A tale of two kitties

From my own knowledge of Dobermanns, because I have both delivered them in and delivered them on, the majority are intact… But not for long. Only puppies leave intact, but the new owners do not get their documents till they show proof of sterilisation, if not, after a prescribed time, they have to come back.

But you are right, it may be a different story for cats. Occasionally organisations like Phoenix, possibly in association with the SPA or a charity like 30 million d’Amis, have a blitz in a certain area where all or part of the costs incurred are donated. And then they set about trying to trap as many as possible, I think. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Little and large :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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What is this cat trap?

This the type of cat trap I bought (from UK) and used when I was doing my bit for TNR (trap/neuter/release). Feral cats.

Donated two of them to the local cat charity in Saintes, close to where I live. I keep one for my personal use.

I caught a cat recently, feeding in my workshop, because he had a very bad limp. The vet showed me the xray of the cat’s rear end, both thighs, spine etc. peppered with gun shot. Vet said euthanasia the only option.

The cage is set with a thick zipped waterproof cover in place so the trapped cat doesn’t become too distressed.

My cage is the type where the cat itself triggers the trap – and so sometimes it is not the cat you are wanting to trap.

Just came across a trap where you trap the cat manually if you need to catch a particular cat, and not the neighbour’s cat.

On the question of neutering cats it is the law in France that the Marie catch, sterilize and chip all feral cats then release them where they were caught. The Marie can apply to the charities for a number of cats each year. We had to fight our Marie for a few years before they finally started. We had been doing it off our own backs and continue to do it as they never apply for a large enough allocation each year. We currently have 11 that adopted us to be done. In total we have 35 cats and are the official cat catchers for the village. One day I will tell the story of how it all came about.
unnamed

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I’m crying to hear about the cat with a limp. This is what I fear so much about what we hear about people who hunt in France. It’s cruel and they’re perfectly aware the animal is a cat even if they deny it (or even, not).

Thanks for the 2 cat trap variants. They look quite ‘professional’ especially if wanting to ensure all feral cats are able to be neutered within an area while there is manpower and funding available.

If you are looking for one, check out Amazon, surprisingly reasonable.

I check my video cameras each morning and as soon as I saw this cat with a severe limp, I set up the cat trap. Luckily the cat entered the trap that evening and he spent the night in the cage in my house. Too cold in the workshop. He was extremely ferocious - leapt at my face when I pulled back the cover, so I concluded he was feral.

You can see the gun shot pellets which, according to the vet, were too close to arteries and veins into which pellets can migrate. Both side of his body were penetrated from the rear – his poor backside.

Other pellets were too close to the spinal column and other joints, and the vet concluded operations were not in the best interests of the cat

The cat was not castrated, had no ID and the vet and I signed a euthanasia document.

He was shot quite deliberately by a hunter or someone owning a shot gun. A hunter who doesn’t know the difference between a cat and a rabbit should have his license revoked!

Like the USA, France has too many hunters around – I detest hunting and hunters.

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It makes me feel so happy to belong to a site of so many cat lovers who will go to alot of personal inconvenience and expense to care for the strays.

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I am much happier now in 2021 than I was around 1990 when I first arrived in France. If you asked a vet about cat associations back then, you got a blank stare. There were none!

I was given the phone number of an American woman who had asked the same question and lived not too far away. I rang her, and we eventually opened our own! Before then, I had bought two fox traps (no such thing as cat traps then)and caught, trapped, neutered and released all semi-wild cats in my small neighbourhood.

There are so many cat charities around now, thankfully.

Gone are the days when I’d get a phone call asking me to get rid of the nuisance cats in the barn!

As time passed, I began getting calls from French folk asking for help to trap a cat, to have it neutered, and then set free – at their cost. Times have changed in that respect, happily - at least in my part of Charente Maritime.

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I found the videos clips of this poor cat wanting to eat/drink in my old workshop. You can see he has difficulty jumping and the unnatural position/use of his right hind leg, caused by buckshot into his ankle joint.

I wish laws were brought in and enforced to regulate hunting in France. I wonder does the new animal cruelty law (up to 15 000 euros fine) for cruelty to animals have any realistic chance of being used to prosecute any so-called ‘hunter’ that fires on a cat instead of what they’re permitted to shoot at.

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where can I find the law that states the Mairie has to finance the catch/neuter/release?

I tried to get help from our Mairie - no luck…
If I can show them the appropriate law, they might do more to control the cat population. It is getting expensive and I don’t want to be know as the crazy ‘cat woman’…

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Is there such a law? My vet does snips/spays cats for a minimal cost but it mounts up, if course.

It took us a long time to get the Mairie to accept this. But explain to them that they can ask the animal charities for a grant to pay for it. Our Mairie never asks for enough so we still pay for a number ourselves. Luckily we have stayed on good terms with the Marie, like for example permission for the signs, and are not seen in any negative way. This proof has worked for friends in 3 other local villages. But for our sins we have the job of catching, takeing to the Vets and releasing the cats. If any of the cats have kittens that are old enough we take the kittens and adopt them. Working on the theory that a tame cat is easier to catch than a wild one and we can prevent any early pregnancies. We have the greatest admiration and respect for people such as yourself who love enough to care. Keep up the good work and let us know what happens.
https://www.adopte1chat.fr/conseils/chats-errants-et-obligations-des-maires.html#:~:text=Depuis%20le%201er%20janvier%202015%2C%20les%20chats%20%C2%AB,lieux%20publics%2C%20sur%20un%20territoire%20d%E2%80%99une%20commune%2C%20

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Thank you - I will have another chat with the Mairie.

Our vet is not quite so nice, his minimal costs are usually just under 100 for a tomcat and about 200 for a female. This includes blood tests & flea/worm treatment…
It adds up quickly - word has gone around the cat population that there is a hamlet with food & shelter. They keep coming!

The same here :thinking:

Apparently the vet in our nearest town have a scheme to sterilise (sp) a certain amount of cat’s, at low cost, though whenever I asked " we have reached our quota. Unfortunately, I had boycott this vet because I had lost trust in them.
When our latest came for his dinner last night, his face looked different. I have only just been allowed to pet him, so trying to have a proper look at his face will be slow, I only hope it isn’t something that can cause infection :crossed_fingers::pray:

This email was just sent to our Maire to jog her along.
Madame le Maire,

Je suis sollicité une fois de plus vers votre commune pour une prolifération de vos chats, ainsi que les souffrances qui peuvent en résulter pour eux, mais aussi le malaise qui peut en résulter pour vos Administrés.

Avant de vous écrire, j’ai bien étudié la situation budgétaire de votre commune, et je comprends qu’avec une centaine d’habitants et un budget annuel à peine supérieur à 80 000€, il vous soit difficile de financer une grande campagne de stérilisation. Je prends acte toutefois de votre acceptation de financer une dizaine de stérilisation, je vous en félicite et vous en remercie, d’autant que cette façon de procéder est en accord avec la toute récente Loi sur la maltraitance animale signée par le Président de la République le 30 novembre 2021.

Mais mes informations montrent que ces 10 stérilisations proposées seront insuffisantes pour venir à bout de cette reproduction galopante. Il faudrait au moins doubler cet effort pour en venir à bout, ce qui, j’en conviens, représente une rallonge de l’ordre de 500€. Je regrette d’ailleurs que vous n’ayez jamais répondu à mes lettres d’alerte du 29 octobre 2015 et du 7 octobre 2018. À cette époque la prolifération pouvait encore être stoppée à moindre frais, ce que n’ont pas apprécié vos Conseillers Municipaux de l’époque.

Voici ce que je vous propose pour en sortir : écrivez à la FBB, 28 rue Vineuse 75116 PARIS, ou mieux, téléphonez au 01 45 05 14 60 qui vous donnera la marche à suivre pour obtenir une aide de la Fondation (donc du Donateur national). Sachez juste qu’il vous faudra fournir les coordonnées d’un vétérinaire partenaire et un engagement de votre part de protection des chats errants, notamment par rapport aux chasseurs et aux maltraitants. Il vous faudra fournir également un nombre précis de chats à stériliser et le devis du vétérinaire. Rappelez aussi à votre Conseil Municipal entièrement masculin que, lorsque la TOTALITÉ des chats sont “traités”, l’effet est de longue durée, donc l’effort à fournir est essentiellement ponctuel.

Il vous est également possible de vous adresser à la Fondation 30 Millions d’Amis.

Voyant votre bonne volonté de suivre les recommandations et incitations de la Loi, je vous souhaite sincèrement de parvenir à contrôler la population de chats dans l’intérêt de tous.

Veuillez croire, Madame le Maire, en l’assurance de mes sentiments dévoués.

Jean-François HÈME
Délégué n°310005 de la Fondation Brigitte Bardot
Chargé de Mission aux Restos du Chat
3 rue es Gosse 50530 CHAMPEAUX
02 14 13 12 07
06 86 77 80 92 Madame le Maire,

Je suis sollicité une fois de plus vers votre commune pour une prolifération de vos chats, ainsi que les souffrances qui peuvent en résulter pour eux, mais aussi le malaise qui peut en résulter pour vos Administrés.

Avant de vous écrire, j’ai bien étudié la situation budgétaire de votre commune, et je comprends qu’avec une centaine d’habitants et un budget annuel à peine supérieur à 80 000€, il vous soit difficile de financer une grande campagne de stérilisation. Je prends acte toutefois de votre acceptation de financer une dizaine de stérilisation, je vous en félicite et vous en remercie, d’autant que cette façon de procéder est en accord avec la toute récente Loi sur la maltraitance animale signée par le Président de la République le 30 novembre 2021.

Mais mes informations montrent que ces 10 stérilisations proposées seront insuffisantes pour venir à bout de cette reproduction galopante. Il faudrait au moins doubler cet effort pour en venir à bout, ce qui, j’en conviens, représente une rallonge de l’ordre de 500€. Je regrette d’ailleurs que vous n’ayez jamais répondu à mes lettres d’alerte du 29 octobre 2015 et du 7 octobre 2018. À cette époque la prolifération pouvait encore être stoppée à moindre frais, ce que n’ont pas apprécié vos Conseillers Municipaux de l’époque.

Voici ce que je vous propose pour en sortir : écrivez à la FBB, 28 rue Vineuse 75116 PARIS, ou mieux, téléphonez au 01 45 05 14 60 qui vous donnera la marche à suivre pour obtenir une aide de la Fondation (donc du Donateur national). Sachez juste qu’il vous faudra fournir les coordonnées d’un vétérinaire partenaire et un engagement de votre part de protection des chats errants, notamment par rapport aux chasseurs et aux maltraitants. Il vous faudra fournir également un nombre précis de chats à stériliser et le devis du vétérinaire. Rappelez aussi à votre Conseil Municipal entièrement masculin que, lorsque la TOTALITÉ des chats sont “traités”, l’effet est de longue durée, donc l’effort à fournir est essentiellement ponctuel.

Il vous est également possible de vous adresser à la Fondation 30 Millions d’Amis.

Voyant votre bonne volonté de suivre les recommandations et incitations de la Loi, je vous souhaite sincèrement de parvenir à contrôler la population de chats dans l’intérêt de tous.

Veuillez croire, Madame le Maire, en l’assurance de mes sentiments dévoués.

Jean-François HÈME
Délégué n°310005 de la Fondation Brigitte Bardot
Chargé de Mission aux Restos du Chat
3 rue es Gosse 50530 CHAMPEAUX
02 14 13 12 07
06 86 77 80 92

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