What’s new pussycat?

Dear Editor: I thought the feral cat would come blasting out of the kennel like a rocket, hissing, growling and spitting. Not so however, the black and white spayed female hunkered down at the back of the kennel instead, refusing to budge.

We tried coaxing her out, but that was of no avail, so, we gently tipped the back of kennel up, and she slid on her soft blanket onto the dirt road. From there she scrambled to safety and hid amongst all the twisted, rusted metal in the salvage yard. It was anticlimactic to say the least, but I got it on my camcorder nonetheless. Not quite the dramatic, teary eyed scene, like from the reality TV show “Hope for Wildlife.”

Earlier, I had collected the feline from the vet clinic; she had been humanely trapped in a baited cage the day before, and brought to a nearby animal hospital. It turned out she had been caught previously, spayed and marked with an ear tip. Now she was vaccinated again and given an ear tattoo for identification.

Once again to now roam free with her colony. Although she made an uneventful exit, it still gave me a good feeling that she would live a longer and healthier life, be able to fend off disease, and not give birth to countless kittens. According to the Fayette Humane Society: “An average cat has one to eight kittens per litter and two to three litters a year. A single pair of cats and their kittens can have as many as 420,000 kittens in just seven years.”

Two other cats were trapped with her as well, one a previously neutered young male, his long fur was badly matted and so he was clean shaven, except for his head. Excessive matting can cause skin irritation, inflammation, infection, severe pain and even intestinal blockages from hair balls.

So the little black Persian cat got a nice grooming, shaved down to his undercoat, along with an ear tattoo and another vaccine. Cat No. 3, another black and white female was spayed. Now she too will no longer be adding to the over population, and be healthier from not being continually pregnant and nursing young. So the shaved cat and newly spayed, were kept together in a recovery room for a week, to recuperate from their procedures, before going back home to the salvage yard, to join their colony of many cats. Consequently, their release was also videotaped as proof of being set free. The newly fixed felines will now also defend their territory and not allow outside still fertile animals take their place in reproducing, which is a win-win situation for the animals and society.

Furthermore, with our exploding rat population, feral cats are a good solution, as was found in New York City. Trap, neuter, return are all in a day’s work for the Okanagan Cat Coalition Volunteers.

Doreen Zyderveld-Hagel OCC volunteer

Kelowna