Here's something very good to read from www.bestfriends.org :

The Fight Over Ferals

October 12, 2003

There are about 60 million alley cats, also known as feral cats, in this country. There are probably some living near you. They keep their distance, and don't want to live in your house. But you want them to have a good life, and maybe you put out food for them.

Many cities are now promoting the right kind of care for ferals. Others say catch them and kill them. And, surprisingly, some of the nation's largest humane organizations advocate killing them, too.

But killing is never the answer to anything.

October 16th is National Feral Cat Day. And this week's special feature is about The Fight Over Ferals.

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Kill Them or Care for Them?

The problem begins with us. People abandon their domestic cats, those cats begin a new life in the "wild," start having kittens and suddenly you've got a feral cat population.

A feral cat is simply a domestic cat who was raised by cats instead of people. If Mom was kicked out on the streets by her family, and Baby was raised in the alley, then Baby wasn't raised to be domestic. By about 12 weeks, she's too old to learn how to be a pet.

So what to do with all those feral cats or alley cats who can't be turned into pets? Some say "kill them." But others say, "spay them and return them to their homes," otherwise known as trap/neuter/return.

The Vacuum Effect - Why killing never works

Dr. Julie Levy of the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine explains that cats can begin having babies at six months. Within two years, one feral cat can multiply into 30 unless it's been spayed. And in the year 2001, says Alley Cat Allies, there were over 60 million feral cats in the USA. That's a huge population!

Rounding these cats up and killing them doesn't solve the problem. Have you ever heard that more boys than girls are born after a war? Well, by some similar genetic awareness, when a large number of cats are rounded up off the streets and killed, the few that aren't caught seem to "overbreed" to fill the void. It's called The Vacuum Effect, and animals seem to know instinctively how to fill the void.

The Right Answer

In contrast, counties and cities around the country that have implemented a trap/neuter/return policy seem to be getting results. When Orange County, Florida, for example, began providing trap equipment to citizens and offering free spay/neuter to any feral cats brought in to be re-released, complaint calls about stray cats went down by 20 percent.

Dispatching an officer to answer each complaint costs them $75 a pop, so reducing those calls by 20 percent saves a lot of money! Says Linda Haller, manager of Orange County Animal Services,

"TNR stops the cycle because it stops the breeding."

John Queenan, animal control officer of Cape May, New Jersey, reports a similar finding in his city. Before the government implemented a trap/neuter/return policy, he received between 80 and 100 feral cat complaints per year. In 2001, he was down to 20 per year.

It's Good for Humans, Too!

Even people whose primary concern is humans rather than cats are pleased with the results of trap/neuter/return. Atlantic City is deeply concerned with making tourists feel comfortable. When the feral cat population seemed to be disturbing them, Ron Cash of the Atlantic City Health Department reported,

"We went shopping for solutions, and we found TNR. It works."

Furthermore, according to Connie Graham of CARE Feline Rescue in Orlando, Florida, it costs over $100 to pick up a feral cat, take care of it for a while and then slaughter it. But two to three cats can be spayed, vaccinated and returned for the same price!

Why is it so much cheaper? One of the reasons is so obvious it can easily be overlooked. People are willing to volunteer to help trap/neuter/return programs. Counties can find citizens willing to do the trapping and feeding, and veterinarians willing to do the neutering. But it's not easy to find anyone willing to donate their time to kill animals! Citizens simply feel better about helping with a trap/neuter/return program.

In fact, Orange County, Florida has improved community relations so much by implementing their TNR program that adoptions rose from 1995 to 2001 by over 200 percent! Why? Says Linda Haller,

"People have recognized now that we are there to help and we want to do something positive. Community trust is continuing to expand."

Clay Criswell, executive director of Western Pennsylvania's Humane Society, agrees. Since Pittsburgh implemented a TNR program, he reports, "People who used to hate us now love us."

Trap/neuter/return is cheaper, more effective, and better for community relations than trap, shelter, kill. And that's without mentioning the most obvious argument of all in its favor:

It doesn't involve killing big-eyed, darling furry cats who want nothing more than to live out their lives like the rest of us.

Statistical information provided by Alley Cat Allies.

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Where does trap/neuter/return (T/N/R) work? Here are a few of the many successful feral cat programs from across the country

New York, New York

Neighborhood Cats began doing trap/neuter/return (TNR) for cats in the Upper West Side of New York City in the fall of 1999.

Recent statistics from New York City's Center for Animal Care & Control show that since 1999, the number of stray cats entering city shelters from the Upper West Side has dropped by 73 percent. (In 1999, 277 cats entered the shelter from this area; during the first six months of 2003, only 38 cats have come in.)

In the first year alone, the rate dropped by 59 percent (114 in 2000). Elsewhere in the city, the rates were generally going up during these same years.

Dallas, Texas
Since 1999, Feral Friends of Dallas has neutered over 1,200 feral cats as part of their "Race to Reduce Litters." The group found homes for 3,919 friendly stray cats.

Feral Friends works with participating vets around the Metroplex, loans out humane traps and offers low-cost and no-cost sterilization for feral cats. Their "Team Feral" volunteers are specially trained to help individuals in need of extra help.

Portland, Oregon
Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon's mobile spay/neuter clinic has neutered over 15,000 feral cats across the state.

Utah (statewide)
From January 2002 to August 2003, 7,187 feral cats have been fixed in Utah through the No More Homeless Pets in Utah campaign. These were done at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary clinic, through the Feral Fix Program, and on the Big Fix spay/neutermobile. There are 14 Trap Trading Posts across the state, utilizing 275 traps, and working with 667 caregivers 65 participating veterinarians provide spay/neuter services using a voucher available from the program with a $10 co-pay. See the No More Homeless Pets in Utah website for details.

Cape May, New Jersey
Since implementing a community-wide TNR program in 2001, Cape May Animal Control (.pdf) has reported an 80 percent drop in feral cat complaints.

San Diego, California
In 1992, San Diego Department of Animal Control euthanized 15,525 cats at a cost of $121 per cat. That year, Feral Cat Coalition San Diego, a private, volunteer organization, launched an aggressive spay/neuter program for feral cats. By 1998, the number of animals killed each year dropped more than 45 percent, at a savings of $859,221 to taxpayers.
San Francisco, California
The San Francisco SPCA has been working with feral cat caregivers to control the feral cat population since 1993. The city showed a 71 percent drop in euthanasia rate for all cats after six years of TNR.

Through their Feral Fix program, the SF/SPCA provides vaccinations and spay/neuter surgery for San Francisco feral cats, all at no charge to their caregivers. Since the program began, they have altered over 10,000 cats in neighborhoods throughout the city. Cat Assistance Team members work together to humanely trap feral cats, transport them to the Feral Fix, and provide ongoing care and socialize feral kittens before placing them in homes.

Ithaca, New York
The Tompkins County SPCA's Feral Cat Assistance Program has been one of their keys to creating a no-kill community. The SPCA's humane officers work with local volunteers to bring cats in to be fixed and return them to their home turf.

Hampton Roads, Virginia
Meower Power Feral Cat Coalition runs a monthly low-cost spay/neuter clinic and provides free assistance to the public for humane care of feral cat colonies.

Washington, D.C.
Metro Ferals was established in 1997 to promote trap/neuter/return, a non-lethal solution for the feral cat population in Washington D.C., northern Virginia and Maryland.

Chicago, Illinois
Chicagoland Stray Cat Coalition was launched one year ago. So far the group has fixed 228 feral cats at five Spay Days at the PAWS Chicago clinic. They've created an e-mail newsgroup that now has over 50 members and placed ads in area newspapers that have generated over 50 requests for information and assistance with feral cats in the first three months. The group has also established a Barn Cat Relocation project to seek places for cats who cannot stay on their home turf and recruited two local vet clinics that are willing to fix feral cats at a reduced rate.

Los Angeles, California
Best Friends Catnippers offers free monthly high-volume spay and neuter clinics throughout the Los Angeles area.

Phoenix, Arizona
AzCATs aims to eliminate cat overpopulation in Maricopa County, Arizona through non-lethal methods. Since 1999 they have helped 14,000 cats through their high-volume spay/neuter clinics for feral cats and other programs.

Maricopa County spends $61 to trap, hold, and euthanize one feral cat, versus $22.50 to spay or neuter and return a cat. Maricopa County Animal Care and Control encourages communities to adopt TNR by passing associated costs along to them.

Newburyport, Massachusetts
Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society offers "Sunday Spay Days for Feral Cats." The monthly clinics neuter, vaccinate and ear-tip cats brought in by volunteer trappers. The cats are returned to their colonies where they receive ongoing care from volunteer feeders.

Louisville, Kentucky
Alley Cat Advocates, founded in 1999, aims to provide humane treatment of unowned cats in the community. Toward this goal they have fixed over 3,039 cat as part of their trap/neuter/return program.

Honolulu, Hawaii
The Hawaii Cat Foundation works with caretakers to trap, neuter and microchip feral cats in cooperation with local veterinarians. The cats are returned to their colony environment, and caretakers continue to provide daily. They provide training and also offer mediation in caretaker/landowner disputes. To date, HCF volunteers have spayed/neutered over 5,000 cats throughout O'ahu.

Raleigh, North Carolina
Operation Catnip of Raleigh, founded in 1996, holds monthly spay/neuter clinics where a team of seven veterinarians and a support staff of 30 other volunteers sterilize up to 150 cats in a few hours. All cats also receive rabies and distemper vaccinations.

Gainesville, Florida
Operation Catnip of Gainesville, modeled after the program in North Carolina, neutered 1,575 cats in their first year. The initial goal was to sterilize 500 cats, but a generous grant from the National Humane Education Society made it possible to triple the clinic capacity.

Stanford, California
The Stanford Cat Network cares for the homeless cats who live on the Stanford University campus.

University staff, students, faculty and community volunteers humanely trap the cats so they can be neutered, vaccinated, and released back into their campus territory, where they are fed and monitored daily. Tame strays and any kittens are boarded or fostered, until adoptive homes are found. No cats are euthanized, except as warranted by a veterinarian to relieve suffering.

The program is run by agreement with the University. The Stanford Cat Network maintains a registry of the cats, establishes feeding stations, and recruits caregivers to monitor the well-being of the cats and identify newcomers before they reproduce.

The number of homeless cats on campus has declined from an estimated 1,500 at the program inception in 1989 to approximately 200 cats currently living on campus.

Around the World
Israel
The Cat Welfare Society

Italy
Friends of Roman Cats

South Africa
Kitten Action

United Kingdom
Cat Action Trust, London
Nine Lives Cat Rescue, Tyne & Wear, County Durham

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Can we put all feral cats in sanctuaries? Of course not! But there are people out there who really say it's the answer!

For Tommy and Tyson, coming to Best Friends was, indeed, the answer to their special needs. They were a very special case: These two feral brothers were living in a Los Angeles suburb. One of the brothers was blind, the other acted as his guide. When the person who had been watching over them had to move, she couldn't find anyone to take her place. Tommy and Tyson would have had a very hard time on their own.

And Eastwood (pictured above right) is a feral cat from Dallas. Someone had trapped him years ago, but then kept him locked in a cage. A local cat group heard about Eastwood and came to his rescue. But what were they to do with him? After all those years, Eastwood couldn't be returned to his old stomping grounds. And as a feral cat, he couldn't be adopted into a home. So coming to Best Friends was the answer for him, too. Along with all the other dogs and cats and other animals at the sanctuary, Best Friends is home, on any given day, to about 400 feral cats like Tommy, Tyson and Eastwood.

The Best Friends WildCats Village
Our WildCats Village has 14 specially designed rooms, where the cats live in groups of 20 to 30, and enjoy indoor comforts and spacious outdoor runs. Natural wood trees lead up to catwalks that crisscross the ceiling and cat toys are liberally strewn about the floor.

The four WildCats buildings cost over $620,000 to construct (not including the land) and of course there are ongoing maintenance and staff costs. Eight staff members attend to the daily needs of the feral cats, and there are two veterinarians on the staff.

In other words, looking after feral cats at a sanctuary is a major undertaking. It's a last option for ferals with very special needs. But for most others, it's not the answer - even if we could bring them all here.

Still, hundreds of people across the country call Best Friends each month to ask for help with their local feral cats.

Are more sanctuaries the answer?
No. Not only is it very costly to build and maintain sanctuaries, but being rounded up and put into facilities is not the best option for the cats.

Even Wildcats Village is not an easy adjustment for feral cats who are used to the freedom and familiarity of their home turf and the other cats in their colony.

In any case, there's a far more effective, cost-efficient, and humane way to help ferals.

So what is the solution?
We recommend trap/neuter/return (TNR) as the most humane and cost effective way to help feral cats. At Best Friends, we run a free TNR program for all the nearby communities.

Our No More Homeless Pets in Utah campaign provides $10 vouchers for neutering feral cats across the state, and the Big Fix mobile spay-neuter van travels the state fixing feral cats (and pet cats and dogs) at deeply discounted prices. These three programs combined neuter several thousand feral cats each year.

In Los Angeles, Best Friends sponsors Catnippers, a monthly free spay/neuter clinic for feral cats. Since the program was launched in 1999, over 2,500 ferals have been neutered, and 100 more are fixed each month.

And through the Best Friends Network of more than 12,000 volunteers nationwide, we've been part of helping many other successful TNR efforts in communities from Maine to California.

For feral cats, "home" is always the turf they have staked out, be it a barn, alley, industrial park, or suburban backyard. Our part is getting them fixed and lending a helping hand in terms of food and shelter wherever we can.

If you need help with a local feral colony or additional information on feral cats, please email the Best Friends Network at bfnetwork@bestfriends.org or call 435-644-2001 ext. 123.

-continuation on feral cats from www.bestfriends.org -

Caring for feral cats is a work of unconditional love. You do it because you love them - not because you want them to love you back!

There are about 60 million of them in this country - living on the streets, in parks, in parking lots, and in the shadows of human civilization. How best to care for them - and to keep their numbers from growing?

Some of the nation's big old humane organizations still say the best solution is just to kill them! Experts on cat care totally disagree because a) killing them doesn't work, and b) it's ethically bankrupt.

TNR for Dummies

To animal lovers, killing feral cats is not an option. But for people who are bothered by stray cats messing up the garden, or howling into the wee hours of the night, getting rid of the nuisance seems like a sound, practical idea.

The trouble is, it just doesn't work.

"Why not?" you ask. "If you remove the problem, the problem goes away, doesn't it?"

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

There may be some peace for a while, but, sooner rather than later, more cats will move into that territory because there is most probably shelter and a reliable food source of rodents or scraps.

Then the messing, howling cycle starts all over again. Each time a group of cats is removed, the door opens for another group to move in. There is no shortage of cats out there looking for a nice place to live.

The lasting solution is trap/neuter/return (TNR).

The key word here is neuter. Neutered cats do not exhibit mating behaviors or the associated noise. There is no guarantee about the flowerbeds, but a neutered cat is usually content to stay close to home, rather than roam about the neighborhood.

Feral cat colonies can be of various sizes, but they are finite, and the cats know how many an area can support. They also defend their territory; new, unaltered cats who arrive in the neighborhood may be unwelcome and are driven away, keeping the numbers stable.

Ear-Tipping

In all TNR programs, the tip of the cat's left ear is removed during the spay or neuter surgery to indicate that the cat has been fixed. It's easy to spot a new cat that has been accepted into a group, and that cat can then be fixed.

TNR has been practiced in Europe for many years, and people have come to accept that this is the best way to regulate feral cats, and, ultimately, reduce the numbers to manageable amounts.

Feral cats serve a purpose as part of the ecological system by keeping rodent populations under control. If we tried to eliminate free-roaming cats altogether from the urban or rural landscape, we might end up regretting it.

Home Truths About Feral Cats

by Richard Allen, D.V.M.

When I think of ferals, it is usually cats that come to mind, even though dogs may be feral as well. In this article, we're simply talking about cats.

How cats become feral

Kitties become feral when they miss out on socialization with humans during the first part of their lives. This period of time, when a newborn needs to recognize smells and sounds, is called the critical socialization period. A trusting mother cat allows her kittens to be handled by the human in the house and these kitties always remember people as part of their extended family.

However, there are millions of homeless cats who have not had a good experience with humans and who leave a legacy of kittens that never interact with people during this critical period. These cats are called ferals and they behave like other wildlife. Like other wildlife (and, indeed, all life) they deserve understanding and respect.

Life as a feral cat

Most problems that ferals encounter are with people. They tend to live near people because they need to scavenge to survive.

As well as eating food that we discard, they eat insects and small rodents. Some people believe that feral cats are a danger to birds. This is untrue. Hunting birds is an inefficient use of their precious energy since healthy birds tend to simply fly away. Feral cats use the minimum energy to obtain food. While house cats who are allowed outdoors do, indeed, tend to hunt birds, ferals eat leftovers and catch small ground mammals and insects.

Are ferals a nuisance?

Many people think that ferals are a nuisance and a danger to their pets, and should therefore be eliminated. Ferals do get into garbage occasionally. People also complain that they make noise when mating and fighting, and have endless kittens. This is, of course, addressed by a spay/neuter program.

Another complaint is that feral cats attack pets and spread disease to them. In fact, since ferals are wild, they prefer not to interact with us or with our pets at all. Instead, they establish their own territories - geographic areas that will support them. While some of them are certainly quite sickly, the majority tend to be in good health - a lot healthier, in fact, than some of the house cats I see. The sickliest of cats that are picked up and brought in to veterinarians tend to be abandoned house pets who are not used to looking after themselves.

Should they be euthanized?

Many people want to kill feral cats in order to get rid of them. Some even argue that this is the most humane solution to the often-poor lives that ferals live.

But euthanasia has been ineffective in controlling feral populations because, like other wildlife, the remaining ferals become more fertile and reproduce more to fill up the territory that was vacated by the euthanized cats. Moreover, euthanasia increases the spread of disease because the remaining cats have to fight it out to see who is going to inherit the vacated territory. Since bite wounds are the primary way that some of the worst cat diseases are spread, territorial fighting results in disease increase.

However, doing nothing to control the breeding of the ferals results in weaker individuals whose numbers exceed the demands of the territory.

Trap, Neuter, and Return

The best solution to feral reproduction is known as Trap, Neuter, and Return.

Here at Best Friends, we have an ongoing feral program in our local community. When someone contacts us about a group of ferals on their property, they are often pretty upset by the cats. So we begin by explaining that ferals are just another type of wild animal out there that depends on us and a stable habitat to survive.

After some education and some calm perspective about the situation, we trap the ferals. Then we bring them straight to the clinic and they are put under anesthesia while they are still in the trap. We shave a spot on the side of the females and do a flank spay. (The males are neutered like all our male pet kitties.)

We take their pictures and notch their ears so we don't trap the same ones again. Then we return them to their territory. We leave a big bag of cat food with the person and ask them to help us keep track of the colony. Generally speaking, they soon discover that it can be fun to live with feral friends.

great....
bravo fk

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I don't know if people will ever be able to talk to animals the way Doctor Doolittle could, or whether animals will be able to talk back. Maybe science will have something to say about that. But I do know people can learn to "talk" to animals, and to hear what animals have to say, better than they do now

Don't Cage Me In!

Eastwood's (pic below) narrow eyes tell the story of what should never be done with a feral cat.

Once upon a time, she lived in the "wilds" of Dallas, Texas. Her caregiver moved and brought Eastwood along with her.

Why was that a mistake?

"Relocation of ferals is very hard," says Best Friends' Faith Maloney, "since they instinctively want to go back to their home territory. Just to let a cat go into the wild without some habituation is a bad idea. They would not know the locale, food sources, etc."

In the country now, and fearing coyotes, Eastwood's guardian worried about releasing her outside. That was the second mistake.

"Ferals do not like to be confined," says Faith. Feral cats are wild animals, and being caged is a frustrating, depressing, and traumatizing experience for them.

So a local group, Feral Friends of Dallas, stepped in and rescued Eastwood from her cage. They tried, but could not make her adoptable.

This is fairly usual. "A feral cat does not receive early socialization to humans as a young kitten," Faith says. "Therefore we are not considered part of their family. Ferals rarely warm up to humans. Some people will say they can tame them, but after the socialization window has closed at around 16 weeks, their view of the world is formed, and we are usually not welcome in it."

What to do with Eastwood? No one knew where her original colony was anymore; she couldn't be released somewhere unfamiliar; and clearly, she would never be a pet. The solution was to bring her to the Best Friends WildCats Village.

As Faith points out, feral cats are wild, and should be left in the wild whenever possible. But in a case like Eastwood's, where going home isn't an option, a place like WildCats Village is far better than being killed. "Ferals do not like to be confined, even in our large indoor/outdoor catteries. However, we do provide enough hideout space for them to feel safe, while they adjust to their new environment."

Eastwood is indeed hiding - way up high in the rafters at WildCats Village. She has open space, and is well-fed and safe from harm. Over time, she'll adjust. But today, her angry eyes tell the story of a wild animal who should not have been moved in the first place.

Forgiveness will come slowly... but it will come.

The Right Way

Best Friends Animal Society endorses and practices trap/neuter/return (T/N/R) as the most humane and effective way to manage feral cats.

While euthanizing a suffering animal is an act of kindness, killing healthy feral cats, when the life-saving alternative of trap/neuter/return exists, demonstrates a lack of respect for their most basic rights.

T/N/R - part of the no-kill movement

There is a tremendous amount of grassroots support for trap/neuter/return, which is now practiced by thousands of humane groups and animal welfare advocates, and embraced by hundreds of communities across the country.

But some of the nation's older humane organizations still advocate killing feral cats.

Some of them argue that killing them protects them from possible future misfortune! But that argument is the thin end of a very nasty and dangerous wedge!

These organizations need to learn about the modern approach of T/N/R, and reconsider their own outdated policies. An outcome of these old policies is that they are still used as a reference by many government bureaucracies. The recent decision made by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) to kill feral cats found anywhere on public property demonstrates the need for leadership in this area as well as better public education.

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Beware of these current but very outdated statements by some of the older humane organizations.

Best Friends, along with Alley Cat Allies, the nation's leading feral cat care group, entirely rejects the policies of the following organizations:

From the Humane Society of the United States:

The Humane Society of the United States believes that every community has a legal and ethical responsibility to address problems associated with free-roaming domestic cats.

The HSUS recognizes that, in many instances, free-roaming cats must be live-trapped and, after completion of the mandatory holding period, evaluated for adoption or euthanasia.

From the American Humane Association:

American Humane strongly supports policies and programs that work to reduce the overpopulation and abandonment of cats in a humane manner. In some cases, the most humane solution is euthanasia.

From PETA:

Please do not allow the prospect of euthanasia to deter you from trapping cats. If you leave them where they are, they will almost certainly die a painful death. A painless injection is far kinder than any fate that feral cats will meet if left to survive on their own.

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What do vets think?

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has guidelines on feral cat management that include TNR.

In their guidelines, the AVMA recommends a resource network for feral cat care givers, humane activists, veterinarians, public health officials, and animal control officers should be established to share information, perspectives, and cooperative solutions to the root causes of animal abandonment.

WildCats Village

Best Friends provides sanctuary to over 400 feral cats.

For some feral cats, the safety and comfort of an indoor/outdoor environment of runs, carpeted shelves, and wooden catwalks that crisscross the 12-foot-high ceilings must seem, well, a bit tame.

For others, it has made the difference to their survival.

The large number (estimates range from 50 to 60 million) of feral cats testifies to their ability to adapt and survive in diverse environs, from urban back alleys to surburban mall parking lots to places where the closest neighbors are coyotes. It isn't an easy life; life in the wild rarely is.

Feral cats tend to melt into the background of a city, gathering in colonies and living a meager life in back streets, afraid of people and scrounging food from trash cans. Thankfully, more and more people are learning how to look after these "feral" cats, as they are called. With the right care, most feral cats can live a decent life in their own neighborhoods.

But there are always going to be some who are too sick or injured or timid to survive in the "wild." For them, WildCats Village at Best Friends may be the only lifeline that's left.

Indeed, for kitties who were once at the mercy of every kind of urban danger, WildCats Village is a little piece of heaven on earth. Here they can enjoy outdoor views from screened-in areas complete with scratching posts, snug beds, ramps, and cubbyholes.

For the younger kitties, WildCats Village is a home where they can run, climb, play and enjoy the kittenhood they perhaps never had. The older ones, who have done all their running, enjoy cozy private nooks in winter, and cool, shady corners in summer.

Each of the 14 indoor/outdoor rooms in WildCats Village is home to 20-30 cats. Cats with special diets live in one room; FIV-positive felines have their own special rooms.

The original WildCats Village, designed with four buildings and completed in 1999, set new standards of kitty comfort and staff care. It was the gift of a Best Friends member whose mother left her a bequest to be used for her favorite charity. She has made a great many kitties very happy indeed!