by Eileen Haag
Cats are as ubiquitous as weeds –though much cuter!– and can be found near businesses, schools, restaurants, private homes, neighborhoods, and trailer parks. Chances are that you have seen cats outside in your daily life in your community. You’ve probably even seen at least one in the past month, if not in the last week!
Cat hotspots are also found in less privileged neighborhoods where their caretakers may be struggling to make ends meet. These cat caretakers, like you and me, love their feline friends deeply but may be on limited and fixed incomes with very little extra to spare to sterilize the cats they feed. Another barrier to TNR’ing is that they might not have transportation to take them to a clinic or perhaps they are elderly/disabled and can no longer drive.
Sometimes, they don’t know about resources like Bastrop C.A.T.S. who can help them stabilize their cat colony.
These cat colonies are at particular risk: when a colony size rapidly grows beyond the resources available to feed and care for them, cats and kittens get sick, and some will die and suffer.
TNR is the only humane and effective way to control the cat population.
TNR accomplishes more than just fixing one colony at a time. That is just the process. TNR is about an inclusive community helping each other –all neighborhoods, wealthy and impoverished– the caretakers who love them, and animal rights.
TNR is an important community issue. It is an actual solution to a problem that all communities face. TNR works and is a direct action that we can take with concrete measurable results. Just in 2023, with the help of volunteers like you, we’ve TNR’d 1,044 cats and 5,709 cats since 2018. How many more can we help with you as a volunteer?
Whether you can donate your cat-chauffeuring skills, your patience with trap-watching, your Facebook page when you share one of our posts, your charitable donations, your time at the TNR clinic, your “word of mouth” when you help spread our message, or anything else, please volunteer with Bastrop C.A.T.S. and see how you can make a positive impact in the cat –and human– communities in Bastrop county.