Star Ledger: Keeping Cat Population in Check
Filed under: Pets 911 - February 4, 2007
JOAN LOWELL SMITH, FOR THE STAR-LEDGER
The Star Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
February 4, 2007 Sunday
Keeping cat population in check
FEWER CATS are being euthanized these days because more responsible owners are spaying and neutering, and keeping cats indoors.
Parsippany Animal Supporters Society is an exceptional example of a group with both an active spay/neuter pro-gram for household cats, plus a trap, neuter and return policy for ferals (stray cats). While much more needs to be done to lower the number of cats euthanized every year for lack of homes, the ASPCA says significantly fewer cats are need-lessly euthanized. However, statistics vary from state to state and city to city, which makes it difficult to cite a general percentile.
HSUS says about every eight seconds a cat or dog is euthanized in a U.S. shelter, some due to illness or injury, but most are victims of human failure to provide proper care. The cost of pet overpopulation is a staggering $1 billion each year. It is timely that Feb. 27 signals the official Spay Day USA 2007, with more than 400 events scheduled during the month. Initiated by the Doris Day Animal League in 1995, more than a million animals have been altered - 140,000 in 2006 alone. HSUS, in partnership with PETS-911, lists events at www.spaydogusa.org or call (888) PETS911.
Low-cost spay/neuter clinics have helped enormously to diminish the increase in the cat population. Our state’s Animal Population Control Fund, established in 1984, has ameliorated the cost of sterilization through participating veterinarians, who will spay and neuter cats for $35, including vaccines. To prevent irresponsible breeding practices, most reputable breeders of purebreds insist that a buyer offer proof a kitten has been spayed or neutered - or no deal. Many shelters and rescue groups include spaying and neutering in the purchase price.
I hear from readers who want to turn in ferals, but are turned down by shelters already overloaded with cats, more so than dogs. Some individuals take it upon themselves to set up their own rescue operation which can lead to “hoard-ing.”
Wrong route
We’re not talking about hoarding provisions in case of war, pestilence or natural disasters. Cat hoarders are defined as individuals with no connection to established shelters or rescue groups, who on their own volition, try to save any homeless cat that crosses their path. They start with a few, don’t have them altered and soon find themselves overrun with cats.
You’ve seen coverage of odd people whose homes are filled with wall-to-wall cats - hundreds of them. The scenario usually goes something like this: The hoarder dies and there’s no one to take over, or a neighbor reports the pungent odors emanating from the home. Once reported, cats are summarily removed, many too sickly to save. Few find homes.
Randy Lockwood, vice president of HSUS, was quoted in the November 2001 issue of Cat Fancy in an article on hoarders by Arden Moore: “What these people are doing by amassing large numbers of animals is not love . . . (It) is a pathological attachment. It is wrong to characterize hoarders as people who simply love animals too much. These animals are getting sick and dying under their so-called care.”
Sensible strategy
Conversely, TNR offers an infinitely more sensible way to save feral/stray cats, but the option is not without its de-tractors. Some in animal welfare think it preferable to euthanize feral cat colonies. Many landlords threaten to evict ten-ants who feed ferals.
Successful TNR statistics from Parsippany Animal Volunteers Society speak volumes. PASS president Suzanne Griffin reported that a cat colony her group learned about two years ago was clustered near a boarding home in Boon-ton. She described the 16 cats in the colony as “quite sickly and the kittens were thin as pencils.”
Now, there are six healthy cats remaining. Four were adoptable and the other died by natural attrition. “Now, there are no more sick cats digging through garbage and no more howling, since we spay and neuter all ferals,” Griffin said. “ACOs have told us that fewer nuisance calls come in, fewer cats become road kill and there’s less intake of stray cats.”
Spay/neuter crusade
The Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees cooperates with PASS to perform 60 spay/neuters - at a cost of $25 for cats and $50 for dogs, including rabies and distemper shots - five times a year for cats that are owned. “Our February spay/neuter day is already filled and we have a waiting list for April,” said Griffin, who explained they’ve had to limit clients to Morris County pets only because of the initial widespread demand.
PASS started 3 1/2 years ago with 15 members. Today, the group boasts 175 members, all volunteers. Last year alone, PASS spayed and neutered 400 animals, including 206 ferals. “We’ve sterilized at least 700 animals since we started,” Griffin said. “Our volunteers feed them and some boarding home residents like to become feeders.
“We provide all the food from our food drives,” she said. “When I explain TNR to someone in local government and they hear the positive results, they change their attitudes because TNR benefits the entire community.”
Want to know more? Go to www.pass4pets.org.
People for Animals in Hillside uses TNR and attempts to find new homes for adoptable ferals through its shelter. Partially funded by the state Animal Population Control Fund, PFA spay/neuter charges are similar to the Parsippany group. PFA provides detailed information on how to trap cats. Call PFA at (908) 654-6887 or go online at www.pfa.org.
Another excellent source for spay/neuter information and locations of facilities is Alley Cat Allies (www.alleycat.org), the national organization that also provides details on TNR. Contrary to the myth that feral cats are unhealthy and carry infectious diseases, Alley Cat Allies states: Cats in feral cat colonies cared for by volunteers “are generally in good health.”
To learn how to manage a feral cat colony, the ASPCA offers “The Neighborhood Cats TNR Kit,” available online at www.aspca.org/tnrkit for $24.95.
* Next week: Tips to protect pets from the ravages of winter.
Contact Joan Lowell Smith at P.O. Box 302, Garwood, N.J. 07027 or e-mail her at jsmith@starledger.com.
One Response to “Star Ledger: Keeping Cat Population in Check”
can you kindly pass on to me any references that have estimated the total cat population in the usa?
many thanks