Stray cat populations can rapidly escalate if left unchecked.  Kind hearted folks who feed strays without having them altered can soon find the situation gets out of hand.

	While there are plans to develop a low cost/high volume spay neuter assist program, at this time that is still on the drawing board.  Depending where you live, there may be NS Spay Neuter Resources available for assistance.
	If the cat(s) are feral, you may be able to get assistance from your local Trap Neuter Return group
	You may also be able to get a spay/neuter discount through your local rescue or SPCA branch.
	If nothing else is available, ask at the animal clinic if they can offer you a discount for rescuing a stray

What does that mean?   At some point in time, he was somebody's best boy. When he showed up,  Oscar was very friendly and already socialized to people.    When he went to the vets for his test and first vaccines, we discovered he was already neutered ... how sad for him to be taken out here and dumped after being someone's pet for five years. 

What does that mean?  Dora's mother was either a stray or a feral cat.... but either way Dora was born in the wild.... and odds are fairly good she was orphaned very young, as we were never able to find any siblings or her mother.  Dora was very shy of people and it took a couple of months to build enough trust to get my paws on her so she could be tested, vaccinated and spayed. 

How do lovely cats like Oscar become homeless?   They rarely pack their bags and leave home.  In many cases, their guardians do not understand how easy it is to make  Love Lasts Forever and assume that the only option is to get rid of their faithful friend.  Animal shelters and rescues are bursting at the seams with cats and seldom have room for owner surrenders.  So these good cats are taken out and dumped, often left to fend for themselves in woodland areas full of predators on country roads that are heavily travelled by gravel trucks and farm equipment.

How do cats become feral?  A feral cat is born to either an abandoned stray or to a feral cat.  In many cases the first generation of ferals are born to a young mother cat who are scarcely more than a kitten themselves. Their owners were either too inexperienced, too cheap or too careless to get them spayed before they could become pregnant.  Instead of fixing the problem with a pregnant spay, the little mother cats are abandoned and left to fend for themselves.  Those that survive, along with their offspring, go on to produce unimaginable numbers of feral cats

In many cases, kind hearted people start feeding the friendly strays who show up in their yards.  In all honesty, it is not humane to let the cats starve.  However, unless these cats are vaccinated and altered, the situation can rapidly escalate out of control.  Left unchecked, a couple of strays can quickly become a couple of dozen.   What can be done when people can't afford to get the cat spayed?  Depending on where you live in Nova Scotia, there are a few NS Spay Neuter Resources that may be able to help.  Some animal clinics may be willing to help with either a discount or by being willing to negotiate payment terms. 

Feral cats are often gathered in groups that are referred to as colonies.   They are attracted to places where there is some sort of shelter and an available food source.  If the colony is removed, the location will continue to attract more feral cats.  This is referred to as the vacuum effect and is the real reason why catching and killing feral cats will not solve the problem.  Trap Neuter Return works because the colony population cannot reproduce and do not engage in nuisance behaviors like fighting and spraying   For best results, there should be a volunteer to act as a caretaker to monitor the numbers and health of the colony.