Any cat lovers here?

[pickwick]

Cats 1st needs help with the growing feral cat problem right here in the Lakes Region. Please email them and ask how you can help. After seeing this article in The Citizen, they need us who live in the Lakes Region to lend our hands, donate food, etc. If you know of any resources that can help, please email them as they are willing to help this situation.

Original article: http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll...9937/0/CITIZEN

Feral cat problem growing

Feral cats have been a problem all over the country for many years, including here in the Lakes Region, and without any designated feral cat shelter or organization in the area, reports of wild cats reproducing are rising at an alarming rate.

Betsy Coes, president of Cats1st, a nonprofit, New Hampshire licensed shelter and rescue organization for feral and abandoned cats, said she has received several phone calls about out-of-control feral feline populations especially in the Gilford and Alexandria areas.

"I've answered close to five calls regarding large colonies in poor condition at a farm in Alexandria, a mobile home park in Gilford and a campground," said Coes whose shelter is located in Newfields in the state's Seacoast area.

She said in Gilford one elderly man is feeding over 30 stray and abandoned cats and many of them are sick and dying. The man, she said, cannot afford to feed them anything other than boiled spaghetti.

Another person in Alexandria, who wishes to remain unidentified Coes said, reported feeding well over 100 cats that are reproducing.

"These are not healthy cats," said Coes. "The situation has been going on for a long time and there is no help."

Coes said that Cats1st has offered to travel from Newfields with local cooperation and support, but being about an hour away from the Lakes Region makes that difficult. She said that her organization wants to help the public but lack of resources, transportation, veterinary care and volunteers "hamper the effort."

After trapping cats, Coes said her organization tries its best to spay and neuter them and bring them to the shelter for medication and vaccinations. She said that every feral cat trapped will have a tip of their ear removed, leaving a small mark as a way of keeping track of which cats have been spayed or neutered and vaccinated.

"We do hold them for 48 hours," she said. "I do not release them right away." She added that the cats are only released back into the area where they were trapped if people living there have signed a written agreement to continue to care for them.

Coes explained that trapping feral cats can be fairly difficult. She said the trap has a small raised screen with food placed on the other side. The cat steps onto the screen and a door closes vertically behind it. Cats1st does not trap overnight and when preparing a trap, people are told to not to feed the cats for a 24-hour period.

"For the most part, it happens fast," she said, adding that cats are habitual creatures and are likely to go to the same spot every day where they are fed at a certain time.

"The traps are safe and there's no way the animals can get hurt or people can get bit."

While some people may be afraid of feral cats, Coes said that most are scared of people and will rarely attack.

"People trap cats and don't know what to do. Some of the cats can be nasty when trapped."

According to Mary Di Maria, executive director of the New Hampshire Humane Society in Laconia, the shelter tries its best to help feral cats and tries to release them back to the "feeding community."

"We take them in if they are kittens," she said. "They come in and they can be sick and it isn't this healthy, cute little kitten."

Tammy O'Neil, who works with the felines at the at the Humane Society, said that if feral cats are healthy, they are sometimes placed as "barn cats."

"That's really common around here," she said.

O'Neil and Di Maria explained that feral cats are only destroyed if there is a medical reason or if the cat is unable to be handled.

"Most feral cats are scared, and they usually won't attack humans," said O'Neil. "We only release them back to where they were taken from with permission from the person who brought them in."

Coes said that cats can adapt nicely in the New Hampshire climate, especially once they have become spayed or neutered and have some shelter and food.

"Even if they are somewhat friendly, people are not adopting," she said, adding that even when the adult cats are up-to-date on care, it is hard to find a home for them.

With limited space at her shelter, Coes said she doesn't have room for many cats and hopes to raise awareness of just how bad the situation has become.

"I can't believe that the Lake Region doesn't have any organization like Cats1st that deals with feral or abandoned cats."

While her organization lacks volunteers, Coes said that there are "wonderful people on board and that some people care enough to call about the cats."

She said that although it cannot be proven, she has heard reports about colonies of feral cats being poisoned.

"How can a cat be at a feeding station one moment and then found dead the next?" She asked. "I don't know, and it's for no apparent reason."

Laconia Police Department Chief Michael Moyer said he knows of no large colonies of feral cats in the immediate Laconia area and at this time there is no designated animal control officer.

"We plan on dealing with that after the summer," he said, explaining that due to budget cuts, the animal patrol officer position had hours cut.

O'Neil and Di Maria said the public can do their part to reduce reproduction of feral cats.

"We want to make people aware of it," said Di Maria. "There are hundreds of feral cats and they can carry disease."

She said that the cats suffer from many illnesses including flea infestation, anemia and upper-respiratory problems.

"The community can help to start taking responsibility and neuter and spay their animals," O'Neil said.

While some feral cats are past the point of becoming domesticated, O'Neil said some would get along with domesticated cats.

"Feral cats usually love other cats."

[Argie's Wife]

Yes, I am a cat lover.

I have also taken in feral cats and my mother has as well. Where she lives, in Ossippee, there's an issue going on with the shelter there as they will NOT accept feral cats.

Well, one things cats are very good at doing is making more cats. Feral cats are no exception. At this time my mother is caring for five feral cats by feeding them, letting them sleep in the barn, and caging them to take to the vets for immunizations and/or neutering. She lives on a limited income and pays for all this herself. She's approached the shelter in Ossippee and was told it was against their policy to take ferrel cats - so, she felt she had no choice but to care for the cats who show up... (I've joked with her that the cats have installed an "All You Can Eat" neon sign on her porch that only they can see...)

Some of the cats were obviously house pets at some point but were dropped off, abandoned. It's my understanding that the shelter also charges folks to drop off animals they have to abandon - but I could be wrong, feel free to correct me if I am...

Anyhow, with the exception of Cat1st and folks who are willing to tame/adopt/care for these cats, there's not much for choices, would you agree?

Hats off to Cats1st for their efforts - and to those who support them!

[KBoater]

The Ossippe shelter will not take a cat that they can not place. This is the probelm with the ferral cats.

[Lakesrider]

For you cat lovers...

Did you see the article about Hobbes. The little kitten brough to the North Conway shelter?
He had been rescued by someone from some kids that were beating it sticks and tossed it off the roof of a building....

Man what do parents teach their kids these days? Argh!

Well they are looking for donations to fix it's jaw and may require surgery to do so. I stopped in and gave $50.00. I'm not rich, but no animal should need to pay for deplorable human treatment.

It is a good thing that other person saw them doing it. I'm not so sure my temper would have remained contained quite so much.

[Chickie]

Such cruelty is beyond understanding and makes me so angry and sick whenever I hear of it. Children often mirror what they see in the home. It is a safe bet that their parents probably have the same abusive attitudes towards animals and possibly their children. As children we were taught better, as our parents were always gentle and kind towards animals. We adopted so many stray cats here that we lost count.

One kitten in particular had been choked and painted with green paint by the children in a household in Dover. Being aware of the situation, a neighbor who was a bread truck driver picked it up early one morning when he left to make his deliveries out of town. He knew a kind restaurant worker in Laconia and was sure she would see that it got a good home. He related the story to her and she immediately agreed to take part in the rescue. It ended up at our house, as it was pretty easy to convince our parents that we “needed” to take in this kitten after all it had gone through. Even after all the cruelty it had endured at the hands of those kids, it still was able to trust us and became a beloved pet in our household. We named it Dusty – a sweet little guy with a great personality and gentle nature.

May that poor kitten in Conway make a good recovery and find a loving home. It certainly deserves a break.

[LIforrelaxin]

So here is the thing.... people often tell me I am cruel and uncaring and I don't know maybe I am. But I only know of one way to deal with feral "wild" cats, or dogs.... and that is to put them down... we forget that man domesticated these animals long ago, however they are originally pack animals and when left alone the revert back... of course we have Politically Corrected the term wild to Feral because it sounds better. Makes us feel better and less cruel. Unfortunately once animals revert back to there primitive selves the best thing to do, is to continue to allow them to be wild. And do what we do to control the rest of the wild animals in this country, allow them to be trapped and hunted.

Nope certainly in this country cat and Dog isn't a entree that most would want, so the best bet would be to catch them and then just put them down..... Sure it may make some people sad to see this happen, and I am not saying that it doesn't bother me some... But I would rather see an animal put down, then know that I am trying to contain something that doesn't want to be contained.

Folks need to keep one thing in mind, is the idea of keeping feral animals alive for the good of the animal, or so that you can rest easy at night....


(now just so none of you jump down my throat, I have had several animals growing up, dogs, cats, gerbils, etc etc... currently my wife has a cat, and we just got a dog.... nope they are domesticated and I plan on keeping it that way..... but when the time comes that they have grown old or gotten injured to the point that I can't reasonably heal them.... They get put to sleep.... so they don't suffer.... I have the ability to mentally heal, from the truma, they may not...)


Unfortunately not every animal can be or should be rescued.... its a sad truth, and before Cat populations explode to uncontrollably people need to face the fact, and put some of them down.

[Argie's Wife]

I don't think it's cruel to put down a feral cat. I think it's more cruel to do nothing at all and let the cats starve, freeze to death, get hit by cars, get diseases, or breed to make more feral cats. Trap them and put them down; especially if they're in a residential area with domestic pets, children, etc. around. But doing nothing is inexcusable.

I have had several feral cats - in fact, both of the cats I have now were ferrel and one was very wild. They've transitioned into lovely house cats and my family loves them both. The wildest of the two cats has "adopted" our oldest boy and sleeps with him each night. The other cat has claimed my husband - she's Argie's cat. We're lucky to have them and I think they're lucky to have us. Ours is the rare ending of the feral cat story.

[Greene's Basin Girl]

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

For you cat lovers...

Did you see the article about Hobbes. The little kitten brough to the North Conway shelter?
He had been rescued by someone from some kids that were beating it sticks and tossed it off the roof of a building....

Man what do parents teach their kids these days? Argh!

Well they are looking for donations to fix it's jaw and may require surgery to do so. I stopped in and gave $50.00. I'm not rich, but no animal should need to pay for deplorable human treatment.

It is a good thing that other person saw them doing it. I'm not so sure my temper would have remained contained quite so much.

Were the kids charged with cruelty to an animal? I hope they received more than a slap on the hand.

[Chickie]

I think we need to make a distinction between true feral cats and those that have had some human socialization, but have been dumped by their owners when no longer wanted. These “throw away cats” are usually left by the side of the road to fend for themselves when they are no longer cute, cuddly kittens. Feral cats have been born in the wild for several generations and have had no close human contact, so naturally they become wild and unruly. Those that have had socialization at one time may be generally fearful of strangers at first, but are easily reintroduced to a normal household and make wonderful pets. No animal, feral or otherwise, should be subjected to wanton cruelty of that kind. I am not against euthanizing feral cats due to over population, but it should be done in a humane manner.

[Argie's Wife]

I don't know if either of my cats were several generations of wild/feral cat, but both had to be gradually tamed to even be touched by a human, let alone live in a home. It takes months to bring them to a place where you can pat them - never mind bring them into a home with children and then introduce other pets... Wild is wild, no matter how you cut it. A cat that's fended for itself for all its life is no picnic to tame. My parents were both in animal control so I knew what it took from first hand experience as a kid.

Our girl cat came unglued for a little bit when we brought home a dog... (and he's about as cat friendly as a dog can be...) After she beat up the dog a few times, she was better.

Our boy cat was okay in the home until the oldest Arglet started crawling at about 9 months old, and then he started tackling the poor kid. The cat still gets wacky every now and then - but now he's 17lbs and 8 years old - that's a lot of wacky running through the house and attacking the couch arms.

If you want to know who owns whom, I think we're owned by our cats.

[SAMIAM]

We've taken in several cats over the years...not really feral cats, but cats that were abandoned after summer. They usually show up in the fall or early winter when foraging gets scarce. I don't understand how anyone can be that heartless. One was so matted that she almost appeared to have a shell like an armadillo. We got her to the vet, shaved and shots.....and she turned out to be one of the best cats ever. Another one, half starved, actually jumped up and clung to our window looking in at us on a night that was well below zero. This one walked right in, had dinner and was asleep within 20 minutes. Oh yuh, we're cat people all right.

[NickNH]

Not technically "feral" and not from the Lakes Region but my sons' cat was adopted by him when he (Chino - the cat) was about 1.5 years old. He had been hanging around a woman's garden and she put a Hav-a-Heart trap out for him.....sounds like a GOOD thing, right????

NOT! This woman left him in the trap to die! By the time one of the neighbors found him, his mouth was bloody from trying to chew his way out and he had a broken tooth and severe abrasions around his nose.....

The GOOD news is that he was found in time and is the most AWESOME cat ever! He adjusts to anything...my son tends to move around alot and Chino is perfectly happy as long as he finds his food and litter box. He has NO desire to go outside and just wants to hang with people and be loved....which he is! He's around 6 years old now....

[Belmont Resident]

Big ass kitty squishing tires on my truck. Does that count?
Cat’s squirrels they are all the same rodents…..

[Greene's Basin Girl]

Originally Posted by Belmont Resident

Big ass kitty squishing tires on my truck. Does that count?
Cat’s squirrels they are all the same rodents…..

Are you for real? I hope your kidding!

[Belmont Resident]

But on the other side of the coin I am not a cat lover.
Give me a dog any day.
Cute and cuddly when they are kittens but then they grow up and become dormant.
Doesn’t help that I’m allergic to them.
Oh and not to mention all the fur balls.

[Chickie]

I have had both dogs and cats over the years and am fond of both. Each has its own unique way of offering companionship and love to their owners, but a cat is easier to maintain and care for, so I prefer a cat at this stage in life.

[VitaBene]

We have two feral cats in our house along with a rescued German Shepherd.

The cats were born under my father-in-laws's shed a few years back along with 3 other siblings. The plan was to capture the kittens, nueter and find them homes (well we ended up with 2, SIL with 2 and FIL with the fifth!). We also tried to capture mom and nueter her but she has proven to be too wily, and continues to churn out litters (which is where my FIL's 2 other cats have come from!

Even though I am not necessarily a "cat person", they are great cats and pets!

[NickNH]

@Vitabene....

Try a HavaHeart trap with raw Chicken Livers inside.....of course, you may get more that the wily female but you may luck out! Put it near where she likes to hang out....

(If you've already tried this then I have no suggestions!)

[CGI3]

I tried to rescue a cat with a have a heart trap, and caught a skunk!! I threw a queen size comforter over the trap, and flipped it over. Door popped open, out walked the skunk. Never even tried to spray me. I think the little bugger was just happy to get out of the trap. Tried one more time, same thing, another skunk, not sure if it was the same one. I guess cats are a tad bit smarter than skunks.

[This'nThat]

I like cats. The problem is, I can't eat a whole one in a single sitting.

[gokart-mozart]

"Any cat lovers here?"

They're really not too bad with stir-fried vegetables and a red curry sauce.

[Greene's Basin Girl]

Originally Posted by gokart-mozart

"Any cat lovers here?"

They're really not too bad with stir-fried vegetables and a red curry sauce.

I would rather have my beautiful fifteen year old cat Jezzie eat the person who is cooking the cat with the stir fried vegetables and curry sauce. She would probably find that human meal very yummy!

[Rusty]

This article was in this weeks "The Meredith News":

[Top Cat]

My favorite kitty is Simon's cat. His latest video is "Santa Claws"

www.simonscat.com