Raise Your Voice and Share the Truth About Cats
In far too many communities, cats’ lives are in danger because critical truths about them are buried. With your help, we can bring the facts to light and inform policies and programs that impact cats and kittens.
These are just some of those truths. Find them all at alleycat.org/TruthAboutCats.
Community cats are generally not socialized to people or adoptable. In shelters without lifesaving programs, these cats will be killed. In any shelter environment, community cats are highly stressed and very susceptible to disease. A community cat should only enter an animal shelter as part of TNR. In some TNR programs, cats are spayed or neutered at the shelter’s clinic!
If you see kittens alone, their mother is likely close by, and her instincts make her their best caregiver. Kittens should never be separated from their mother to be brought indoors.
Watch for a few hours to see if the mother cat returns. If she does, you can help by providing her an outdoor shelter, food, and water.
Relocation of community cats is an absolute last resort and should only be considered if a cat is in imminent danger.
Community cats are highly bonded to their outdoor homes and the other cats in their colonies. Relocation rips cats from these homes and places them somewhere unfamiliar, which is extremely stressful and disorienting for them.
The veterinary community plays an essential role in the humane treatment of community cats by serving as a resource for the public and providing direct care, including spay and neuter.
All veterinarians should learn how to handle community cats, provide TNR services, never kill a cat based on FIV or FeLV diagnoses, and share knowledge and resources to help save community cats’ lives.
A community’s compassion can be measured in the treatment of animals—particularly community cats. Local officials should allocate funding to provide low and no-cost spay and neuter, other veterinary care, and food resources for cats.
Animal control officers and shelters should work together with veterinarians, advocates, and caregivers on the ground to provide TNR and other services for community cats. It takes everyone!
Aster and Orchid Are Up for Adoption
This brother and sister duo have been growing happier and bolder in Alley Cat Allies’ care every day (it’s hard to believe they’re the same stressed, sickly kittens we saved from an inhumane shelter situation). Now they’re up for adoption and ready to find forever homes of their own, and we have YOU to thank for making their happy new beginning possible!
Orchid is the brave, curious sister who loves exploring and making new friends (both human and animal!). She takes the lead, making sure everything is safe and fun.
Aster, her sweet brother, is a bit shy at first. But once Orchid gives him the all-clear, he blossoms into a loving, playful kitten who will melt your heart. Both Aster and Orchid LOVE other cats, so a home with a feline family member would fit just right!
Learn how to adopt Aster and Orchid, and meet all of our adoptable animals, at alleycat.org/Adopt.
Hello From Boardwalk Cat Mikey
The famous and beloved Mikey is enjoying every crisp November day in his outdoor home on the Atlantic City Boardwalk! Alley Cat Allies has protected community cats like Mikey on the Boardwalk every single day since the year 2000, and we have you to thank for every lifesaving milestone (Mikey celebrated his 10th birthday this month!).
Learn how our Boardwalk Cats Project® is a model program for community cats that inspires advocates worldwide: alleycat.org/BoardwalkCats.