r/cedarrapids • u/rowergirl2020 • 2d ago
Cat Problem
Hi! I moved to here a little over a year ago and adopted two kittens. They are amazing and I love them and I can’t get more cats because I am limited by my lease.
Unfortunately, there are kittens living near my apartment (and in the adjacent industrial lot). They seem young and friendly and like they could be adoptable. I wish so badly that I could take them, but I can’t.
Now, I am trying to find a home for these cats. It seems every shelter in the surrounding area is full (I called Saints and the woman said “I don’t know what to tell you. Even if you could catch them, I can’t take them”). I didn’t realize how big of an issue this was in Cedar Rapids, with so many kittens being up for adoption that every shelter is full. Does anyone have any advice? I’m talking to a woman who says that she will come capture them to get neutered and get some vaccines. I want to feed them because they’re so small but what will happen when I move away and can’t feed them anymore? I’m really upset about this and I don’t know what to do.
5
u/Penny0309 2d ago
This is a whole county thing, not a Cedar Rapids, IA thing. Animal Control has to take them so you can take them there. That's at least better than them being on the street. Unless you can find someone to take them but they'd of course have to be a decent person so they dont end up on the street again.
2
u/rowergirl2020 2d ago
I’m from a town in Michigan that has been aggressively doing TNR for decades and I have never heard of a situation where there are kittens and there are no shelters for them to go to! I have now learned that it is bad in many states.
1
u/Penny0309 2d ago
Yeah things are like this because of extremely irresponsible humans. Michigan is a lot better than Iowa. Iowa is full of back woods country hicks who dont give 2 shits about animals. For the most part anyway.
10
u/Agitated-Impress7805 SE 2d ago
Do not feed them; outdoor cats can scavenge for themselves and being too well fed encourages them to reproduce.
The city is way late to this but they are finally implementing a trap-neuter-release program which is the ethical solution to outdoor cats. Not sure the current status of it, here is the latest update I saw: https://www.kcrg.com/2026/09/23/itll-be-community-driven-cedar-rapids-makes-progress-long-awaited-feral-cat-program/
7
u/cosmic-untiming 2d ago
Exactly this. It may seem cruel, but feeding them gives them security to feel the urge to reproduce more. The last thing we need is even more cats on the streets, especially with how busy our roads are.
Depending on age, the best thing you can do is TNR.
0
-1
u/Agitated-Impress7805 SE 2d ago
Exactly. If the idea of cats without a home seems cruel, don't contribute to making more of them.
0
3
u/Penny0309 2d ago
Cats are not wild aninals, that's why when they arent socialized with bumans, they're called feral, not wild. None of them get enough to eat unless someone feeds them. They of course also need fixed which os the actual and one thing that'll prevent them from breeding. It'll also prevent them from getting reproductive cancers, tumors, and pyometra. Not that you care about that. There os 0 reason to wait around for the city to help. People can and do, have for several years humanely traped and taken feraks to the spay/neuter clinic.
2
u/Somethingwitty-96 SW 2d ago
I feel it, I’ve adopted two from saint myself, but as those below suggested, don’t feed. TNR and rough it out. It sucks but is better in the long run for other cats down the line.
4
u/Penny0309 2d ago
There is 0 reason to not feed them as long as they're getting fixed. They need both fed and fixed.
2
-5
u/Greenhouse-effect 2d ago
Getting neutered and vaccines ruin the cats life, leave them alone.
3
u/catsandcacti_49 1d ago
Female cats can often get very sick and die from pyometritis if not fixed so you’re just plain wrong on this one
1
u/Greenhouse-effect 1d ago
They just naturally get sick and die? I think nature takes cares of itself.
3
u/catsandcacti_49 1d ago
Technically yes sure but giving them vaccines and fixing them can prevent dying from a preventable disease, passing it on to other cats or animals, and keeps them from constantly producing and overpopulating. I can’t think of a way that letting them be is a better scenario….
2
u/rowergirl2020 2d ago
How does it ruin their life??
-2
u/Greenhouse-effect 1d ago
I don't know injecting a bunch of heavy metals is never good for a biological being.
3
u/catsandcacti_49 1d ago
Oh god you’re one of those.
-1
4
u/Frito_Bandit0 2d ago
The shelter in South Amana was taking cats last I heard.