Originally posted by PayItForward
Just remember that healthy altered adult cats can roam AND have an active caring owner. The majority of outside cats in England and minority of outside cats in USA have good homes/owners.

It should never be assumed a cat needs a good home without evidence of problems.

My pickup list is unneutered cats, pregnant cats, cats with injuries.
This is also my way of thinking too. Never assume, that just because a cat is roaming free, makes it a stray. Injured, pregnant, or kittens with no sign of a mother around, I have picked up.

In my case, though, some of my strays do roam free, but I live in a very very rural area and in my own mind have come to accept that, they are better off here, running free, then the death that is waiting for them at the shelter. Some might disagree with my thinking, but I too live in a area where all the shelters are kill shelters, with the exception of one small local woman, who never has any room. So I made up my mind that given where I live and the safety level, that I will do my best for them here at home.

They all have access to shelter, via the screen porch or shelters built around the yard. Also some do come inside as they want, some have choose not to. They all get there shots and are fixed, by a local vet, that gives me discounts, $30 per cat, that includes their rabies shots. Feed and loved daily and hopefully will have a long happy life, here. I have had some luck with a few of my guys, getting re-homed, but it's a hard job to find homes now days, here. So till then, fingers crossed, lots of prayers, that one day the others will get a new home too. Out of all the cats I have, only 3 are really mine, the rest are mine, till something better comes along.

Now if I lived in a city, town, I would not do this. My choice then would more then likely be to take them to a shelter. The thought of them getting hit by a car or something over being put down, humanly at a shelter, just kills me. So I'd pick the best of the two evils, knowing that I can't take them all in and save them.

Right now I have 4 kittens that will end up at the shelter, soon, as I'm at my max with cats. My hopes are sense they are still Kittens their chances are better for adoption. It tears me up inside, but sometimes you have no other chooses. I'm pushing my luck with cats as it is now, when it comes to them all getting along, I can't take a chance of pushing it any more, even the cats have their limits on how many can be around.