One of the feral cats, named Bruce Bannor for his bright green eyes and our fear of his wrath has been on property for over five years. Just this past month I’ve seen a fairly young black long-haired cat streaking into the bushes late in the day.

The Humane Society of Tampa estimates that there are some 200,000 feral cats in Hillsborough County alone.

If you have a colony of feral cats in your neighborhood, you can register that colony here and help to monitor the population.

TNVR
If you are willing to be a bit more hands on you can participate in TNVR (Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Return). In this program, volunteers trap feral cats and take them in for low cost or free spay/neuter and vaccinations and then release the cats back into the wild. Usually the TNVR cats will have one ear docked as a signal that they have already been fixed and do not need to be trapped again.

Winston considers murder...

Natural Born Killers- Adopt a Barn Cat:
Lets be honest, cats are really fantastic at killing things. If you have a barn then you also have mice or rats and probably are in need of some organic pest control, Why not consider adopting some barn cats? The barn cat program offers already fixed and vaccinated cats to owners with barn environments.

For a frighteningly honest but humorous view on ‘Murder Cats’ check out this humor post by The Oatmeal entitled “How much do cats actually kill?” Although very funny, this comic includes a lot of information on how many animals cats kill, on average.

Please, Spay and Neuter your Cats:
Every indoor cat eventually gets to be an outdoor cat for the occasional day when they streak out the door as you try to bring in groceries or run out to get the mail. In just a few hours or days outside, escaped pets can meet other escaped pets and breed which can lead to lots of adorable but unwanted cats who may end up as strays.

If you live in Hillsborough County, there are a lot of programs available for reduced cost spay/neuter for pets. Outside of Hillsborough County, you can check here for available programs in your area.