Belle Mead Animal Hospital supports Trap-Neuter-Return efforts

Belle Mead Animal Hospital is proud to be registered as a “cat friendly practice.”  We value the lives of all the household cats we treat, and we recognize the importance of feral cat population control, health, and safety, not only in our own community but nationwide.

We believe that Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the only humane and effective method of stabilizing feral cat populations.  We support the efforts of Alley Cat Allies, the national advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats.

Feral cat, TNR'd with ear tip. Photo credit Alley Cat Allies

Feral cat, TNR’d with ear tip. Photo credit Alley Cat Allies

We have therefore joined with some of the country’s top TNR veterinarians who signed a letter printed June 1, 2013 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association voicing their strong endorsement of TNR and explaining why it is becoming the predominant method of feral cat care.

We agree with the message that Alley Cat Allies promotes: TNR works, and it works well.

Alley Cat Allies has produced an informative video regarding Trap-Neuter-Return for those of you in need of more details.  You can also learn more about Alley Cat Allies and all the good work they do for the feral cat communities by visiting the Alley Cat Allies website.

Following is the letter we would like to share with you that Belle Mead Animal Hospital has signed indicating our support of Trap-Neuter-Return efforts: (this action is for veterinarians/DVMs only)

As veterinarians, we strongly support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs for feral, or community, cats. As medical professionals with cats’ best interests at heart, we support these programs because they improve cats’ lives. TNR is proven effective; and it’s the right thing to do. We have witnessed its benefits firsthand. Nationwide, increasing numbers of veterinarians treat feral cats in their practices or work with high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter clinics in recognition of the fact that discontinuing the breeding cycle is the only effective and humane approach to stabilizing feral cat populations.

Thanks to Trap-Neuter-Return, long-established colonies of cats live out their lives—peacefully and healthfully—and the colonies decrease in size over time. In Washington, D.C., a colony of community cats in the Adams Morgan neighborhood was eventually reduced to zero after a TNR program was implemented in 1990. Washington, D.C., along with New York City, San Francisco, and many other cities, has now officially adopted TNR. The number of local governments with policies favoring TNR has increased tenfold in the last decade.

Given this impressive progress and successes seen in communities embracing TNR, we continue to be dismayed by attacks on TNR programs. We stand behind the fact that TNR programs have been successful in communities nationwide and are the best practice for stabilizing community cat populations.

Sincerely,
Belle Mead Animal Hospital

 Joe Martins, DVM, Belle Mead Animal Hospital

Joe Martins, DVM, Belle Mead Animal Hospital

Joe Martins, DVM, Belle Mead Animal Hospital

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