Spaying and Neutering

SPAYING AND NEUTERING

Studies show that on average a pair of cats and their offspring could produce approximately 300,000 cats in 7 years, the average life span of a homeless cat. Taking these figures at face value, through its spay/neuter program CATs is helping stop the expansion of Bermuda’s cat population by millions.

We believe that the number of cats in our homeless cat population has greatly decreased through our on-going efforts of spaying and neutering. We have observed a noticeable decrease in the number of cats in our more isolated feeding sites recognising that the CATs Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program does work. Unfortunately there seems to be a continuing problem in our more public sites with the population being augmented by abandoned domestic cats.

Domestic cats who may have been lost or abandoned and who were never neutered quickly revert to their wild instincts and any kittens born from these adults who are not socialized with humans within the first two months of their lives will likely become too wild to ever tame. We trap, neuter and spay and return all homeless cats in the colony, taking and adopting out kittens who are young enough to be tamed and occasionally the odd adult cat who is friendly.

The majority of the cats want no human contact and are returned to live in the wild. Spayed/neutered cats who have been returned to a colony are easily recognizable by their clipped ear. We promote feeding schemes so that these cats receive at least one meal a day.