From the June 27th, 2013 edition of the Woodford Sun:
Fix your feline friends
By Beth Oleson, Education Coordinator
Rabbits get
lots of credit for their reproductive speed, but cats aren’t far behind. They can reproduce at just four months old,
and have two or more litters a year.
Average litter size is six kittens.
The math gets a little overwhelming, but think of it this way: in just
seven years, a single cat, her mate, and their offspring become 420,000
cats. Or, think of it this way: for
every person born, 45 kittens are born.
There’s no question about it; cats are seriously overpopulated. Millions of them enter shelters in the United States every year, and while we’re proud to maintain a placement rate upwards of 90% every year at Woodford Humane, that is far from the norm; on a national scale, only 30% of homeless cats are ever adopted. Spay and neuter is the one way that those placement numbers will ever rise, and the euthanasia numbers fall, so you can see why it’s such an integral part of what we do and what we teach.
As important as it is for all of us, as cat owners, to make sure that our cats are spayed and neutered, it’s equally critical that we do the same for the cats who are nobody’s pets. Feral – or wild – cats are easy to overlook. They’re not snuggly, they don’t curl up by your feet at night or purr when you pet them. Heck, you might not ever even get to pet them. It’s easier just to leave them to their own devices. And for that exact reason, ferals are the biggest drivers of the cat overpopulation problem. Every year, we take in hundreds of kittens from feral moms – barn cats, or strays – who haven’t been fixed, because they’re nobody’s pet.
So whose job is it to take care of these feral cats; to have them spayed and neutered and reign in cat overpopulation? The answer, really, is all of us. It’s crucial for the cats and kittens already waiting for homes, and for the feral cats themselves, but the benefits reach farther than we might realize. Keeping the feral cat population under control reduces the spread of fatal diseases like feline leukemia and FIV to our pets; it eases the pressure on cats and kittens already waiting for homes in shelters; it even benefits the nature lovers concerned about cats’ impact on bird populations, and the gardeners who are tired of roaming cats using their flower beds as litter boxes.
Help us help these cats, and every cat in our care: if you know of one or many feral cats who need to be spayed and neutered, contact us at 859.873.5491 or manager@woodfordhumane.org and ask about the TNR – trap, neuter, return – program for feral cats. We can help with pet cats, too, so get in touch if yours isn’t fixed. By working together to help the cats in our community – even the ones that are nobody’s pet – we can truly make a difference.
There’s no question about it; cats are seriously overpopulated. Millions of them enter shelters in the United States every year, and while we’re proud to maintain a placement rate upwards of 90% every year at Woodford Humane, that is far from the norm; on a national scale, only 30% of homeless cats are ever adopted. Spay and neuter is the one way that those placement numbers will ever rise, and the euthanasia numbers fall, so you can see why it’s such an integral part of what we do and what we teach.
As important as it is for all of us, as cat owners, to make sure that our cats are spayed and neutered, it’s equally critical that we do the same for the cats who are nobody’s pets. Feral – or wild – cats are easy to overlook. They’re not snuggly, they don’t curl up by your feet at night or purr when you pet them. Heck, you might not ever even get to pet them. It’s easier just to leave them to their own devices. And for that exact reason, ferals are the biggest drivers of the cat overpopulation problem. Every year, we take in hundreds of kittens from feral moms – barn cats, or strays – who haven’t been fixed, because they’re nobody’s pet.
So whose job is it to take care of these feral cats; to have them spayed and neutered and reign in cat overpopulation? The answer, really, is all of us. It’s crucial for the cats and kittens already waiting for homes, and for the feral cats themselves, but the benefits reach farther than we might realize. Keeping the feral cat population under control reduces the spread of fatal diseases like feline leukemia and FIV to our pets; it eases the pressure on cats and kittens already waiting for homes in shelters; it even benefits the nature lovers concerned about cats’ impact on bird populations, and the gardeners who are tired of roaming cats using their flower beds as litter boxes.
Help us help these cats, and every cat in our care: if you know of one or many feral cats who need to be spayed and neutered, contact us at 859.873.5491 or manager@woodfordhumane.org and ask about the TNR – trap, neuter, return – program for feral cats. We can help with pet cats, too, so get in touch if yours isn’t fixed. By working together to help the cats in our community – even the ones that are nobody’s pet – we can truly make a difference.
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