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Community Corner

The Adventures of an Outdoor Cat

When a healthy colony of homeless cats was marked for death, a form of feline civil disobedience saved Salinger's life.

In films, homeless cats are often romanticized for their freedom-loving ways and street smarts.

They are portrayed like Thomas O' Malley, the crafty stray in Disney's "The Aristocats," king of their domain, singing songs and living a life of adventure and intrigue.  

Reality in the outdoor cat world is that felines who are not spayed or neutered will not only have litter after litter, up to four a year, they will also catch and spread diseases from fighting and mating. They can loudly defend their territory and food.  Many see these strays as feline gangs and unwelcome pests.

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When a colony of feral and stray cats have been stabilized through a program like LifeLine Animal Project’s Catlanta, a TNR (Trap Neuter Replace) initiative, they are fixed and vaccinated. They don't reproduce. There is less fighting over females and territory and they don’t spread rabies or other diseases.

The cats provide free pest control for the area they live in and are generally beloved by those who feed and look after them. These animals often become “everybody’s cats” and problems are few.

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Many apartment dwellers in the metro Atlanta area have seen groups of strays around their area because homeless cats will congregate in places where there are resources, like dumpsters and other pet's food.

There was just such a colony of about eleven cats at a Gwinnett apartment building two years ago that helped stabilize through the TNR program. They were fed by people in the complex and no one complained.

The cat colony was stable and healthy but when new management took over the complex they decided the cats were no longer welcome. Management had many of them captured, taken to Animal Control and euthanized.

During this time, Mickie Blair, LifeLine’s field coordinator, got a call from someone living at the development who saw a black cat running around with a rabies catch pole around its neck.

A catch pole is a device used by Animal Control officers and pest control professionals to trap animals. They drop a loop at the end of the pole around the animal’s neck and tighten it to try to subdue the creature while keeping it at a safe distance from them. 

Blair went looking for the cat and soon found him. She immediately recognized the black feline with the uneven white stripe on his nose as one of the cats LifeLine had trapped, fixed and vaccinated the year before.

“Poor baby! He was terrified, dragging that thing around his neck,” she says, “He ran under a patio that had some decking and tried to hide. I was eventually able to get him out.”

“He was dehydrated, all scratched up and his neck was rubbed raw,” she continues.

This plucky cat was also a lucky cat. He was the only surviving member of the colony.

Once taken to safety, he was given a name, Salinger, after J.D. Salinger, author of "Catcher In The Rye."

He was shy and somewhat traumatized but not at all wild, leading Blair to believe he’d probably had a home at one time.

At LifeLine's no-kill shelter, Salinger recovered from his injuries and soon thrived.

He's about 2-years old now and lives in LifeLine's Kitty Motel with other felines who are waiting for homes.

He loves to play with the other cats.

When staff or volunteers visit the Kitty Motel he appraises them thoughtfully and approaches quietly, waiting to be spoken to or petted.

He has some timidity due to his life experiences but is socialized and happy.

Now all Salinger needs is a home to fully complete his transition from unwanted stray to beloved pet.

He is healthy, happy and ready to be part of a family as an only cat or one with several pets. 

If you would like to adopt Salinger, the former stray with a story to tell, contact mblair@atlantapets.org.

To learn more about or volunteer for the Catlanta program, go to www.AtlantaPets.org.

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