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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 2023. This list is not exhaustive, as we often refrain from reporting due to time constraints.
A farm with numerous unneutered cats in Kalbach LU was reported to us by a third party who had occasionally placed kittens from this farm. The farm would be demolished within a year and the farmers would now be prepared to have all the cats neutered. Unfortunately, all the cats would also have to find a new home during this period.
As a first step, we are neutering all the farm cats and have already been able to find new homes for the first animals on other farms. For the relocation, we set up a mobile cattery at the new location so that the cats could see, hear and smell their new territory in peace. As a rule, relocation works without any problems.
The remaining ten cats went back again, but are on the waiting list for places, which are unfortunately hard to find.
The annual Thurgau Castration Day took place on 12 November 2023 and was a complete success. A total of 132 cats were examined, treated, neutered, vaccinated and marked. 81 females and 51 males. The cats are all doing well.
The outreach day, led by Dr Lisa Goldinger, was a collaboration between the Steckborn Animal Welfare Association and NetAP and was supported by the Swiss Animal Protection STS.
A successful neutering day took place on 12 November 2023 at the Leimental Veterinary Clinic in Biel-Benken BL. As part of the clinic was being remodelled and we therefore had less space available, we caught slightly fewer cats. Nevertheless, 40 cats (16 males and 24 females) went through the NetAP neutering programme. 29 of them came from a single farm.
On 21 October 2023, another castration day took place in Lyssach in the Covetrus. 77 cats were on the treatment tables. 32 males and 45 females. They all received all-round care and are already in top shape again. Except for Bobo, who we admitted to the Mittelland Veterinary Clinic because he was ill and needed a few days of hospitalisation. But he too was soon on the road to recovery.
Last year, we caught and neutered 65 cats on just two farms. Another call for help brought us back to Roggliswil in August, where this time we caught and neutered over 30 cats on two more farms. Some of the cats were in a very poor condition, so they had to be hospitalised in the clinic. Rado the cat was particularly badly affected, with numerous old fractures, a wound on his head and catastrophic dental health. After his operation, he was much better for a few weeks, but then he contracted FIP and despite immediate help at the animal hospital, he succumbed to this serious illness a week later. His previous history had probably weakened him too much.
One hundred cats from just four farms! We don’t even want to imagine what it’s like on all the other farms.
Countless charges have been brought against a farmer who allowed cats to breed uncontrollably for years. Cats were often found in a pitiful condition and it was not always possible to help the poor animals. The authorities did nothing. At least nothing that would have improved the situation. Now the farmer has died and we were finally ‘allowed’ – at our own expense, of course – to catch the remaining cats, have them examined, treated and neutered.
Time and again we encounter so much misery that is tolerated by the authorities. It is incomprehensible to us why no action is taken when cats are neglected or even tortured to such an extent.
It all started with a report from a concerned local resident who informed us about a small kitten wandering around on a main road. She was worried that it would not find its way back to its mother and would be run over, so she asked us for help. There were also other cats on the farm that needed help.
We took a look at the situation on site and quickly realised that the cats were all malnourished and suffering from parasites. Some also had a shaggy coat, clogged eyes and obviously had other problems.
The farmer himself was not prepared to have these animals treated by a vet. After some discussion, we were able to convince him to have all the cats neutered and to leave the sick animals to us. We subsequently took over a mother with four kittens and three sick adult cats and neutered and treated the remaining animals. Unfortunately, all help came too late for three kittens. They died on the farm.
The veterinary office, which was informed of the case by the reporter, confirmed that the animal owner was already known to the office and that they were in contact with him. For data protection reasons, no further information was provided.
We are surprised. The animals we took on were severely neglected over a long period of time. However, the veterinary authorities are apparently already aware of such animal owners. This inevitably raises the question of what condition animals and cats in particular have to be in for the veterinary authorities to intervene and put an effective end to animal cruelty. Because it obviously couldn’t prevent the new neglect and deaths.
After all, there will definitely be no more offspring on this farm!
The scenario is very familiar to us. An old tenant, who never neutered the farm cats, leaves the farm and leaves the entire cat colony to the new tenant. This was also the case in Landquart. The new tenant desperately sought help, but fell on deaf ears everywhere. In the end, he ended up with us. Although we are hardly represented in Graubünden, we accepted the case. We didn’t want to let the farmer down. Fortunately, he was prepared to take all the cats back, there was simply no way there would be any more.
This time of year always presents us with a major challenge. We can’t just set the traps. We have to analyse the situation in advance with the help of surveillance cameras to find out whether there are mothers with kittens. Under no circumstances should they be separated for too long. If the mother does not return for two days, the kittens are usually doomed to die. In the end, we managed to catch twelve cats, including a family of cats. One of the cats needed extensive dental work to restore his well-being. Two cats are still missing. The traps and cameras therefore remain in use.
When we learnt about a farm with many unneutered cats in Wintersingen in the canton of Basel Landschaft, we contacted the farmer. She was immediately grateful for the help offered. A total of 29 cats lived on the farm. She had tried again and again to tame and place the kittens, but there were simply too many cats for her to do them justice.
We caught 28 cats, had them examined, treated, vaccinated, neutered and marked. Unfortunately, one cat was found dead, according to the injuries it had been run over. All the cats have now been neutered and the farmer will call us if a new cat joins them. Thanks to the ear cut, she can immediately recognise when an unneutered cat is mingling with her cats.
The special thing about this case is that we recorded the castings 199,998, 199,999 and 200,000 in this operation.
We had actually been to this farm once before in 2020 and had neutered around 40 cats, many of which were relocated. And now there were once again unneutered cats on site. We also found two cats in a worrying condition. One cat underwent emergency surgery immediately, the other cat was also admitted to a veterinary clinic, where it was put on a drip and stabilised with medication. While the male cat was back in active life a short time later, the recovery for the female cat will be a long one. The remaining unneutered cats made a good impression and were able to return to the farm after treatment and surgery.
Numerous unneutered cats were reported at a disposal centre in Posieux in the canton of Fribourg. All of them were caught by our emergency services and given a veterinary check-up, treated, vaccinated, neutered and marked. Five female cats, seven male cats. One kitten was already pregnant and was given a place in the shelter where she can raise her kittens in peace. All the other cats went back, where a feeding station was set up for them.
Allotments seem to be a mecca for unneutered cats. After farms, they are the most common location for us. Basel Stadt in particular has countless allotment gardens and even more cats. Four cats were reported to us in the Basel West allotment garden in February. Apparently other organisations had already been asked for help last autumn, but no one ever went out. We immediately installed cameras and traps and were quickly able to catch cat after cat. In the end, we had not four but twelve unneutered animals examined, treated and neutered. They will not be the last. In Basel City, a so-called ‘suit’ has been before the cantonal government for some time, asking it to look into the situation of cats. Nothing has happened to date. We sincerely hope that at least the city of Basel will finally take a step in the right direction and include mandatory neutering in the law.
If you find out about a cat colony with 30 members at this time of year at very short notice, you need to hurry. It’s the time when the males are on the lookout for a mate and the females are already in heat or even pregnant. So we quickly organised another neutering weekend for a large group from the Emmental and were lucky enough to be able to win over our partner practice VetPlus.
In a scrapyard in Morschach in the canton of Schwyz, 15 unneutered cats had taken up residence and multiplied. For a long time, people had simply looked on. Finally, a local resident informed us and we sought a dialogue on site. They didn’t actually want the cats there and asked us to find something new for all of them. Fortunately, the Paradiesli animal shelter and the Arche animal shelter offered us help. So we were able to catch the cats and have them examined, treated, neutered, treated for parasites and chipped at the Pfötliteam small animal practice. In the end, 12 cats moved to the animal shelters. Three Büsis were allowed back into their territory.
When the friendly farmer couple leased a new farm, they also took over around 20 unneutered cats. The predecessor obviously had no great interest in animal-friendly population control. To prevent 20 from becoming 50 this spring, the new tenants sought help. The veterinary office referred them to us and we trapped all the cats yesterday to have them neutered in three surgeries today.
For many years, the farmer refused to have the cats on his farm neutered. It was only when he was no longer there that the cat population could be brought under control in an animal-friendly and sustainable manner. All of them were captured and underwent the NetAP neutering programme in February. One female still needed a complete dental restoration.
There were surprisingly few cats for never having been neutered. We don’t want to imagine what has happened to the cats that have been born over the years. We are just glad that there will be no more kittens on this farm in the future.
On 21 January 2023, the time had come again: 88 cats underwent the NetAP neutering programme in Lyssach. 32 male cats and 56 female cats, all previously captured by dedicated volunteers.
On Saturday, 7 January 2023, the Mittelland veterinary practice was transformed into a NetAP neutering centre. Around 50 cats, which we had previously caught on 5 farms, were examined, treated against internal and external parasites, vaccinated, marked and neutered.