After readers complained they had been blocked by Kitty Kisses Cat Cafe over concerns on a post which had a photo of two cats indicating “They are seeking a foster by Monday, otherwise they will have to go back to the streets,” we reached out to both the rescue non profit and the Washoe County Regional Animal Services on that possibility.
“Washoe County does have a local ordinance that governs the management of feral cats, Washoe County Code, 55.475,” Shyanne Schull, the director of Washoe County Regional Animal Services wrote back to us. “A feral cat is defined as a cat that is born in the wild or that was formerly owned but has been abandoned and is no longer socialized. A domesticated cat means a cat that is socialized to humans and is appropriate as a companion.
The guidelines of our managed care of feral cats program, outline requirements such as each cat is to be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and microchipped and returned to the managed colony where they were trapped from.
In regards to cats, abandonment laws pertain to domesticated cats only, where an owner has refused to provide care for a domesticated cat that relies on human support for survival, and that human has left or abandoned the animal.”
The post which was later updated to indicate “fosters secured!” said the two cats had been “trapped in a trailer park, fixed, vaccinated and microchipped, but were found to be semi-social.”
Kitty Kisses wrote back to Our Town Reno that they “do not tolerate threats or unkind behavior toward ourselves, our staff or our partners from readers.”
Kitty Kisses pointed us to Animal Services links for its Feline , Neuter, Return Program and its explainer community cats page which can be found here: https://www.washoecounty.gov/animal/Services%20and%20Resources/TNR.php and here:
https://www.washoecounty.gov/animal/Services%20and%20Resources/Community%20Cats.php
“As a bit of background, we have been partnered with Tracy Dean of Community Cats for over a year,” they added, referencing a well known local dedicating herself to the welfare of community cats.
“We work together to find young/able-to-be-socialized free-roaming cats loving forever homes. When Tracy comes upon what we call a “friendly”, she reaches out and we intake the kitten to be adopted out. We recently took in 11 kittens from Hawaii and are very limited on space, which is what prompted us to put out an ask to our community for fosters,” Kitty Kisses Cat Cafe wrote.
“The Trap Neuter Return program does allow for returning cats back to their colony (where they were trapped from) after they have been spayed/neutered/vaccinated and microchipped, if they are feral. I am not sure where these cats came from or anything about their behavior,” Schull wrote to us last week initially.
“We are a responsible non-profit entity who deeply cares about the welfare of all cats in the community and advocates for them passionately. We are happy to have had this opportunity to educate the public and your readers about this topic,” the Kitty Kisses Cat Cafe concluded in their message back to us.