Rescue from Animal Hoarders
Adopt A Stray has been involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of many cats from hoarding situations. Adopt A Stray removes the animals from the hoarding conditions, provides, medical care, socialization and loving homes for the rescued animals.
For most people, the term "animal hoarding" conjures up images of an eccentric "cat lady." Despite the stereotype, animal hoarding has serious repercussions for the animals involved. Hoarding is defined as having more animals than you can provide nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and veterinary care for. It also generally includes the denial of the inability to provide this care and the resulting starvation, illness and death of the animals.
In one typical hoarder's home in Caroline County Maryland, animal control found more than 300 cats, including more than 70 felines in various forms of decomposition and equally as many cats in need of immediate medical attention. If the smell of animal death weren't enough, volunteers also encountered surfaces covered with inches of waste and garbage.
Animal hoarding is physical, medical and physiological animal neglect in the extreme. The unsanitary living conditions and lack of veterinary treatment and social interaction for animals all add up to serious neglect. The animals involved often endure a variety of ailments, such as malnutrition, parasitic infestation, infection, and disease. The amount of suffering in a hoarder case is more widespread and of a longer duration than most animal cruelty cases.
Feral Cat Care and TNR (Trap Neuter Return)
Feral cats are the 'wild' offspring of domestic cats and are primarily the result of pet owners' abandonment or failure to spay and neuter their animals, allowing them to breed uncontrolled. Feral cat groups can be found behind shopping areas or businesses, in alleys, parks, abandoned buildings, and rural areas. Feral cats are elusive and do not trust humans.
Studies have proven that trap-neuter-return is the single most successful method of stabilizing and maintaining healthy feral cat groups with the least possible cost to local governments and residents, while providing the best life for the animals themselves.
Adopt A Stray has taken responsibility for many feral cat groups in the South Broward area of Florida. All cats in the group are trapped, neutered and returned to their territory where volunteers provide them with regular food and shelter. Young kittens who can still be socialized as well as friendly adults are placed in foster care and eventually adopted out to good homes.
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