As compassionate individuals often instinctively want to help homeless cats in need, their first reaction may be to offer assistance; however, such acts could violate local law.
Feeding bans and pet limit laws punish good Samaritans working to save community cats’ lives. They are falsely identified as owners and may be threatened or fined into discontinuing their life-saving efforts.
Responsible Pet Ownership
Ownership of an animal requires both financial and emotional investments over its lifespan, from providing food and water, shelter, health care and routine veterinary visits, to following preventive health programs that offer enough exercise for their pet(s) as well as providing proper fencing on your property.
Owners must comply with legislative requirements when caring for their cats, including registering and confining them appropriately as well as being aware and complying with local animal laws. Furthermore, owners should make plans in case of disaster or emergency including compiling an evacuation kit to accommodate their felines.
Community cats are considered companion animals under New York State law and thus protected by anti-cruelty statutes similar to domestic pet protection. Therefore, it is vital that caregivers for community cat colonies understand what the law entails so they may answer questions from law enforcement or public officials regarding their colonies.
Emergency Preparedness
Animal control officers in most communities are full-time employees with the sole duty of patrolling for animals in their community. Sheriff’s deputies or police officers who wear multiple hats might also serve as animal control officials, prompting them to ask you questions or issue tickets if their cats trespass onto someone else’s property.
Emergency situations, like flooding or fires, require that you evacuate your home in an orderly fashion – including planning for how you will evacuate with your pet.
Ask friends or relatives outside your immediate area if they would be willing to house your pets during an emergency situation. Make sure your animals are micro-chipped and registered with a national pet database should they become separated from you during an incident. Also “cat proof” your home by covering electrical cords and closing small spaces where cats could hide. Lastly, have a carrier, leash and food, water treats and medication ready.
Veterinary Care
Law and regulations have an immense effect on veterinarians, particularly when it comes to animal cruelty issues and duty of care obligations. While professional ethical guidance varies on this, most agree that veterinarians have an obligation to report abuse or neglect of clients’ cats as soon as they suspect abuse or neglect has taken place – even if this conflicts with confidentiality obligations or concerns about client relationships; otherwise if animal welfare is at stake they must act.
Due to cats’ legal standing, owners must ensure their cats are registered, identified, confined at night for their safety and welfare, microchipped as required by legislation, regularly consult a veterinarian about behavior management plans for cats, enroll in cat behavior management programs and take measures against nuisance behaviors such as urine marking and fighting (for instance by desexing).
Be Your Cat’s Voice in the Legislative Process
Unfortunately, certain local laws inhibit well-intentioned individuals from humanely managing community cats. If someone sees a homeless kitten wandering on her street she may stop to feed and water it without first considering if she is considered “cat owner” under law and could therefore face legal repercussions for feeding feral cats.
grassroots organizing – including speaking up against elected officials, animal control officers and shelter providers–can be an effective means of creating positive changes to laws and policies that impact cats. Alley Cat Allies’ Advocacy Toolkit will equip you to take the necessary steps on behalf of cats in your community.
If an officer requests that you trap or surrender one of the cats under your care, politely inform them that under most local laws caregivers aren’t required to capture community cats; your TNVR program can keep these critters healthy and safe. If this request persists and violates laws or rights of other citizens, consult an attorney immediately – otherwise legal action should be taken immediately against such officers.https://www.youtube.com/embed/9TZJ96jz6_0