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Things are rough and getting rougher out there, for the cats and kittens of Mid Valley Oregon! Hey folks, if you have an unfixed cat or feed unfixed strays, be responsible and immediately get that cat or those strays fixed! Do not add to the suffering going on out there right now, as I write this. Most people do not have any idea of how bad it is. Some recent examples: an orange mom and her three kittens were dumped just outside Albany, along with two senior cats, unfixed. One of the dumped old gals' had a terribly infected uterus, from a lifetime of having litters. Another cat was dumped who still had, beneath her fur, old steel wire sutures in her belly from an old spay done with no follow up. How those wires must have bothered her and to the person who dumped her----you're not nice! Also recently, I took in an incapable teen mom, not caring well for her five newborns, laying for days in a crusted poop filled corner of a hot rural garage. And another...I was called by an Albany woman who wanted me to remove five adult strays and three feral kittens. I said I could only get them fixed because I'm overwhelmed and nobody donates (it's easy to go nuts when you try to make a difference) and she said ok. When I got there, one mother had just given birth, and I mean moments before. I lay on my belly in the dirt, dug out a hole along the side of the shed, and reached under to pull the newborns away from a cat I didn't even know. Mom and kittens are being fostered by a neighbor. All will needs homes. And...I have 7 unwanted kittens from Lacomb in my bathroom, too. They're cute, almost ready to be fixed, then will want homes. Four orange boys and three torti girls! They're beautiful. Come on people, please, fix your pets! It's a battle royal out there on the streets, trying to save lives. Who is the enemy? People who do not fix their pets or the cats they feed. Educate yourselves. Get involved. Be responsible. Got a cat? Get it fixed. DEAD KITTENS AREN'T CUTE! How can the overpopulation problem be solved? Well, for one thing, by not sugar coating reality. This is a human caused problem and the effects of people getting a free kitten on a whim that they cannot afford in front of a supermarket or in a pet store ripple outward to cause suffering, death and massive costs to taxpayers and all sorts of people. Shelters and rescuers that adopt out unfixed cats and kittens make matters worse. People often do not follow through even if handed a spay voucher. It should be against the law for an animal shelter or rescue to contribute to the problem by adopting out unfixed animals. I might have a slight exhaustion related attitude today, that might be causing things everyone knows but won't say to come bubbling forth! I won't apologize for that!
WHAT I DO
What I do: I get cats fixed, feral or tame, as many as I can. From January 1, 2008, to January 1, 2009, I took in 939 cats to be fixed. In January, 2009, I took in 51 to be fixed. In February, 27 more and in just the first week of March, I took in 41 cats, using most of my monthly allotment for fixing from Poppa Inc. in just one week.That's 939 cats in 2008, feral and owned, who will not be producing unwanted litters of kittens this spring, or producing litters given away free, who then go on to produce more and more litters, contributing grossly to the suffering of feline overpopulation. That's 939 more cats who will not be as likely to get or spread Feline Aids or Feline Leukemia, common in areas where people don't fix their pets. To get high numbers of cats fixed, I primarily use Poppa Inc. funds. These funds are very low. Without finding new grants and donations, I may soon have to hang my traps. Please donate to Poppa Inc. by clicking the link to go to their website. One spay prevents thousands of cats from ever being born, to be abandoned or suffer and die, for lack of homes, or from ever needing rescued or shelter care, down the line. Spay/Neuter helps individual cats, the cat population as a whole, the person who cares for the cat or strays, the neighborhood, the community, stops disease spread vectors and even helps the environment. In other words---Spay/Neuter is a WIN WIN WIN situation for everyone. So, if you want to make a significant difference for cats in Oregon, donate to Poppa Inc. whose mission is solely spay/neuter. To donate, visit Poppa's website via blue link above. Partial List of Colonies Trapped This Year and Colony Numbers
33 Cat Trailer:33 cats living on one old woman's trailer porch in Albany. I discovered the colony when someone else I'd helped with cats was delivering fliers to this trailer. She had the old woman call me on the spot. One female was giving birth while we talked on the phone. KATA took in that mom cat and her six newborns plus five other kittens. SafeHaven took in 8 of the kittens. I began getting all the adults fixed.
HTN Colony: 95 cats fixed, on two short streets in Albany. Many were owned, and I consider getting them fixed, good feral prevention. Brambles originates from this colony and is still here, awaiting a home.
BS Colony: 145 cats fixed on one dead end street off highway 20. Half of these cats were tame. I rehomed about 40 of these cats over a year's time. Shady, Doc, Mops and Buffy originate from this colony and remain here, awaiting homes.
Vanman Kitten Colony: 18 cats I trapped/got fixed at Columbus Greens Trailer Park. I rehomed the 13 kittens plus one adult. I also got 8 owned cats fixed from one trailer and got 16 cats fixed, dumped out by one tenant, then fed by an old woman. She then died. Her family said they'd help place the cats and donate if I took them in, which I did, but they did not help find them homes or donate. Button and Tweetie remain here from that group, awaiting homes.
Bond Orange colony: 16 orange tabbies, trapped, fixed and relocated. Colony began when family brought in two pregnant cats as barn cats. Then suddenly they didn't want any of them.
Scravel Scramblers Colony: 24 cats and kittens trapped and fixed. Four kittens rehomed.
Millersburg Road Chaos Colony:12 adults and 7 kittens fixed.. Overpopulation Poster Child Colony: five cats so far fixed from this small colony in Albany, so named because the little group was ripe to explode in numbers. It consisted of: three teen girls, one mom with abandonment issues and an angry big tom. The first litters of kittens this spring would have increased the colony numbers by 16 to 20 cats. These are only a fraction of the situations I've addressed this year. Please donate to Poppa Inc. so I can continue solving these cat situations as they arise.
Linn County has too many cats. Sheltering cats and kittens is a wonderful thing, but sheltering helps only a fraction of the cats out there in need. In Oregon, about 25, 000 cats are killed in shelters every year. Shelters are after the fact. They don't prevent overpopulation, they house a fraction of its aftermath. Better to prevent the problem in the first place. The most efficient effective use for donations is in high volume spay/neuter. Donate to spay/neuter groups, like Poppa Inc. . You can also help by NOT being part of the overpopulation problem. Get your cat fixed immediately! If you are a Linn County resident and low income, disabled or elderly, you can qualify for a SafeHaven Cats Count Voucher and get your cat fixed for $20. Call or go to SafeHaven to get the voucher application. (I am not affiliated with SafeHaven) Make sure your neighbors get their cats fixed, also. Also, identify strays in your neighborhood and get them fixed using programs like The Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon mobile clinics, The Neuterscooter clinics. The Neuterscooter just held a series of Oregon clinics and may return in late March or April. Or use your local veterinarian. Get Involved!
If you are feeding feral cats, TRAP them Now.(Before one or two, turn into a colony of 30 or 40) If You Feed Them, They're Your Cats. Fix Them
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Feral Night Cat Trapper Rescue is dedicated to spaying and neutering feral, untamed cats and releasing them back to their environment to live out their lives without contributing to the stray cat population. Feral cats are offspring of strays. Strays are abandoned or lost house cats. Feral cats are the direct result of humans who do not fix their housepets, then abandon or dump their cats or their cats offspring. The key to feral cat reduction is to reduce the irresponsible behavior of some human pet owners. Without any human intervention, feral and stray cats are doomed to live short, miserable lives producing litter after litter of kittens who will experience the same fate. Trapping these cats, neutering and vaccinating them, then returning them to their own territory is the only effective method of helping. This method of population control is called "TNR" (trap/neuter/return). The cats are provided with shelter and food and the colony is monitored for new arrivals, to prevent the cycle from starting all over again.
If you are feeding stray cats in your backyard or place of business, trap them NOW and have them neutered before they reproduce.
I can help people who want to neuter feral cats in the mid valley area. If you need help, please email me at: bluestray@yahoo.com and explain your situation. Please include information regarding the location of the cats, who owns the property they reside on, the number of cats and kittens and which aspects of the TNR process you will help with.
I do not trap cats or help people who do not want the cats returned. If you need information on programs or clinics that fix ferals in our area, email me and request that information. One person cannot solve the overpopulation problem alone.
One means to reduce feral populations is to fix house pets, especially in areas where abandonment rates are high. Unfixed abandoned house cats start feral colonies. In such notorius areas, landlords could certainly better their communities by maintaining a fixed pet only rental policy and strictly enforcing it. Click here, to learn more about TNR and feral cats.. Alley Cat Allies can provide a wealth of information.Click here to visit the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon's website where you can find their clinic schedule, and find FCCO clinic numbers, to register feral cats for fixing at any of their clinics. Click here to visit Poppa Inc's website. Poppa Inc. is the nonprofit that funds my spay/neuter efforts.
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