Feral Cat Initiative

Our neighborhood has a plan

to address the problem of un-spayed/neutered feral cats, working with SAAF, a non-profit spay/neuter clinic, located close to our neighborhood at 1600 N. Washington Ave. The plan is TNR—Trap/Neuter/Release, a well-researched plan for addressing the problem of feral cats in urban areas, and turning the problem into a neighborhood asset: spayed, sheltered, community cats will keep down the rodent population and keep other cats from moving into your neighborhood. Click here for more information about about TNR studies.

Feral cats on your street are best addressed as a team of neighbors.

Project to prepare in advance: prepare a shelter where you will continue to feed your spayed neighborhood cat!

You can find several videos online for making cat shelters from old coolers—here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP8dXsOnaJQ.

Choose a target date and make an appointment with SAAF to spay/neuter a cat. Call 417-831-7223. The fee to spay/neuter a feral cat is $40. If all team members pitch in, no one person will bear the financial burden.
Check out an animal trap from WHNA (this is a free service). Contact Sue through WHNA or fill out the "Borrow an Animal Trap" form.
Set a “feeding station” where it won’t be disturbed/where you have seen the cat. (We use a box and write “FERAL FEEDING STATION SET BY WHNA” on it.) For several days, put a dish of cat food in the box (mornings are best). Try to do this at the same time every day.
The day before the spay/neuter date, replace the feeding station with the trap.
Fingers crossed when you check the trap, late afternoon/early evening, your cat is in the trap! If not, just call SAAF and let them know you need to cancel and try again in two weeks. (continue feeding station)
If you have your cat, cover the trap with towels or an old sheet before lifting it and use gloves to pick it up by the handle. Keep the trap covered—this reduces stress for the cat. Set the covered trap in a safe place (e.g., a garage, and put a cardboard or newspaper under the trap) until delivering the cat to SAAF the next morning. You can find detailed information about the ‘how to’ on SAAF’s website: https://spayneuterspringfield.org/feral-cat-info
Do not feed the cat in the evening, as this will complicate their anesthesia and surgical procedure.
When you pick up the cat from SAAF, return the covered trap to the safe space. Have a few cans of cat food on hand. Males should remain in the trap 24 hours and females 48 hours (do not release them straightaway—they have had a serious surgery and need time to recover, where they are able to defend themselves.
Prepare a shelter where you will continue to feed your spayed neighborhood cat! You can find several videos online for making cat shelters from old coolers—here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP8dXsOnaJQ.
Release the cat from the trap next to the shelter where you will continue to put out food only once per day. You want your neighborhood cat to be a good mouser!

If you are not able to participate in a neighborhood team, you can still contribute to the SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD effort:

Donations to SAAF are TAX DEDUCTIBLE. You can make a tax-deductible donation to SAAF and earmark it for “Woodland Heights cats.” (This fund will be monitored carefully so that it is accessed only for feral neighborhood cats. Contact Charlyn or Sue at WHNA to see whether there are funds available.) This is a critical need. It’s not fair for only a handful of neighbors to bear the cost of spay/neuter in our neighborhood.
Donate old towels or sheets for trapping.
Donate bags of cat food to neighbors monitoring active shelters. (It’s not necessary to purchase elite brands, but please don’t donate the corn/byproduct food either; we need healthy neighborhood cats who can/will defend their territory.)
Make cat shelters and/or donate old coolers to be made into shelters.
When the weather turns cold, donate a bale of straw for the shelters.

Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association

Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association

Feral Cat Initiative

Our neighborhood has a plan

Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association

Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association

Feral Cat Initiative

Our neighborhood has a plan

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