Today we think of cat spay/neuter in terms of population control — but routine cat sterilization actually began in the 1950s with the introduction of kitty litter — long before cat population was seen to be a problem.  Kitty litter brought cats indoors — and behaviors that were perfectly acceptable outdoors (yowling, spraying, fighting) became unacceptable indoors.  As their caregivers started complaining, vets offered the "fix" of sterilization.  Fixing the cats did in fact end most of the noxious behaviors — and cats became accepted (and cherished) indoor pets.

Today, some 85% of indoor pet cats are routinely fixed — but that leaves 15% unfixed — and in our experience (10 years, working with both pet and feral cat caregivers), these unfixed indoor pet cats are the ultimate source of most of the kittens born each year.  While we support and applaud those conducting TNR programs, we've come to the conclusion that the colonies established under these programs cannot be stabilized until that 15% of unfixed pet cats is significantly reduced — and in our opinion, that can happen only when sterilization services are both free and convenient.

In managing our TNR program in Michigan (almost 2,000 colonies), we continually received requests to fix a few new cats that had just "shown up" (frequently pregnant).  Initially we thought, well, that's okay — it's nice that these free-roaming cats found a colony to join.  But when some of these cats started showing up in boxes — on doorsteps — and kept "showing up" year after year — the realization started to dawn that these cats weren't free-roaming — but abandoned.

Then, in managing our low-income spay/neuter program (almost 2,000 participants) and talking with the families, we began to understand what was happening.  Most people find the behaviors of unfixed pet cats (male or female) very annoying — and most know the solution is to fix them — but when it's stretching the budget just to buy food and litter, paying for sterilization (even with a low-cost program) isn't out of the question, but it is a significant burden that's very easy to put off.  And then when that behavior happens to strike a famiy member as intolerable — or when the cat becomes pregnant and the family can't deal with the prospect of a litter (or more likely, yet another litter) — and the family sees their choices as taking the cat to an animal control shelter (where they believe the cat will be killed) or dropping them off in the country at a house that looks "cat friendly" — it's hard to see them as "bad" — or "careless" — or "irresponsible" — more just "human".

So that's why we've chosen here to focus first on the pet cats of low income families.  If we can significantly reduce the abandonments and kitten births in these familes, TNR has a fighting chance of working.  But we'll also provide help outdoors where cat colonies already exist through our Feral Colony Management Program.  This help is limited to colonies with resident caregivers providing daily meals for the cats in a manner that facilitates prompt and complete colony sterilization.  And once the colony is fixed, the meal-feeding continues so newcomers if any can be promptly identified and sterilized too.  This is the only way to establish kitten-free zones throughout the community — plots of land where naturally-occurring feral and stray cats can live out their lives without reproducing.  Coupled with our Lower-Income Spay/Neuter Program to discourage cat abandonment, these programs will reduce — and eventually eliminate — the practice of shelter euthanasia to control cat populations.