Why feeding stray cats is bad

Fleas are hard to get rid of without a pet, and flies are thinking our stairwell is hangout area now. Just yesterday we had a lady blocking our stairway as she sat down there feeding and petting the cats. She said she's only feeding them as she slid to one side of the stairs, forcing our whole family to squeeze by her down the narrow stairwell.

My husband and I just went along quickly muttering an apology for interrupting her good time. This morning when animal control rode through our complex, we just knew the saga was over. We didn't call them, but the cats were all tucked away on lower balconies and under cars. The one we were mainly concerned about is the one with a home and no collar.

Our pets are the ones we care for day and night inside our homes or yards. They are a responsibility that is very personal, and though they might disturb our immediate neighbors a little, they shouldn't be a bother to everyone.

Health Problems. Freshwater Pets. Freshwater Aquariums. Saltwater Pets. Saltwater Aquariums. Exotic Pets. Guinea Pigs. Pet Ownership. Animal Welfare. Farm Animals as Pets. Welcome to PetHelpful. I have a soft spot for animals and learned why you shouldn't feed feral cats. Related Articles. By Brett Winn. By Barbara Fitzgerald.

And is feeding them helping them? Is it kind, or can it do more harm than good? A stray cat is an unowned cat that relies on humans for at least some of its needs. This can be indirectly through scavenging in bins or at tips, or directly by people providing cat food or scraps.

The population of strays may interact with true feral cats, who do not rely on humans for any of their needs, and with domestic cats who have an owner to care for them. A cat that is not responsibly cared for by an owner will live where it is able to satisfy its need for food and shelter.

The more food that is available, the more cats will frequent a location. The more food that is available, the higher the pregnancy rates are in females. The more food that is available, the larger the litter sizes a female will produce. The more food that is available, the higher the carrying capacity of the environment at hand.

By providing a food source to one or more undesexed cats a person is directly causing an increase in the stray problem. Check out our article on how to tell if a cat has been spayed for a more insightful discussion on this. Some cities and localities have laws against feeding stray cats. Moreover, your neighbors may not like the idea of seeing stray cats in the neighborhood.

This may foster arguments between you and your neighbors. Since stray cats wander around and do not have owners to care for them, they become prone to diseases and parasites. The stray you feed on your porch or backyard may be infested with fleas or worse, has rabies. Fleas in cats may lead to tapeworm infestation which is transferable to humans in rare cases.

Should you feed stray cats in your area, you can place flea medicine like crushed Capstar flea control pills into their food as it effectively kills fleas in a matter of hours. One major disadvantage of a stray cat population in your area is that they threaten the local wildlife.

The US alone has an estimated number of 70 million stray or feral cats according to National Geographic.