Spay/neuter best option for cats
Rabbits may be the poster children for proclivity to reproduce exponentially, but cats are no slouches in that regard.
Consider that fertile females usually have two litters of kittens per year, and sometimes three.
“They’re just ovulators. If they mate, they reproduce,” Dr. Becky Morrow observed. “A population explosion can occur if you don’t do something about it.”
Morrow, a veterinarian and Duquesne University faculty member, heads Frankie’s Friends, one of many groups of volunteers in Southwestern Pennsylvania that provide resources to help keep the number of cats in check.
“Our job is to help people access low-cost spay and neuter,” Michelle Bruce of Peters Township, co-founder of Fix ‘Ur Cat, explained, “because we do not think that there’s ever going to be enough shelter space for all the unwanted and unhomed cats.”
Estimates vary widely among researchers, statisticians and animal advocates, but most agree that one female is capable of being matriarch to an impressive number of descendants, stretching into the hundreds or even thousands.
While some of those are taken in by conscientious caregivers, most end up fending for themselves, either as strays, which are receptive to contact with humans, or people-fearing feral cats.
A humane approach to curbing the stray and feral population is trap-neuter-return, with vaccination and other health-maintenance measures often added to the equation, along with tipping cats’ ears for identification purposes. The practice contrasts sharply with population control by killing, according to Alley Cat Allies, a national advocacy organization:
“The number of outdoor cats increases despite the fact that hundreds of millions of cats unnecessarily lose their lives. Taxpayer money that funds shelters and animal control agencies is wasted on an endless cycle of trapping and euthanizing, when the funds could be used more effectively to help animals.”
Peters Township resident Faith Bjalobok, founder of the Fluffyjean Fund for Felines and another Duquesne University faculty member, estimates that spaying or neutering 1,000 cats can put $600,000 into the economy.
As she explained, the money for such efforts comes mostly from private funding, which in turn pays for the likes of veterinary services, vaccines, traps and food to feed the cats prior to their return.
“When you trap and kill, that costs the taxpayers,” she said, at an estimated $75 to $100 per animal.
Having a cat spayed or neutered through organizations like Fix ‘Ur Cat, which has taken care of about 1,000 cats annually during the six years since its formation, often is less than half that amount.
“That basically just covers our costs,” Bruce said. “Everything else is donated. The volunteers donate their time, their gasoline, their vehicles.”
Her group frequently holds fundraisers for further financial support, including providing the means to conduct trap-neuter-return with colonies of stray or feral cats to keep them from expanding, and to work with clients who otherwise would not be able to afford having their animals fixed.
Spaying and neutering is an important consideration for all felines, according to Margo Cicci Wisniewski, a board member of the regional Homeless Cat Management Team, which has fixed 1,243 cats so far this year and 19,456 since 1998.
“People sometimes say, ‘Oh, my pet cat, she’s indoor only. She’s not going to get out,'” the South Fayette Township resident explained. “Well, I’ve never heard of a cat that’s indoor-only and female that doesn’t get out and get pregnant.”
Doing so can adversely affect its health.
“The longer they’re not spayed, the higher their chance for mammary cancer. We saw one not long ago that came in to us that was 10 years old, wasn’t spayed” and had to undergo surgery, Wisniewski said. “She had all these tumors.”
Another risk is pyometra, an infection of the uterus caused by hormonal changes in a female cat’s reproductive tract and a condition that often is fatal.
Cat fatalities resulting from animal-control measures caused a group of Canonsburg residents to approach borough council three years ago about a possible change in policy.
“Sometimes people’s pets got taken,” one of the residents, Gina Nestor, explained. “We could never understand how they could legally do that.”
Eventually, council subscribed to calls for a trap-neuter-release policy, and the Canonsburg Cat Committee, headed by Nestor on a volunteer basis, is in place to address issues regarding the animals.
“The borough calls me, and then I handle that complaint,” she explained. “Normally, we can get a resolution to the problem.”
Meanwhile, the committee’s efforts – which have the backing of many municipal officials, including Mayor Dave Rhome and R.T. Bell, council president – have had a noticeable result, according to Nestor.
“We’ve really reduced the number of cats in Canonsburg,” she said.
The Canonsburg Cat Committee and the Fluffyjean Fund for Felines are part of an effort coordinated by Bjalobok to form the Washington County Feline Coalition, along with Fix ‘Ur Cat, the Valley Pet Association in Monongahela, Angel Ridge Animal Rescue in Chartiers Township, Washington Area Humane Society in North Strabane Township, and local animal control officer Kym Secreet. Together, they hope to expand available resources in the area.
“There is no excuse not to get cats spayed or neutered,” Bjalobok said. “There is a lot of help.”