4 Benefits Of Helping Feral Cats Get Off Of The Streets

By Teri Champigny

If you are the kind of person who has dedicated your life to helping stray cats get off the streets, then you will undoubtedly crossed paths with people who don't agree with what you are doing.  These people will often throw objections in your face and try to explain why you're working in vain. They will go on to try to explain to you why taking care of the stray cats will only cause you problems and headache.

In order to turn the naysayer's into believers, we have listed below several benefits of helping feral cats that you can explain to them. The following are some common objections that you will hear as well as some truthful responses to those objections that you can explain to them:

1. They may tell you that feral cats are extremely noisy and will do nothing but fight each other.  The truth is that cats whom fight a lot are that way simply because they have not been neutered.  When females are not pregnant, they are in heat virtually nonstop.  Males on the other hand, are constantly seeking a mate.  These two combinations will undoubtedly cause a lot of friction and fighting.  However, once a feral cat has been taken in and neutered, this fighting stops.

2. They may try to explain to you that feral cats are known for having too many kittens and these kittens will end up dying and/or living on the streets.  This comment does make sense but the fact of the matter is that strays that are taken in will be neutered immediately, thus resolving this issue.

3. You might also be told that feral cats cause many traffic accidents because they are roaming the streets and drivers try to avoid hitting them.  Neutering solves many problems, as you can tell by number one and number two above, and it is the same in this case as well.  You see, once a cat is neutered it no longer has the desire to roam the streets looking for a companion.  This obviously helps reduce the possibility of feral cats causing traffic accidents.

4. Another fear that some people have about those of us that take in feral cats is their claim that the cats are carriers of many diseases which is the result of living on the streets. This may be a very good point, but on the other hand this is also a very valid reason for helping these cats in getting into a place where they can be tested and get preventive measures against any diseases they may have. In a quality feral caretaker's home or organization, these cats will be vaccinated for the possibility of rabies and will also be tested for other diseases that may be transmitted from cat to cat or cat to person.