Sanctuaries: No Place for Feral Cats Placing feral cats in
facilities for long-term periods, including sanctuaries and
long-term no-kill shelters, is not in the best interests of the
cats nor is this approach helpful in addressing populations of
feral cats in the United States. Sanctuaries, and other long-
term shelter facilities, are generally harmful to feral cats.
The confinement, and large number of cats in small rooms or
areas, cause stress to the animals and introduce them to
disease. Additionally, cat sanctuaries face a number of
obstacles: financial, capacity, and medical challenges for the
animals. Cat sanctuaries are extremely expensive to build and
maintain. The money spent to house a few hundred cats could be
used to neuter potentially thousands of feral cats. The act of
neutering would have a greater impact on improving individual
lives and the lives of the overall feral cat population. These
facilities tend to fill up very quickly. They only care for a
relatively small amount of animals for an ex