| WHERE DID SO MANY CATS
COME FROM? If you’ve ever been to a 4Paws adoption fair, you
undoubtedly have asked this very question. Looking around in amazement
you would have seen row after row of tables stacked with cages; each
cage filled with homeless cats or kittens vying for adoptive homes. At
the height of kitten season, the average adoption fair showcases
between 100 and 150 baby kittens, teenagers, and adult cats.
So where do all of these homeless cats
come from? The more fortunate ones are formerly loved pets that could
no longer be cared for by their owners. Many ending up in overcrowded
animal shelters, but were lucky enough that shelter workers were able
to make arrangements with 4Paws.
The many cats and kittens you see at
a 4Paws adoption fair represent only a small fraction of the homeless
pet population in this area. When one unspayed female and her
offspring can reproduce almost 400,000 cats during a 7 year period, it
is obvious that the problem is out of control.
The difficult reality is that our
animal shelters cannot possibly provide sanctuary for all the homeless
strays, abandoned felines, and former pets in our area. 4Paws
volunteers work tirelessly taking in strays and removing from shelters
cats and kittens for which we can properly care, given our limited
resources. This year, 4Paws expects to place 400 previously homeless
felines into permanent loving homes. Since inception in 1995, we have
found homes for more than 5,500 cats and kittens.
Unfortunately, it is not as simple as
taking homeless cats from the shelters and finding them permanent
homes. Many, if not most, of the cats rescued by 4Paws, whether from
shelters or directly from alleys and sewers, need to heal before they
can be adopted into loving homes. Some ailments are physical while
others are emotional and the healing takes its toll. As an
all-volunteer organization, we do what we can with the volunteer and
financial resources available to us.
What happens when the shelters become
overcrowded? If 4Paws or similar organizations
can’t help out, friendly, healthy, adoptable cats and kittens are
killed in order to make room for new arrivals. Every day, workers in
local animal shelters right here in the DC metro area are forced to
decide which animals will live and which will die. It’s a horrible
situation.
So, what can be done? In the short
term, you can help 4Paws save as many cats and kittens as possible.
Make a donation, offer to foster or adopt a new furry family member
into your home. Even with an all-volunteer work force with no rent to
pay, it costs 4Paws $120,000 to operate for one year. Most of our
budget goes toward vet fees and medical supplies. And the $85 adoption
fee charged for an adult cat only covers half of the cost to ready a
healthy cat for adoption. Any contribution that you make will be a
welcomed help.
To foster all you need is an empty
room and a lot of love. Any cat or kitten that you are able to take
into your home on a temporary basis is one less cat perishing in a
shelter or on the streets. Or maybe you prefer to give the ultimate
gift—a loving permanent home to a stray or abandoned cat. However you
choose to help, it will be greatly appreciated, most especially by the
furry guys whose lives you save.
Of course the longer term
solution—the ultimate solution—is spaying and neutering. If you have
an unneutered pet, please have that pet sterilized as soon as
possible. If all of your pets are fixed—thank you—and please spread
the word to your family, friends, co-workers. Spaying and neutering is
the only way to stop the suffering. Just by spaying one female
cat, you can prevent the births and unnecessary deaths of thousands of
cats.
Do what you can, but please do
something. Feline lives depend on it.
Barbara Lipson |