MARYLAND FELINE SOCIETY, INC – WHO WE ARE

Our Mission

            The Maryland Feline Society, Inc., was founded in 1970 as non-profit organization for cat lovers in Maryland .  It has charitable, humane, and educational purposes – specifically to improve and protect the health and welfare of all cats and to educate people about cats.  The organization, which is now a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt group, achieves these goals through bi-monthly meetings, our website and a variety of projects.

  Our main projects over the past several years have been Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) events. TNR is a method of dealing with feral and stray cats living behind restaurants, in alleys and abandoned buildings, and in other places.  These cats gather because there is a food source such as a dumpster.  Without intervention, their population grows rapidly.  With a TNR program, cats are trapped humanely, altered, vaccinated, ear-tipped for identification, and returned to their home area with a caretaker providing food and sometimes shelter. If TNR is practiced consistently, the numbers of feral and stray cats begin to diminish. This, in turn, makes it easier to find homes for the many surplus cats which are produced each spring.

 Maryland Feline Society worked with Animal Rescue and the Maryland SPCA through August of 2008 holding TNR events as often as 10 times a year at a minimum cost to colony caretakers. Does TNR reduce the number of cats?

Other projects include an annual sponsored talk on cat health or behavior and an information table at the World of Pets Expo.  Members have written cat care pamphlets which we distribute at this table along with professionally prepared brochures on cat behavior issues. 

Our bi-monthly meetings usually feature a program about some aspect of cat health, behavior, or ownership.  Cats often are present.  Some past programs have been about the latest findings in chronic kidney disease, the feline urologic syndrome, memoirs of a pet-sitter, and cats that miss the litter pan. Other programs have been about specific cat breeds such as the Norwegian Forest Cat and the Tonkinese.

Contact the Maryland Feline Society for additional information.

MFS, ANIMAL RESCUE, and SPCA TOP 1,500 CATS ALTERED!

Maryland Feline Society members, Animal Rescue members and Maryland SPCA personnel together have been responsible for trapping, altering, vaccinating, ear-tipping, and releasing more than 1,500 cats since the spring of 2003. This has been accomplished through the cooperative efforts of all three organizations and area veterinarians.

In 2003 and 2004, members of MFS and Animal Rescue made 4 trips to Smith Island, Maryland , and handled 262 cats. Since then, we have done sites in Baltimore City (including Lakeland in SW Baltimore , the Reisterstown Road Plaza area, and Little Italy) as well as sites in Perry Hall, Dundalk , and Cockeysville. Our work is continuing.  We feel we are making a difference.

Editorial: Does TNR Work to Reduce the Number of Stray Cats?