Our Mission Statement
Cork Cat Action Trust is helping to solve the crisis and tragedy of unwanted and abandoned cats. Cork CAT is dedicated to the health, well-being and welfare of all cats: domestic, stray, abandoned and feral. Our main objective is to reduce the suffering of and prevent unwanted breeding of feral cats by a programme of trap/neuter/release, including such aftercare and/or  other veterinary treatments as may be necessary

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) is recommended only for colonies of feral cats who can be returned to supervised sites where long-term care can be assured.

WHY NEUTER  CATS? 

Neutering colonies of cats

• stabilizes the population at manageable levels,
• eliminates "annoying" behaviors associated with mating (fighting, yowling, and "spraying toms")
• is more effective and less costly than repeated attempts at eradication
• is humane to the animals and fosters compassion in the community.

The Cat Action Trust exists to solve the problem of the feral cat.   Feral cats are domestic cats living wild, either because they and their descendants have strayed from home or more likely because they are unwanted and have been abandoned.   And they multiply.

A healthy female can give birth to 120 kittens in her single lifetime.   Feral cats do not walk alone.  They gather in colonies wherever they can find food and shelter – in backyards, on building sites, in hospital grounds, in every suburban corner.   They are the inhabitants of dereliction.  So if nothing is done to control the population of a feral colony the cats soon over-run the neighbourhood, and the neighbours object.

The cats are destroyed…. And before long a new colony arrives to replace them.

The Cat Action Trust was founded in the 1970s, in England, by a handful of people who thought that this slaughter of innocent cats was both cruel and senseless.   They thought how much better it would be to control the cat population, to contain and to maintain it.   And so they set to work. Volunteers visited cat colonies, trapped the cats, took them to vets to be neutered, found the kittens good homes, and returned those adult cats who were too old to change their feral ways to their sites.

Then they organised feeding rotas, and kept an eye open for any new arrivals who might need a trip to the vet.  The wisdom of this work was swiftly appreciated, and not least by the cats – some of whom found themselves on payrolls instead of being classified a public nuisance.   Institutions galore discovered that a well managed colony was not only a “securicorps” of rat-catchers but also a community that brought out the best in everybody.   The work of the Cat Action Trust was seen to be the practical answer to the problem of the feral cat.   And one local authority after another adopted the CAT policy.   It is now being taken up abroad.

The Cat Action Trust has been operating in Ireland for over 7 years now, and has trapped and neutered thousands of cats, and rehomed over 1000 kittens.    But there is still a great deal to be done.   There are still many colonies in the city and county, who have not been attended to.   There is no such thing as a small colony, because a mother and her kittens can, over one year, turn a single mother into a colony of 20 to 30 cats.    There is a great need for more money and more members willing to trap, take to the vet, keep for a recovery period, and return to the site, volunteers are needed to foster, tame, and rehome kittens, and much help is needed to fund-raise and support the work.

Veterinary costs are high, even though a number of veterinary practices give us much reduced rates for neutering and for vaccinations. The Cork Cat Action Trust receives a grant from the Department of Agriculture, in recognition of the work being done.   This helps with the bills, but there is always a big difference between what we need and what we have.  It would be of enormous help if we could rely on regular donations from supporters, either directly, through a bank standing order, or via the “Donate” button on the website.