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The only sustainable solution to the suffering of cats is consistent neutering. NetAP neuters cats from almost all cantons in Switzerland on an ongoing basis and is campaigning for a national neutering obligation for outdoor cats.
Here we give you an insight into some of the neutering campaigns we carried out in Switzerland in 2021. This list is not exhaustive, as we often refrain from reporting due to time constraints.
And Heitenried again. We can hardly count how many times we have neutered cats from the Fribourg community. With the 43 cats neutered on the weekend of 11 December 2021, we have around 300 cats. Just imagine: 300 cats from a single small Swiss community!
For the second time, we held a neutering day with the small animal practice Dr Romana Jäggi in Breitenbach in the canton of Solothurn on 4 December 2021. Romana Jäggi and her team also neuter and treat animals for us on an ongoing basis outside of these days. She is an indispensable partner in this part of Switzerland and we are so glad that we can always count on her.
Another castration day took place in Sulz, Lucerne, on Saturday, 20 November 2021. 64 cats from the canton were caught in advance and then examined in the ‘field hospital’, treated against internal and external parasites, vaccinated, marked and neutered. Most of them were allowed to return to their territory the next day, a few remained under supervision for a few more days because they had some problems that required longer treatment.
The canton of Lucerne has an immense number of cats and has been keeping us busy for years. However, in the absence of mandatory neutering, we cannot force many irresponsible owners to have their cats neutered. We are therefore delighted with everyone who shows responsibility and has all their pets neutered without exception.
We would like to thank the municipality of Sulz for making the premises available and all those who contributed to the success of this day.
For the third time, Tierklinik Leimental made its premises available to us on 14 November 2021 to neuter cats from the canton of Basel. The cats were previously captured in both half-cantons and brought to Biel-Benken. They were cats from allotments, feral yard cats and cats from a hoarding case.
Unfortunately – probably also due to the bad weather – not as many cats went into the traps as planned. Nevertheless, we had a total of 39 patients on Sunday, 25 of whom were female. Castration, vaccination, marking and treatment against internal and external parasites were not the only things on the programme. Several teeth were also extracted, abscesses were split and other important operations were carried out. We were able to hand over four cats to the TSB animal shelter in Muttenz. One cat was diagnosed with bilateral patellar luxation, and a foster home was found for her too so that further investigations could be carried out.
The cat misery in Basel is great. A petition is currently pending in the canton of Basel Stadt, calling on the cantonal government to examine measures against this. It is unacceptable for the state to always simply shift the solution to this problem onto us animal welfare organisations. Let’s hope that action is finally taken by making neutering compulsory.
On Saturday, 6 November 2021, we held the 6th Neutering Day in the Stans gymnasium in collaboration with the Nidwalden Animal Welfare Association. 73 cats caught by volunteers the day before were examined, treated for internal and external parasites, vaccinated, marked and neutered. Unfortunately, almost a third of the cats were not allowed back into their territory. Fortunately, the Paradiesli animal shelter took them all in.
Once again, there were major differences in terms of how the cats were kept. While some farmyard cats were very healthy and well-fed, others were just skin and bones. Despite intensive discussions, the owners refused to recognise that they have a responsibility towards the animals and that they also have to feed them.
The Nidwalden Animal Welfare Association is a very committed organisation and thanks to the wonderful cooperation, a great deal of suffering has already been alleviated.
Once again we were asked to clear up an animal hoarding, this time in the canton of Zurich. A pensioner had 34 cats in her flat, all but two of them unneutered. Originally just a few animals, they had quickly multiplied uncontrollably and the owner was in over her head. After her environment had tried in vain to get help and finally the veterinary office was involved, we agreed to take on the case and look for solutions for 32 cats. She was allowed to keep the two neutered cats, and we were able to place all the other animals in various animal shelters. The assignment was exhausting. We were on site a total of three times until we had all the cats.
The cats are extremely shy, having lived in a very barren, uninviting environment. There were no scratching posts, toys, cat grass or other things that would provide some variety. Some of the cats were sick and needed immediate veterinary care. However, we are confident that with enough patience and care, the animal shelters will be able to place them all in nice homes.
Animal hoarding causes a lot of suffering among animals. The hoarders themselves are often older, lonely people who basically mean well with the animals, but who urgently need help. Such hoarding often takes place behind closed doors and is only discovered by chance by neighbours or relatives. It must be reported because hoarders usually do nothing on their own initiative.
For the third time, the training rooms at Covetrus AG in Lyssach were transformed into a NetAP field hospital. On 30 October 2021, 83 cats were examined, treated, vaccinated, marked and neutered. All the cats were previously caught by a team of ten NetAP volunteers and brought to Lyssach. A 30-strong team was deployed there. In addition to the standard programme, other procedures had to be carried out, such as the extraction of pus teeth, the treatment of wounds or the amputation of cankered auricles, so that the cats had a good quality of life again.
The cats came from four different places. Two of these were reported to us by the competent veterinary office. It has asked us to neuter the animals to stop the uncontrolled reproduction. However, such reports are not accompanied by any cost sharing on the part of the state.
Unfortunately, a total of eight cats were so ill or injured that we were unable to return them. They remained in our care or that of the Interlaken Veterinary Clinic. Two leg amputations, a diaphragmatic hernia operation and many other major operations were necessary to save these cats too.
A slaughterhouse in the canton of Bern was quite astonished when a box was found outside the door at 5 o’clock in the morning, from which a soft mewing sound could be heard. Five small bundles of fur had obviously been abandoned in this box in front of the slaughterhouse.
We were informed immediately and picked up the kittens. We do not know why the kittens were abandoned at the slaughterhouse. Either they wanted to have them killed ‘professionally’ or they hoped that the company would inform us, as we had already caught and neutered numerous feral cats on site.
The mother of the kittens was not present. We would have liked to have had them with us. So that she can look after her children and we can neuter her afterwards. Otherwise the misery will simply continue. In addition, there can be complications for the mother if she is simply deprived of her babies so early. The kittens are reasonably fit, but all have giardia and had to be treated immediately.
The fact is: we no longer know what to do with all the abandoned cats. The animal shelters are full, and all the organisations that focus on finding homes have also filled their foster homes.
The cat misery is growing and growing, the cases are piling up and there is no end in sight. All cats that need help come from cats with irresponsible owners. It is regrettable that politicians are not finally holding them accountable by law.
We filed a complaint with the police and also informed the veterinary office about the case.
For three weeks, our Basel team also worked with a group of cats on a factory site in Möhlin, Aargau. A mother cat with kittens was reported and soon secured. As always, Claudia and Isabelle left the surveillance camera on a little longer to make sure they had captured everyone. And lo and behold, new unneutered cats keep turning up.
As the factory site is located in the industrialand there are no houses far and wide, we have to assume that these cats are also ownerless or abandoned. We also caught these. Finally, we also sought dialogue with the surrounding farms and were able to convince more farmers of the importance of castration. So one closed case became two new ones.
When a case was reported to us in Selzach in the canton of Solothurn at the end of March, we had no idea how incredibly time-consuming it would be to process this case. Numerous cats had strayed onto a farm and were also being fed by several private individuals at various locations. Years ago, cats were neutered, but only some of them, which is anything but sustainable.
We were called to Wetzikon to help catch and neuter the as yet un-neutered cats on a farm. There were eleven cats in total, five of which had already been neutered. This means that you always have cats in the trap that you don’t want. A mother cat was also on site with a baby, a second had already disappeared.
We managed to catch all the cats. All were examined, neutered, treated against parasites, vaccinated and marked. Unfortunately, the kitten was seriously ill and died despite intensive treatment. Despite this loss, we are pleased that another farm has been neutered, not least thanks to the active help of local residents.
Anyone who believes that cat misery only exists in the countryside and is the fault of agriculture only needs to take a look at the canton of Basel Stadt to be proven wrong. Cat misery is everywhere and the example of Basel clearly shows that it is also caused by private cat owners.
22.59h she went into the trap. The mother cat we were after for three weeks. Good thing our volunteers were in pairs, because setting the traps in the dark forest, far away from any civilisation, and waiting for the redemptive clang of the closing lid is not without its challenges.
Our volunteers have to constantly test their patience in order to ensure sustainable animal welfare. A job that almost nobody wants to do, because It is time-consuming and stressful. And all of them are still working in addition to protecting animals. But the moments of happiness when we finally manage to help an animal and end the cycle of misery in one place make up for all the effort.
The mum cat (whose kittens were found and handed in at the beginning of August – that’s how we found out about the case) was then examined and neutered at the Leimental veterinary clinic. We were then able to hand her over to a partner organisation that will look for a new home for her.
Cat misery is everywhere, even if it is often only visible to those who look.
Cat misery Fribourg – Schmitten: How often have we been in action in Schmitten, Fribourg? We would have to check, but we don’t have time for that with all the missions. Once again, we received a report from a farm where several cats had strayed and multiplied uncontrollably. The operators of the farm tried to keep the colony under control by passing on the kittens, but now peace is finally to be restored. All cats should be neutered. Good decision!
The village of Mamishaus is a settlement in the municipality of Schwarzenburg in the canton of Bern. This place is best known to us for its cat misery. We have been there over twenty times and have caught and neutered well over 100 cats. We are happy about every farmer who agrees to all cats being neutered without exception. On this mission, however, we found almost only sick animals, all of which needed far more than just castration and anti-parasite treatment. Several cats had to spend many days in the veterinary clinic until they were well enough to be released. Years of neglect simply take their toll and if the legal situation remains so vague and the authorities and politicians so sluggish, nothing will change for the better in the future. On the contrary.
When the case in Vuadons in the canton of Fribourg was reported to us, we were told that various organisations had already been asked for help last year, but no one had been prepared to tackle the cat misery on the ground. There are many unneutered cats that are fed by a lady and the population is constantly increasing, although animals keep disappearing or dying.
At the moment it is difficult for us to carry out neutering campaigns, as we always have to reckon with the fact that some kittens already have offspring that would die if we were to catch the mother. We were only able to catch a few animals that were clearly recognisable as males and three females that appeared to be pregnant. It turned out that the kittens were all ill. One suffered a premature birth on the same day, one had dead babies in her womb so that she had to undergo emergency surgery immediately and the third was already so seriously ill that we could no longer help her.
Such cases are more than stressful for all of us. However, the ignorance of the authorities and politicians, who have no interest in a sustainable and animal-friendly solution, is even more burdensome.
We had actually already spayed and neutered on this farm in Zeglingen in the canton of Basel Land last year. Actually. Back then we spent many hours on site, often freezing, until the last cat was trapped and then neutered. But as is the case in a country where there are too many irresponsible pet owners, another new unneutered cat ran into this farm or was abandoned on site. As agreed last year, the farmer called as soon as he saw the young animals and we immediately set the trap.
And another case in the Bünztal closed: The NetAP volunteers were actually working on another farm. The traps were set and Nadine decided to make good use of the waiting time by asking the neighbouring farms whether they had any unneutered cats. They were welcomed at the very first farm. The ten cats on the farm were wild and the farmers didn’t know how to get them to the vet. Every year, they tried hard to tame the offspring so that at least they could be passed on. ‘En riese Büetz,’ they said to Nadine, who immediately began to coordinate the operation.
By the evening, three heavily pregnant females, a tomcat and three six-month-old females had already been captured. With the exception of the tomcat, we were able to place all of them temporarily in animal shelters. The cat was neutered and vaccinated and released back onto the farm. A few days later, two more expectant mums fell into the trap and the day before yesterday the last male went in too.
The two tomcats are already out in the meadow again, chasing mice. Three mums will also return to the farm when their offspring are old enough. The other mums are tame enough to be rehomed through the shelter.
The farmers are delighted to have five healthy, neutered cats. Without us, they would no longer have ‘only’ 10 cats as at the beginning of the case, but now 29.
It was the 40th mother cat this year that we had to catch and relocate together with her offspring in Hinwil in the Zurich Oberland. This mummy also suddenly appeared out of nowhere on a farm and delighted the farmer with four babies.
So far this season there have been 155 kittens, which thanks to our efforts do not have to grow up somewhere in the middle of nowhere and run wild. They are all placed through animal shelters and partner organisations so that we can concentrate on catching and neutering them.
The kittens in this case were already very active, which made it difficult to catch them. In addition, the mum is an excellent hunter and constantly fed her four rascals with large mice, so that they were not very hungry. But with a lot of patience and empathy, Katja finally managed to catch them all.
The Romanshorn Animal Welfare Association took over the family, for which we are very grateful, as all the institutions in the canton of Zurich are full. The canton of Zurich also has a large cat population. Let’s hope that the new initiative in the canton of Zurich will persuade the cantonal government to introduce compulsory neutering.
We have already caught and neutered over 40 cats on a farm in Dornach. The farmer was always exemplary, had neutered his own cats but his farm is something of a Mecca for abandoned cats.
Four-legged friends run away again and again…
We are there every year and are always happy when the last of the new arrivals goes into the trap. The farmer is always working with us, he is happy that we are always on hand and also help with food, because so many mouths eat quite a lot.
Yesterday, once again, ‘the last cat’ fell into the trap. For how long it will be the last is questionable. As long as you can get free kittens on every corner and there is no compulsory neutering, cats will be abandoned as soon as they start to come into heat and mark. It’s not the politicians and not the authorities who are to blame. It is animal-loving farmers and, above all, animal welfare activists like us who are constantly at work without any support from the public sector.
A friendly farmer asked us for help because she had a cat with kittens. Her own cats are all neutered and she feared that the feral mum would quickly create a new colony if she didn’t act quickly enough.
We were able to catch the mother and her four kittens and were able to place them in a foster home run by Katzenfreude Oberthurgau. It is very difficult at the moment to find enough accommodation for all the cats and we are grateful for our good network. We would be even more grateful if politicians and authorities would finally do something sustainable against the misery of cats.
A walker discovered kittens in the middle of the forest in the district of Andelfingen. The two kittens seemed to have made their home in a pyre, but there was no sign of a mother. When we set out immediately, we found no sign of a mum, but two little bundles of fur that were very hungry. The two were therefore handed over to the Oberthurgau Cat Friends, together with another kitten that we had rescued from a lonely and abandoned place.
A mother cat gave birth to kittens in an allotment garden in Basel Stadt. Our friends at TSB Regional asked us to take on the case. We immediately moved out and managed to secure the whole family within a short time and hand them over to a foster home run by TSB Regional.
Unfortunately, our recently concluded case in Bern-Mittelland is a typical example of the situation of cats in Switzerland. The old tenant of a farm was irresponsible, at least with regard to the cats, and did not neuter them (it can be assumed that population control was achieved by killing them) and the new tenant, who actually did not want any cats at all, was left with nothing. A situation that we unfortunately often experience.
Weighing 103 and 150 grams respectively, the two kittens were rescued from a factory roof in Läufelfingen. The factory owner noticed the pitiful meowing and immediately called our Isabelle, who had already caught a whole family of cats in the factory last week.
Isabelle moved out immediately. Fortunately, she has an employer who accepts such emergency assignments. There was no trace of a mother. How the two kittens got onto the roof is a mystery to us. Fortunately, we were able to entrust the two kittens to a mother cat who already had babies of her own. However, they all have to be fed.
We have now reached over 200 individual rescues this year alone.
Originally, it was ‘only’ about a mother cat with kittens in the garden of our Isabelle’s insurance consultant. As an experienced volunteer, Isabelle knew that action had to be taken immediately, as the young animals were from last autumn and therefore all of reproductive age. Fortunately, all of them were neutered in time.
We have had to catch cats countless times in the St. Gallen municipality of Eschenbach. Another case led us to your local farm, where there were 27 cats, 23 of which were not neutered. 15 of the unspayed cats were female, more than half of them already heavily pregnant. We were able to hand them over to the animal shelters Strubeli, Arche Jona and Zürcher Tierschutz so that they can give birth to their offspring in peace and safety. This is later placed by the animal shelters and the mothers can return to the farm. Five cats were leucosis positive. In co-operation with Handicapcats, we were able to find great places for them. We have vaccinated all the other cats to protect them from possible infection.
An extremely intensive mission took us to Kyburg in the canton of Zurich. A lady had started feeding cats and year after year more animals joined her. We started catching the cats at the beginning of the year, but as there were also numerous unneutered animals on the neighbouring farm, we first had to convince this farmer of the importance of neutering.
We were on site several times a week until the last cat was finally trapped. There were 35 cats in total, 25 of which were female. We were able to hand over some of the cats to animal shelters, while the rest were returned to the farms. We have invested almost 500 hours of voluntary work in this case. At least we have prevented between 50 and 100 more kittens from being born this spring.
A friendly lady from Werthenstein in Entlebuch in the canton of Lucerne asked us for help. Feral cats that she didn’t really want have taken up residence on her property. But we were able to persuade them to keep the cats if we arranged for them to be neutered. No sooner said than done. All the cats were caught, examined, treated, neutered and marked and finally released. Except for one cat, who needed further treatment and remained in our care. The local people set up an old chicken house as a new feeding house for the cats and are happy that there will certainly be no more offspring in this group.
We almost feel at home in some communities in Switzerland. For example, in Heitenried in the canton of Fribourg. This is the tenth time our team has been on site and has already caught, examined, treated, vaccinated and neutered over 100 cats. Some farms enjoy a completely neutered cat population and look after their animals well. Others, however, don’t want to know anything about neutering and don’t seem to care about the misery of cats on their own farms or in Switzerland. And so even the exemplary farmers are constantly noticing new arrivals on their farms. Because neglected cats, if they can, look for a better home.
During our last mission at the end of March 2021, we found a well-kept farm with friendly farmers who have now had all ten cats on the farm neutered by us. Hopefully one day the whole of Heitenried will be neutered.
A dedicated farmer from Schötz in the canton of Lucerne asked us for help. She had several cats on the farm, most of which she had already had neutered, but five were wild and these had to be caught. The team managed to lure all the unneutered animals into the trap in record time. We had the cats examined, treated for parasites, neutered and vaccinated at a partner practice in Willisau and they were all allowed to return to the farm, where they are well looked after.
Albligen belongs to the municipality of Schwarzenburg and is located in Bern Mittelland. This is the tenth assignment in this community. Another farmer had asked us for help because he didn’t want any more kittens on his farm.
10 unneutered, feral cats had to be caught. Fortunately, all the four-legged friends quickly fell into the trap. According to the farmer, not all the cats came from the farm. Some of them had run away. He didn’t want to take back a supposedly ‘bad’ cat. Fortunately, we were able to place him temporarily in an animal shelter and found a wonderful place for him. The other cats went back to the farm after treatment and neutering.
Following a call for help on social media, we became aware of an animal hoarding case in the canton of Schaffhausen. We contacted the owner and were on site 24 hours later. 36 animals lived together in one flat. 34 cats, 1 rabbit and 1 old dog. The animals were not in good health and all of them had not been neutered. We were able to convince the owner to let us have the animals, except for 5 cats, which she really wanted back.
All animals had to be presented to a vet first. In co-operation with the Romanshorn and Oberthurgau animal welfare associations, we were able to provide all the animals with the necessary treatment and operations. 17 animals remained under the responsibility of NetAP for the time being. The five cats that the owner wanted back were examined, treated and neutered beforehand and finally returned to her on the condition that they undergo an annual veterinary examination.
Collecting animals is widespread and often takes place in secret. Real animal dramas are played out and the smaller the animals are, the less chance there is of the tragedy being uncovered. If neighbours, friends, acquaintances or relatives do not intervene, the situation continues to deteriorate.
15 unneutered and feral cats were romping around on a farm in Froideville, Vaud. The farmer asked for help and within a few days the cats were caught, examined, treated and neutered.
All the cats were allowed back into the yard.
Local residents reported a colony of cats in Neuenkirch in the canton of Lucerne. The cats had an owner, but were not in a good state of health. The owner was willing to accept our help. Even at the first on-site inspection, some of the sick kittens had to be taken away immediately and given veterinary treatment. Unfortunately, kittens that had already died were also found. Almost all the cats needed far more than just treatment against parasites and neutering and some were hospitalised in the practice for several days.
Many of them had colds, several cats had to have an eye removed, some had very bad teeth and unfortunately some cats were leucosis positive. We managed to find new homes for all the positive cats and finally, after several weeks of work, the last of the cats was trapped. There were almost 40 animals, more than half of them female. It would have been unthinkable if all these cats had continued to produce offspring.
Another major castration day took place on 30 January 2021 in Lyssach in the canton of Bern. Once again, Covetrus / Provet AG was transformed into a large field hospital. 78 cats were examined on Saturday, 30 January 2021. 77 of them were neutered, vaccinated, treated against internal and external parasites, tested and marked. One chick was too ill for the procedure. It will be nursed up and neutered at a later date.
We were also asked for help in Eschenbach in the canton of Lucerne. The feral cats on a farm had to be caught and relocated as the farm was abandoned. We had to find new solutions for a total of 17 cats. Fortunately, two animal shelters agreed to take in the cats to see if they could be rehomed. Of the 17 cats, 14 turned out to be tameable, so that new homes can be found for them through the animal shelters. The three wild tomcats are released into the wild on a farm.
We are gradually getting to know our way around Langenbruck. Another farmer has asked us for help to have his cats neutered. He did a great job preparing the traps so that the cats would go into them quickly and always actively supported us during the mission.
Already for the for the 10th time, Schmid-Parkett in Alpnach was converted into a field hospital on 9 January 2021. 62 cats were examined, treated for internal and external parasites, vaccinated, marked and neutered. And anyone who needed another procedure, such as the extraction of a rotten tooth, was of course given this.