Easy Way To Know The Status of a Cat Wandering Your Utah Neighborhood

If you notice a cat roaming your neighborhood it can be hard to know if it is a pet someone is looking for, a pet that has a lot of autonomy, or if it is a Community Cat. If it is the last one, you can tell by its ears.

Why Some Cats Are Missing the Tip of the Ear 

St. George is one of many Utah cities that participates in a program where cats without an owner are trapped, neutered, and returned to live on their own. Community cats is a new name for these feral cats

There may be one that wanders around the area or a group of them that congregate together. To easily spot one of these cats that have been vaccinated and neutered, they remove the tip of one or both ears. This signals animal control of the cat's status. 

Benefits of TNR Program for Shelters

These cats have found a food source and are capable of thriving on their own. Sometimes people will leave food out for them, and they usually don’t bother anyone. In the past these cats may have been removed, but now the thinking is to just keep them from reproducing.

This has the benefit of reducing the number of cats in shelters where they often had to be put down. With vaccinations and spay and neuter, these cats find their own place and the population can stabilize over time.

What to Do If You See a Cat Roaming

If you see a cat wandering around, unless it looks sickly, leave it alone. If it belongs to someone it will find its own way home. If the ears are tipped it has been through the program and will do its own thing.

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Cats have been living alongside humans for centuries. The establishment of community cats is really just a return to a past that worked.