That's now much easier thanks to the Internet-based Feral Cat Database, a project developed by Neighborhood Cats with funding assistance from PetSmart Charities and the ASPCA/Fresh Step Safe Steps Home Program. The database has been in use in New York City for the past two years as part of the NYC Feral Cat Initiative and has proven an invaluable tool for program management and collecting statistics.

Individual caretakers remotely enter their colony information, including numbers of cats at the outset of TNR efforts, numbers of cats currently in the colony, locations, contact info, and more. Each caretaker has password access to their colonies and can only view their own personal data. All entered data is cumulated and available for viewing and analysis by the database administrator either online or offline in a downloadable Excel file. Each community or TNR program that sets up a database has exclusive access to the information collected.

By tracking these statistics, it becomes possible to measure the impact of TNR in the community. For example, in NYC, there are currently 465 registered colonies. When TNR began in these colonies, 6047 cats were present - today, there are 4523 cats present, a decline of approximately 25 percent. In addition, the data reveals that 3125 cats and kittens have been rescued and placed for adoption, an average of 6.7 per colony. Numbers like these help gain acceptance for TNR as a legitmate method of feral cat control and strengthen proposals for more funding.

The database is a product of Global Media Services and can be purchased for a one-time startup fee of $525 (to cover the cost of customizing the site to your specifications) and then $10 a month for hosting on the GMS server. A sample database has been set up online where you can enter test data and then check out the different functions on the administrative side of the site. To access the sample site:

User side (Where caretakers enter their data).

Admin Side (where the administrator of the site works with the data). To log in, enter "admin" for the email address, and "password" for the password, without the quotes. Pleae click on and read the Instructions tab when first entering.

Throughout the animal welfare field, the demand is growing for programs to have a measurable impact - with this database, now feral cat caretakers can meet this standard.

Source: Neighborhood Cats