Feral Cat Program

Feral cats are wild unowned outside cats that cannot be handled. There are an estimated 120 to 150 million feral cats in the United States. One unspayed female and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.

Pets Alive - El Paso's goal is to reduce the number of feral cats in the El Paso metro area with the overall goal of reducing the number of cats that get euthanized each year in El Paso.

How can you help?
It truly takes a community effort to reduce the feral cat numbers. You, as a member of the community, can help by bringing humanely trapped, feral cats from your area to a participating veterinarian to have them spayed or neutered and vaccinated against rabies. You would then return the sterile cats to their original environment allowing them to stabilize the population without increasing colony numbers.

What are the benefits of doing this?
This helps in very important ways. First, vaccinating against rabies helps prevent the spread of this fatal disease to people and their pets. Neutering male cats will also help to reduce behaviors such as fighting, urine marking, and late night howling. Less fighting decreases the spread of feline infectious diseases.

Finally, returning the cats to where they were trapped stabilizes the population and helps stop the breeding cycle. Fewer young mouths to feed means better nutrition and health for the existing colony. Some might ask: why return them at all? True wild cats are rarely tamed and do not make good household pets. And simply removing the cats from their environment would open up the niche for other wild cats to move in and does little to control the population numbers. Returning them to the area is key to helping reduce their numbers.

How can you participate and trap feral cats?
Traps are available for rent through the Feral Cat Program. Please call 915-873-PETS (7387) to rent a trap for a refundable $30.00 deposit. You have 60 days to return the trap. An instruction sheet with trapping tips will be provided, along with a list of participating Clinics. You can also find the instructions and that list here.

You can also purchase a humane cat trap at Harbor Freight tools located at 3333 N. Yarbrough, or by clicking here to purchase online at Harbor Freight. Amazon.com also has a wide selection of traps; click here to purchase online at Amazon.

What cats are qualified?
Only true feral cats, which are wild cats that cannot be handled and are un-owned will be allowed to participate in the program. Cats must be at least 12 weeks of age.

How much does it cost?
The program pays for surgery and rabies vaccination for qualified cats. If you want additional vaccinations tests, or treatments you will be charged based on the veterinarian's fee schedule.

Participating veterinarians volunteer their time for this very important project. Funding for traps, materials, drugs, and vaccinations come from generous donations from community members like you. If you would like to help in this way, please click here to donate.