Trap - Neuter - Return
Po’Kitties is a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program founded by Dana Mayer and Emmy Summers in 2007 to deal
with the free-roaming cat overpopulation in our community.
Po’Kitties is now under the auspices of Paws, Prayers, & Promises, and serves Polk County, NC,
and Landrum, Gowensville, and Campobello in Upper Spartanburg County, SC.
Po’Kitties traps these cats and has them sterilized, vaccinated for rabies, and
ear-tipped before returning them to their homes.
If you would like more information about this program or about getting help to spay and neuter feral cats you are feeding, please call Dana Mayer @ 828-243-1852 or email:danamayer@windstream.net
with the free-roaming cat overpopulation in our community.
Po’Kitties is now under the auspices of Paws, Prayers, & Promises, and serves Polk County, NC,
and Landrum, Gowensville, and Campobello in Upper Spartanburg County, SC.
Po’Kitties traps these cats and has them sterilized, vaccinated for rabies, and
ear-tipped before returning them to their homes.
If you would like more information about this program or about getting help to spay and neuter feral cats you are feeding, please call Dana Mayer @ 828-243-1852 or email:danamayer@windstream.net
Did you know?
~ One female cat & her offspring can produce between 100 - 400 cats by the end of 7 years
~ Experts estimate that there are 70 million free-roaming cats in the United States today.
~ Feral kittens who are socialized to humans before the age of ten weeks can be tamed and make
wonderful pets!
~ A feral cat is a cat that is too wild to be adopted out successfully.
~ Shooting a cat is a felony.
~ Experts estimate that there are 70 million free-roaming cats in the United States today.
~ Feral kittens who are socialized to humans before the age of ten weeks can be tamed and make
wonderful pets!
~ A feral cat is a cat that is too wild to be adopted out successfully.
~ Shooting a cat is a felony.
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What is a Free-Roaming Cat?A free-roaming cat can be a feral (wild) cat or a stray cat. If a cat has wandered onto your property and you are feeding it, he or she is considered a free-roaming cat.
Why care about Free-Roaming Cats?Unsterilized cats fight, yowl, mate, spray, and breed more cats, and that breeds big problems with the neighbors. These same cats, once sterilized, promote healthy, quiet, stable colonies of cats that do not reproduce.
Any feral cat brought to a shelter that does not have a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program has to be euthanized (killed). Many people blame the shelters, but what are shelters supposed to do with feral cats that cannot be tamed? The fault lies with the people who don’t spay or neuter their cats and with those who simply abandon their cats as if they were garbage. Because of these irresponsible people, free-roaming and feral cats have more and more litters, which means there are more and more cats. 
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What exactly does Po’Kitties Do?
With the agreement of each individual caretaker, feral cats living there are sterilized, vaccinated, and returned to live in what is called a “managed colony”. A managed colony is a group of cats that has a caretaker – either the landowner or a volunteer -- who provides regular food and water to the colony and who monitors the health of the cats.
Cats who have been sterilized as part of this program are ear-tipped while they are under anesthesia -- that is, the very tip of one ear is cut off -- so they can be identified at a glance. This means that anyone can tell that this cat has been vaccinated, can no longer reproduce and is a part of a managed colony. Since it's inception in 2007, The Po’Kitties program has reduced the euthanasia (kill) rate of cats in the Foothills Humane Society shelter to nearly zero! Although we are no longer associated with FHS, we are committed to helping the ferals in our community. This saves tax dollars that used to be spent rounding up feral cats and euthanizing them, is reducing the feral cat population and the nuisance behaviors that go along with it. Best of all, Po’Kitties program saves the lives of these special cats! |
Community Awareness
Many people in our community have not been aware of the feral cat issue, but once they are, the vast majority of them want the problem handled humanely. In order for Po’Kitties to continue to work and be successful, we have to continue to change the attitude of the community concerning cats.
Some people consider feral cats to be pests and want them eliminated. Unbelievably, there are still a few individuals who use cats for target practice! This is cruel as well as strictly illegal. Some folks move away and just leave cats behind…sad, confused, and defenseless. Others believe that cats don’t need to be fed and can find their own food (an old wives’ tale) or think that if you feed the cats, they won’t go after rats and mice anymore (another old wives’ tale). Some folks actually believe that cats don’t have feelings or that they simply don’t matter.
We believe the free-roaming cats in our community deserve to live -- but we don’t want them to reproduce.
Some people consider feral cats to be pests and want them eliminated. Unbelievably, there are still a few individuals who use cats for target practice! This is cruel as well as strictly illegal. Some folks move away and just leave cats behind…sad, confused, and defenseless. Others believe that cats don’t need to be fed and can find their own food (an old wives’ tale) or think that if you feed the cats, they won’t go after rats and mice anymore (another old wives’ tale). Some folks actually believe that cats don’t have feelings or that they simply don’t matter.
We believe the free-roaming cats in our community deserve to live -- but we don’t want them to reproduce.
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What can YOU do to help?
Be Part of the Humane Solution!Spread the Word. You can spread the word that cats deserve better! It is not their fault that they or their parents have been abandoned and left unsterilized, to have litter after litter. Many of the “nuisance” behaviors of feral cats disappear once they have been sterilized. Help the cats by helping to educate others! Support the Po’Kitties program – and spread the word!
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Identify Existing Colonies.You can help us identify existing feral cat colonies in Polk County and Upper Spartanburg County. If you know of feral cats in the community, tell us where they are! We need to know if someone is feeding them and whether they have been sterilized yet.
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Provide a Barn Home for Endangered Cats.You can help us relocate endangered cats if you have a barn, shed or other safe place for feral cats. While we prefer to return them to their homes (where they were trapped), sometimes that puts the cats in danger and occasionally we need a place to move a small number of cats to safety. We only move cats who are in a life-or-death situation and who have been sterilized, vaccinated and ear-tipped.
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Donate Money or Cat Food.You can donate money help pay for this important program. Please make your check payable to Paws, Prayers, & Promises and write Po’Kitties on the memo line of the check.
We also need bags of dry cat food! These can be dropped off at P3 Consignments at 1200 E. Rutherford in Landrum, SC (Open Tues-Sat 10-5) or call Dana at 828-243-1852. |
Volunteer.
You can volunteer to help trap free-roaming cats, transport the cats to or from the vet, help take care of a cat colony or foster feral kittens and socialize them for a few weeks so they can be adopted. Feral kittens who are socialized with people before they are ten weeks old can be easily tamed and make wonderful pets. Be a Colony Caretaker.
If you are feeding Free-roaming cats…even just one cat, you are our Hero!
Please, let us know, so we can help. We need more people like YOU!
