Michigan feral cats breeding like crazy: 5,000 caught, neutered last year
Kittens in a cage at an adoption event hosted by Cannonsville Critters in Greenville. Photo by Kelsey Lester.
by Brandy Muz, Capital News Service (Bridge Michigan)
Feral cats have colonies across the state, and their inbreeding, overpopulation and constant pregnancies have caused these strays to multiply.
Richelle Brown of the聽Cheboygan County Humane Society聽says wild cats usually flock to areas where there something to eat.
鈥淭hey go to where they get fed. If people are feeding barn cats, they also have this colony of feral cats as well,鈥 Brown said.
Brown said some feral cats are born with defects due to inbreeding. Misshapen heads, extra toes or crossed eyes could be results of incest among them.
鈥淯nfortunately, there that vast of a population, and they鈥檒l start to have smaller litters or the kittens will die early on in life,鈥 Brown said.
Many shelters and humane societies run TNR 鈥 trap, neuter and release 鈥 programs. Brown said the public can participate with such programs to reduce the number of stray and feral cats.
鈥淭hey can live-trap the cats, bring them in and we fix them and give them a rabies shot. Then they can pick them up at the end of the day and let them back outside,鈥 she said.
However, Sal Palombo, who owns聽Michigan Animal Control,聽a company in DeWitt, said there more to curbing feral cats than simply trap and release.
鈥淭here are still strays that aren鈥檛 neutered and will continue the breeding cycle,鈥 he said.
鈥淭he strays are not going to be interested at all in the cat that has no sexual organs. They鈥檙e going to be worried about and interested in the pheromones of the ones that do,鈥 he said.
Palombo is a cat lover and has made friends with the feral cats around his home. But he still recognizes the harm they do to the surrounding environment, including songbirds: 鈥淵ou know, they鈥檙e all great, but the reality is, they鈥檙e indiscriminately killing wildlife every day.鈥
The聽Michigan Humane Society, based in Bingham Farms, reported taking in 4,861 strays in 2022.
It has multiple programs to reduce pet overpopulation, including humane education programs, discounted veterinary services for the indigent and free pet food banks, alongside its own TNR program.
Brown said helping strays not reproduce by TNR is different than saving them.
鈥淧eople think they鈥檙e saving ferals by trapping them and bringing them to the shelter to surrender,鈥 Brown said. But that doesn鈥檛 help the cat that never been in captivity because it behaves differently from house pets.
鈥淭hey lived outside. They thrive outside,鈥 she said, 鈥淪o if we can fix them and put them back outside, as long as they鈥檙e getting food and shelter where they were trapped, then we鈥檙e letting them live.鈥
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