Averting catastrophe

Perhaps best known for scurrying along or lounging on East Church Street or residents’ porches, 18 Cambridge City cats had a brief change of scenery on a wintry day last week.

After months of fundraising and planning between town council and Animal Care Alliance, the stray cats were trapped and transported to ACA’s nonprofit veterinary clinic for spaying/neutering.

Neighbors also welcomed the cats’ temporary departure. Several Church Street residents have appeared at a few council meetings in recent years to complain about the odors and messes the cats leave on their porches and yards.

Those neighbors have asked council to take action. With limited resources, solutions have been hard to come by.

Because local animal shelters are full, the cats will be returned to their outdoor neighborhood. But, they now can’t produce additional future generations of nuisant strays.

The trap/neuter/release program began just in time for kitten season.

As surgeries began Wednesday, March 18, veterinary staff discovered several of the cats were already pregnant.

Cat 18 would have added a litter of five more strays to the street if the pregnancy had continued, and Cat 1 was expecting two more.

ACA staff and Gary Cole and Michael Amick, the two council members coordinating fundraising and logistics, were pleased how the blitz occurred.

Joyce Luckett, ACA manager and co-founder, said she’s impressed with Cambridge City’s approach to solving their town’s issue by raising money for the costs and preventing future strays.

Dr. Stacy Kostiuk, ACA’s veterinarian who conducted the surgeries, called Cambridge City “a model city” for addressing animal issues.

“They recognize the problem and recognize that individual citizens can’t be the only ones to solve it,” Kostiuk said. “They’re trying to figure out a solution that benefits everyone.”

Cole said they wanted to do something positive to help the feral cats and the people who live nearby to reduce the population in a kind, humane manner.

To date, they’ve raised slightly over $3,000 in donations sent to town hall for the spay/neuter efforts.

ACA agreed to charge $60 per cat, despite needing many hands in the surgery room to move and monitor the animals through various stages of recovery.

Once the initial bill is paid, the town will have some funds remaining to treat more cats. Residents are encouraged to report additional cat colonies to town hall for evaluation.

Cole said he hopes the program will continue through community contributions.

ACA employees Amanda Roberts and Andrea Holwager, who live in western Wayne County, were key to trapping the cats and did “tremendous work,” Cole said.

“I have the utmost respect for their compassion and professionalism,” Cole said. “The Animal Care Alliance is a community treasure and they do wonderful work as evidenced by them doing this service for the town of Cambridge City. This isn’t a one-time event. We hope to keep the momentum going.”

Holwager said getting cats fixed is humane because those surgeries prevent future kittens and reduce overpopulation in shelters, especially because Wayne County doesn’t have a city-county shelter as some communities do. While Wayne County and the city of Richmond contribute toward shelter costs for pets that animal control officers pick up, all of the county’s animal shelters are operated by nonprofit organizations. Individual rescuers also help.

“I’m super excited for this TNR,” Holwager said. “The more we can do, the more we can help. It’s a start. There’s a lot more to go in the end, but we have to start somewhere, and this is amazing.”

Amick agreed that council members are “incredibly happy” with the partnership they’ve established with ACA. He thanked generous donors for allowing them to implement the program they hope will positively impact both the residents and the cats’ health.

While at ACA, cats also received treatment for apparent health issues, such as respiratory infections. ACA agreed that any cat discovered to be seriously ill through the program would be humanely euthanized.

“The work this past week seems to have been really successful and we’re looking forward to keeping this effort going for years to come,” Amick said. “With the help of our residents and the professional staff at the ACA, I think we’re going to have a lot of success in curbing the stray population.”

For more information about ACA, including spay/neuter resources, visit animalcarealliance.com.