‘Kitten season’ opens for cat catchers
Police say trapping, neutering and returning cats is long-term solution
LEHIGH VALLEY, PA.— On her third try at the mobile home park, Donna Peiffer finally trapped Big Fluffer. He wasn’t happy about it.
Fangs bared, the beefy grey tomcat hissed and thrashed in his cage, shooting Peiffer a murderous look as she covered the trap with a sheet and loaded it into her car for the trip to the veterinarian. Big Fluffer didn’t know it, but he’d be back in a day or two, minus his testicles.
“The neighbours think he’s the one fathering most of the kittens around here,” Peiffer said, panting from the exertion of lifting the heavy trap into the back of her SUV. “Well, that’s done.”
Called feral, free-roaming or community cats, the Lehigh Valley, Pa., is teeming with animals like Big Fluffer — the name given to him by the residents of the Breinigsville, Pa., mobile home park. Each spring, the feral cat population swells as females deliver litters in woodpiles and under porches, a phenomenon that overwhelmed rescuers call “kitten season.”
Advocates say trapping, neutering and returning feral cats to where they were found, a process called TNR, helps reduce both the number of cats and the mating behaviours — like fighting and spraying urine — that infuriate residents. While volunteer groups have long spearheaded TNR efforts, more government agencies, including the Bethlehem Police Department, are now getting involved.
“TNR programs are a longterm solution to a continuous problem,” Bethlehem Chief of Police Mark DiLuzio wrote in a memo introducing his department’s TNR initiative in July. “If we do nothing, the issues will still be here and will grow.”
Feral cats are a touchy subject in many Lehigh Valley towns, where cat-loving residents ignore or protest ordinances against feeding them, while their neighbours complain about cats turning gardens into litter boxes and slaughtering songbirds.
“Domestic cats have no natural place in our environment, therefore, in my opinion, every effort should be made to remove them completely and permanently from the outdoors,” said Peter Saenger, president of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society.
Even DiLuzio, who likes cats so much that his press releases and memos often feature feline photos, acknowledges that feral cats can cause problems. His officers routinely field complaints about large cat colonies in the city.
“It’s a public health issue, and it’s a safety issue,” DiLuzio said. “People can get scratched or bitten. A cat, like any other animal, can spread rabies.”
When done correctly, TNR helps prevent rabies and other diseases, advocates say. Before being released, trapped cats get a medical exam, rabies and distemper vaccine and, at some clinics, flea and tick treatment. Unfixed male cats, which constantly fight over females, often come in with bite wounds and need antibiotics, said Dr. Nicole Paul, a veterinarian at No Nonsense Neutering in Allentown.
“We can see some terrible bite wound abscesses,” she said. “That’s another good reason to get these cats fixed. If there’s less fighting, there’s less biting and less chance they are spreading diseases.”
Trapped cats are also “ear tipped” before being released, a process in which the top onehalf inch of the left ear is removed, leaving a clean line that’s distinguishable from more ragged wounds that a cat might sustain in a fight. Ear tips are a signal to other trappers that a cat has already been spayed or neutered.
Sterilizing both pet and wild cats is important, Paul said. Female cats can have up to three litters a year, with an average of four kittens in each litter. Up to 75 per cent of kittens born to free-roaming cats die, according to the Humane Society of the United States, from poor nutrition, disease and parasites. Others are killed by predators and male cats, or are hit by cars.
“The babies born outside certainly suffer,” Paul said.
Paul performed surgeries on 42 cats, including Big Fluffer, on a recent Friday. She said the number was typical for this time of year, when more people seek help from trappers.
No Nonsense, a non-profit with five locations in five counties, charges $35 (U.S.) to neuter and vaccinate feral cats. While that’s far less than the $200 or more a pet cat owner might pay at a for-profit veterinarian, it’s still too much for some people who suddenly find themselves hosting a colony after leaving food out.
“People feed, but they don’t fix,” said Carolann Dos Santos, a trapper working in Bethlehem’s TNR program. “When they find that TNR costs money, they say, ‘It’s not my cat.’ ”
Some municipalities chip in for TNR, paying No Nonsense an annual fee that defrays residents’ bills. Homeowners in some Lehigh Valley communities can benefit from a PetCo Foundation grant procured by the Sanctuary at Haafsville that drops the cost of TNR to $15.
In some towns, including Hellertown, Forks and Palmer townships, there’s no copay for residents who bring feral cats to No Nonsense Neutering.