Up to about a decade ago, most larger cities had shelters that accepted cats and dogs, and in the absence of a city shelter a county agency might have operated a shelter. Most only took cats and dogs, and many small towns and rural areas had no animal welfare agencies at all. Some agencies served only dogs, hence the term “dog catcher”, but not cats.
As a society we’ve come to understand how important our animal companions are, even aside from cats and dogs, and we’ve also come to respect animals as sentient beings with real feelings. Shelters have responded by making room for “exotics”, less common pets like rabbits, ferrets, rats and various birds. In addition to shelters, independent organizations of all types and sizes have stepped in as sanctuary for certain species or breeds of animals including livestock, often working directly with shelters to keep the animals out of the shelter entirely.
Too Many Cats
For those of us who love cats, one of the uncomfortable figures we see every year is cats in shelters outnumbering dogs, as surrenders and strays brought to shelters are mostly cats and kittens. For instance, in August, 2007, “the Western PA Humane Society’s two facilities…received 1,590 animals (1,131 cats, 388 dogs and 71 exotic pets),” wrote Lee Nesler, Executive Director, in the fall 2007 newsletter.
Generally, fewer dogs are surrendered or brought to shelters by animal control, fewer unwanted puppies are born than kittens, there are many more stray and feral cats than dogs, and more dogs are adopted in proportion to the populations in shelters. If shelters need to practice selective euthanasia when the need for cage space is critical in order to help as many animals as possible, then many adult cats, and sometimes even kittens, are euthanized.
While the goal of reducing unexpected litters of kittens is first on every animal welfare group’s agenda, the issue of what to do with the cats and kittens who are homeless right now is even more immediate.
Many Solutions
 The solution seems to be organizations that focus on finding homes for cats. In the past decade, they’ve sprung up in every major city, some even serving entire regions. Most are independent shelters of some sort, but many are foster homes managed by an overseeing organization, or separate organizations that work within a shelter to focus on finding foster or permanent homes for their cat population, or even just special treatment for feline residents in shelters.
Big City Cats
“Juggling Cats” lists a dozen feline-focused organizations under “New York City Cat Rescue”, some focusing on one neighborhood or area like Manhattan or Brooklyn, and some working with the entire city. The Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals works together with the New York City Feral Cat Initiative to not only trap, spay and neuter feral cats, but to identify the many that are lost pets and reunite them with their owners in order to reduce the number of cats in the streets and those brought to shelters.
Across the country in San Francisco, where “kitten season is almost full-circle” according to Deb Campbell, volunteer/outreach for the city’s Animal Care and Control, Toni’s Kitten Rescue is “an incredibly active kitten fostering program” featuring “home-grown kittens”, and Gimme Shelter takes in cats with behavior issues and declawed cats, only two of many other small and large rescue organizations that save hundreds of cats every year from euthanasia.
Also on the West coast during kitten season, L.A. Animal Services takes in as many as 1,000 orphaned neonate kittens a month. Many shelters don’t even attempt to save these unweaned, totally dependent kittens, but Ed Boks, General Manager, credits the many generous foster parents in the Bottle Baby program who spend an enormous amount of time bottle feeding, weaning and socializing these kittens with helping to dramatically decrease the shelter’s overall euthanasia rate.
Small Town Solutions
Paragould Animal Welfare Society, or P.A.W.S., in tiny rural Paragould, Arkansas runs an all-volunteer shelter in a town where animal control doesn’t service cats at all, only dogs. For a small shelter in a small town, they are very aggressive and very successful in placing about 60 cats and dogs each month. The area is more dog-oriented, so convincing people to adopt cats could be a challenge, especially if the cats weren’t socialized or came in with health problems. “We created a room for adult cats where they can go into an outdoor enclosure,” said Laura Wood, board president, “and this keeps them happy and it cut the rate of illness in half.”
 A Cats-only Shelter
In Sherwood, Oregon, near Portland, rated the #1 dog-friendly city in the country in 2007, cats are the #1 pet relinquished to shelters, and half of all those cats are euthanized. Cat Adoption Team, or C.A.T., “the largest feline-only shelter in the northwest, was founded as a safety net for cats,” said Kathy Covey, PR and Marketing Manager. For 10 years they’ve been taking cats from shelters, animal control services and veterinarians in their region and forming partnerships with these services; in 2007, this amounted to 3,129 rescued cats.
A Foster Home Network
Meanwhile, back in Pittsburgh, of larger U.S. cities ranked about the middle in animal-friendliness by the HSUS, feline-focused initiatives have been increasing in number and size. Shelter-based initiatives such as cat play rooms and temporary home foster programs for socialization have become common through shelters of all sizes. Independent organizations such as FosterCat, Inc., which is an structured system of foster homes but with no shelter and not affiliated with any shelter, takes in cats and kittens from shelters and veterinarians and occasionally private rescues. Cats are given all veterinary care and socialized in the home. But even with their success rate of several dozen cats rescued and adopted each year, “We’re just chasing our tails,” remarked Alexa Howald, president of FosterCat and long-time foster parent. “Spay and neuter—it’s the answer to everything.”
 Finding a Home at PetSmart
FosterCat, like most others, uses a combination of web exposure and pet-supply store cage space to place their cats. PetSmart, the largest of these, formalized its in-store adoption centers in 1992 featuring both cats and dogs and catered the program to community needs, eventually forming PetSmart Charities. Initially, animals were only in-store on the weekends or some weekdays because of staffing. The “7-day cat program” began in 1999 where stores only had cats so cages could be in use all the time; dogs come in to a special area on weekends only when traffic is highest, and they are taken home at the end of the day. “We let the local managers identify the groups which have the most need for space and outreach,” said Julie Schmaltz, Adoption Operations Manager for PetSmart Charities.
The Feline Image
Along with saving the lives of thousands of cats every year, all these organizations also see it as their mission to educate the public about feline health and behavior and the importance of spaying and neutering. All of them state their need to raise the level of respect for cats in society so that they are not so easily surrendered to shelters or abandoned outdoors to fend for themselves or join a stray or feral colony. And because these organizations are cat-focused, they are an excellent resource for feline health and behavior information.
So someday every cat will be wanted and loved and in a home of its own, but until then some very serious cat people are seeing that they are healthy, well-fed and safe indoors. |
