What's With All the Stray Cats?

[Bella the Ball 360]

I have noticed starting about 8 years ago an alarming number of stray cats all over Orlando. My son and his GF even saw a couple at Epcot. We have seen them outside Bahama Breeze, Vistana Resort, Mystic Dunes(starting 8 years ago) and a variety of other places. Anyone have any info on this huge population explosion of cats?

 

[Art 1]

It's true. Maybe 20 years ago the College Park section was over run. It was a problem. We have noticed them around more in the last few months. I trapped one last week and moved it and am going to trap a few more.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I think to as people can no longer afford their pets they have turned them lose. Many were never spayed and therefore they multiply. Its sad to see them. I don't feed any strays but I do put water out for them. If I were a stray I would want someone to at least give me fresh water especially on a hot day.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

There were some outside Bahama Breeze and I think they have adopted them. I saw a water bowl and they were very friendly.

 

[DizzneyDi]

Sadly, the stray cat epidemic isn't confined to Orlando. I work at a library in a suburb of a small city in upstate NY, and we've "adopted" the strays in the neighborhood for the past few years. We were able to rescue a litter of 3 last year but this year we've had 7 new kittens and no one has been willing to help us trap them and look after them until they find homes. We're quite close to the local university so there are a lot of students living nearby, and I suspect they're a big part of the problem. They want pets but aren't willing to take them along when they graduate. I'm not surprised to hear that strays have made their way to Disney, where so many people are eating outside every day. Cats know to go where the food is!

 

[shalom]

We're quite close to the local university so there are a lot of students living nearby, and I suspect they're a big part of the problem. They want pets but aren't willing to take them along when they graduate.

Could be, but in our neighborhood the college students tend to "kinda" adopt local cats and then move on. Which is to say, they feed cats and bring them in for a few hours a day, but said cats technically already have a home. OTOH, it was a non-college neighbor who moved out, abandoning his Very Pregnant Young Kitty on the porch with her bowl of food and box full of kitty litter. We still have four of those kittens, and they're totally sweethearts. I will admit the college kid who "claimed" one of the kittens never showed up for it the next fall as she said she would.

And then there's the lady next block over who loves cats and doesn't believe in spaying because she "loves kittens." We don't trap cats for the pound, but we've been known to haul a stray or feral cat into neuterscooter now and again. We've never deliberately trapped a cat belonging to the cat lady, but I don't know for a fact it hasn't happened.

 

[lilandvisma]

I have noticed starting about 8 years ago an alarming number of stray cats all over Orlando. My son and his GF even saw a couple at Epcot. We have seen them outside Bahama Breeze, Vistana Resort, Mystic Dunes(starting 8 years ago) and a variety of other places. Anyone have any info on this huge population explosion of cats?

Poor kitties....But if I were a stray cat you better believe I'd be wandering Epcot! Just for the food alone lol.

 

[lilandvisma]

trapping a cat and moving it isn't going to keep it away from where it wants to be btw. Cats are highly intelligent.

 

[red712371]

I have heard that Disney does have some feral cats for pest control reasons. Not sure how true that is or not. We saw one a few times at AKL and MK.

 

[loveswdw]

I was just reading an article the other day about cats around Disneyland. I know its not the same as WDW but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. It's from a site called Mental Floss:

The Cats Own the Night
Each night at Disneyland, after the sunburned families and exhausted cast members have made their way home, the park fills up again—this time, with hundreds of feral cats.

Park officials love the felines because they help control the mouse population. (After all, a park full of cartoon mice is more enticing than a park full of real ones.) But these cats aren’t a new addition to the Disney family. They first showed up at Disneyland shortly after it opened in 1955, and rather than spend time chasing them away, park officials decided to put the cats to work.

Today, there are plenty of benefits to being a Disney-employed mouser. When they’re not prowling the grounds, these corporate fat cats spend their days lounging at one of the park’s five permanent feeding stations. Of course, Disney also goes to great lengths to manage its feline population. Wranglers at the park work to spay and neuter adult cats, and any time kittens are found, they’re put up for adoption.

Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/94104#ixzz24nFSQjpF