Spay Day helps control cat population
Charity helps low-income families spay or neuter pets; trap and neuter homeless kitties
We think of cats as less in need of human companionship than dogs, but they often appreciate and benefit from human contact and kindness.
Uncontrolled cat populations are a problem for many reasons. Some of those reasons are practical, like their impact on local wildlife. But we also have moral obligations to the cat population. Feral cats represent a human failure. After all, we domesticated these animals, and with that comes a responsibility to them.
One organization taking on that responsibility is Spay Day, a registered charity operating in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Started by Linda Felix, the organization has spayed or neutered some 4,200 cats since April 2011.
“Our main program is to spay and neuter cats for lowincome families, population control,” said Felix. “We also rescue and adopt out, and also partner with the city of Halifax and the SPCA on a TNR, trap-neuter-return, of ferals.”
Spay Day came about because 10 years ago Felix could no longer accept the dire circumstances of the homeless cats that came through her yard. Sick, pregnant, injured, it was clear that these animals needed help. But when Felix reached out to local organizations it became clear that most were near or at capacity.
“The shelters were full, there were no city programs. Everyone was pretty much on their own. I started, a little bit selfishly, to contain the cats in my neighbourhood and help them first,” she said. “I've always had a cat, but I'm just a normal person with a cat. I just saw cats in such need and so sick and pregnant and no home. It was heartbreaking, so most people would attempt to help any animals in need, when you see them in distress.”
Most of the organization's work is actually with cats that already have a home, but whose owners encounter barriers to spaying or neutering their pets. According to Felix it can cost up to $600 all told to have the procedure done. Many families lack other resources, such as a vehicle to transport the cats, or a car carrier or even simply the time to take off work and help the animal through recovery.
“We do a lot with people with limited disability income. People with a fixed income like welfare, seniors,” she said. “They love their pet and it's good for children to enjoy a pet and learn how to care for them. So, we help with the spay and neuter. Often there's a lot of barriers to people getting their cats fixed that people don't think of.”
When first set up, Spay Day had to earn the trust of pet owners.
“At first people believed, ‘Oh, you're going to tell me I'm a bad pet owner' or ‘You're just here to steal my pet. Are you really going to bring my cat back?'” said Felix. “Once you make inroads in the community and they see the cats coming back and they talk to their neighbour and say, ‘Oh yes, it's OK, let her take your cat. It'll come back.' So, we have built up relationships in a lot of the areas of the city.”
Of course, not every cat has a home. Spay Day's corps of 60 volunteers help capture and assess these animals in order to see what's in the best interest of the individual cat.
“My motto is, you do the best thing for the cat at that time with what you have to work with. That's all we can do. Sometimes it's not perfect, it's never going to be an absolutely perfect world for cats, but we do our best for them while they're in our care,” said Felix. “We try to leave them in a better condition. At least they're not going to be reproducing and have babies to try to look after.”
The captured cats fall into a few categories. Some are simply family pets that are roaming far from home. Where there are identifying items like microchips or collars, Spay Day reunites those animals with their owners.
The second group are cats that once had homes and now are homeless. Those animals are assessed and adopted out through foster homes and shelters.
Lastly, there are true feral cats. Feral adults are spayed or neutered and returned to their original colony. Felix and her volunteers take care that they are not simply being thrown out into the wild to fend for themselves.
“We like to give them a couple of days' recovery. And it also gives time for the ladies to assess behaviour,” said Felix. “I don't want to put a female out with a fresh incision in a rainstorm. So we keep them a few days and give them a chance.”
Feral kittens and very young cats are adopted out. Spay Day never returns kittens to colonies. Felix believes that trap-neuterreturn programs are both the most effective and most humane method of feral cat population control
“I think Halifax leads a good example of how to humanely control the cat population of the city,” she said. “Without euthanizing cats or any kind of mass killings, we've been successful through all the groups in the city and shelters at rolling back the cat population over the last 10 years.”
The organization has come a long way since the early days. Felix continues to work full time and is a caretaker for her 89-yearold father. A dedicated volunteer base and strong partnerships with the city of Halifax and the SPCA are crucial to making the operation run smoothly.
“The city provides $50,000 a year, which pays for the veterinary costs. The SPCA provides the building, the centre, that we work out of. And I provide the volunteers and all the supplies, like cleaning supplies, food, litter, kennels, all that stuff,” said Felix. “The SPCA coordinates the spays and neuters and intake through their clinic. We're able to do a large volume and do several turnovers in a week, if needed. We have volunteers who just do trapping, and we have volunteers who just do cat care in the centre. Twice a day a group of ladies come in and provide food, water, litter.”
This stability has allowed Spay Day to begin to plan possible future projects, including a shelter that would enable unadoptable cats to live out their lives in a safer environment than the urban jungle.
“When we first started, everything was a crisis and trying to find a place for a cat to go was a problem. Now it's nice that the shelters have room and are able to take cats in. It's hard to make a plan when you're just going from one fire to the next fire. We're able to work at a better pace right now. There's still work to do.”