National Feral Cat Day is a holiday that’s observed annually on October 16th. As the name of this holiday suggests, it’s a day that’s designed to raise awareness about stray cats and to put into effect Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs around the United States. People all over the country use this day to do their part in helping keep the feral cat populations down to manageable levels.

Current estimates state that there are approximately 70 million feral cats, just in the U.S. alone. That’s almost the number of cats that are owned by Americans. Many times these feral cat populations suffer due to lack of food and/or medical care, and by being struck by automobiles. Everyone can help keep that from happening, however, simply by observing this holiday.

The History Of National Feral Cat Day

National Feral Cat Day was first introduced to the public in 2001. Its purpose was to raise awareness about “community cats” (the nice name given to stray or feral cats) and to promote the use of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs. These programs help to keep feral cat populations from spiraling out of control. The popularity of this holiday has increased every year since it was first created and has helped prevent millions of cats from being born on the street.

Some Important Facts About Feral Cats

We wanted to do a deeper dive into the plight faced by feral cats, so we decided the best thing to do would be to do a little bit of research on the subject. Once we had the information in hand, we just couldn’t resist sharing that information with everyone reading this article. With that being said, please check out the following facts for more information about feral cats.

• Feral cats are simply domestic cats that are not socialized to humans. Many of them are born on the street.
• Stray cats are domestic cats that have been separated from their homes.
• Many TNR programs have become TNVR programs. TNVR stands for Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return.
• Approximately 70% of stray cats taken to animal shelters are euthanized.
• Almost 100% of feral cats taken to animal shelters are euthanized because they’re not candidates for adoption.

Observing National Feral Cat Day

National Feral Cat Day can be observed by anyone who wants to get involved. All a person has to do is volunteer for or donate money to an organization that participates in a TNR program. People can also spread the word about this holiday to raise awareness about TNR programs by using the hashtag #NationalFeralCatDay on social media.