By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Great Bend's Cat Snip Society does not want to do that, but they do want to help the animals by controlling stray and feral cat numbers in the community. One way to do this is by TNR - trap, neuter or spay, and return. Cat Snip President Kathy McNett said it's not about eliminating the animals completely, but managing healthy populations so each colony of cats can more effectively do its job.
"People have a misconception about feral cats, that we don't need them," she said. "But at the same time, when you look at the history of how cats became pets, it started as a way to control rodent populations."
The Cat Snip Society was created in October 2022, and captured and released its first cat the following month. Since then, the group has assisted in relocating approximately 35 cats from areas around McDonald's and Walmart in Great Bend to farms and homes. Approximately 30 more have been neutered or spayed and returned to the area from which they were captured. Veterinary care for 12 of these cats was paid for by a private individual.
Ears are clipped so members know which cats have already been “fixed” so they can be released if re-trapped, sparing them the additional stress of unnecessary anesthesia.
The Cat Snip Society works with stray cats that have been abandoned by owners and feral cats that are born into the wild and have never had an owner. The group uses local veterinarians for the quick surgeries, and also provides the animals with a rabies vaccination. Cats that are captured are often returned to their home area within 24 hours.
"If you watch an area, you'll see the same cats," said McNett. "They've established an order. That is their home. They have each other's back, they fight, but that's their home. We return them there because that's where they know where to get resources - food, water, shelter."
A second way to control the population of stray and feral cats is through relocating certain cats. "If we find one that's young enough, that's not afraid of human contact, we try to relocate them in a home," McNett said. "You want them to have a home if possible. We also thin out an overpopulated area by relocating some of the cats to homes or farms willing to take them.
"Some colonies have a person monitoring the cats, so that person will watch the ones we return making sure they don't get an infection. If there’s no one available to monitor them, we hold them for at least 24 hours and make sure nothing goes wrong."
McNett has advice for anyone feeding stray and feral cats. "If you would please only feed them in the daytime and take your food in at night, that would go a long way toward not unwittingly inviting possums, raccoons, or other animals into your yard at night to eat the leftover cat food," she said.
"In general, cats are most active during early morning and late evening or nightfall. They usually will not fight these wilder critters for food, so any food left much after nightfall is simply feeding the raccoons and possums and other wildlife, bringing them into your neighbors' yards as well as your own yard. Then your neighbors get upset and blame it all on the poor innocent cats you’re trying to help. Night-time feeding doesn’t help the case of feral or stray cats at all. So if you would just take the food in at night, that would be great."
McNett also said to avoid feeding cats in high-traffic areas such as fast-food parking lots. These cats have access to plenty of food the restaurants discard. Tossing food from cars causes them to become overly comfortable with vehicles and may ultimately get them run over.
The first nine months of work have been slow because funding has been slow. The Cat Snip Society has yet to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit, but donations for the project can still be made to the organization at Farmers Bank & Trust in Great Bend, or by contacting the group directly through Facebook or private message.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the Cat Snip Society, or those interested in providing a home or farm life to cats in need of relocation can reach out to members on the group's Facebook page by CLICKING HERE, or through private message. Announcements concerning group meetings are posted on the Facebook page as well.