Community Cats Alive
   
Community cats don't need a home. They already have one.
 

A recent study shows high-intensity TNVR most effective control method

A recent study used simulation modeling to look at the longer-term outcomes of various free-roaming cat management strategies with respect to population control and preventing cat deaths. Cats have a tremendous reproductive capacity and often breed to a point in excess of what their habitat can legitimately support. This leads to huge numbers of kittens born and a similarly large number who die, in addition to the normal and ordinary adult cat deaths that one might expect.

The authors took a look at several alternative actions that might be taken: no action, removal, culling, and sterilization. In addition, they looked at "intensity" of the various proactive efforts. The result was a multi-year projection of outcomes for: (1) no action, (2) removal - low-intensity, (3) removal - high-intensity, (4) culling - low-intensity, (5) culling - high-intensity, (6) steralization - low-intensity, and (7) steralization - high-intensity.

The important take-away from the study is that intensity matters. Although sterilization was the most effective strategy for saving lives while also reducing populations, it's effectiveness was severely limited unless it was utilized at high-intensity. And the most lives were saved, primarily through the prevention of kitten deaths.

Community Cats Alive has long advocated for whole-colony TNVR (Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return) because we know that unless a target steralization rate of 85-95% is reached, the population will not decline over time. This is why we often insist on "all or none" when we help plan large-scale projects. We also insist that caregivers stay on top of the problem by addressing additional "abandonment" (or dumping) to ensure that any newcomers are steralized and vaccinated as well.