Cat owners must take responsibility for pets

There are an estimated 27,473 pets euthanized every 24 hours!

There are 415 humans born every hour. There are 3,500 cats born every hour. Approximately 875 of those cats will be destroyed every day.

Your cat can produce its first litter as early as four to 10 months old. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that a pair of breeding cats and their offspring can exponentially produce more than 400,000 cats in seven years.

Of those, 100,000 will be euthanized.

Are you a responsible cat owner?

Is your cat spayed or neutered? Is he or she an indoor-only cat? Is your cat up to date on all its vaccinations?

It has been estimated that the feral population in the United States is around 60 million cats. During this time of year, Happy Tails receives an inordinate amount of phone calls asking for help with cats. Out where we live, the feral cat population is growing. Generally these are all cats that began with a pet that was dumped, abandoned or lost. Where will this end?

Feral kittens are nearly impossible to catch, and when one can catch them, they are usually so ill that the only humane thing to do is to euthanize them.

I’ve caught feral kittens so ill with respiratory infections that their eyes were matted shut, they could not see and were struggling to breath.

I’ve caught feral kittens with bite wounds that had festered and become so infected that maggots were crawling out of them.

I’ve seen far too many kittens lying along our road after being run over by passing cars. I’ve seen far too many kittens lining the Dumpsters, hoping to find some morsel to eat.

To be honest, I don’t know whether the problem is becoming worse or if we are just more aware of it. But the problem exists. And the only thing that can end or at least alleviate the problem of cat overpopulation is you and I. Happy Tails does its part by making certain that every animal that comes into our care will not be able to reproduce.

Will you do your part?

The calls are increasing as the spring litters begin to mature and the kittens are weaned. One lady called after finding a feral cat’s litter in the ceiling. They saved the kittens. But we just don’t have room to take them. Another man called after having an abandoned cat come into his shop and have a litter of six. He, too, has taken someone else’s responsibility for the cat and now her six kittens.

Call after call each day is basically the same story. Someone has shirked his or her responsibility, and the animal suffers for it.

Why do cats seem so much more dispensable than dogs? I just cannot figure out the answer to that question. What makes someone think that a domesticated animal - loved at least for a short while, living in a home, provided with food and water - can be tossed out in the wild?

Responsibility - whatever happened to that concept?

Jim Johnson is vice president and co-founder of Happy Tails Animal Sanctuary (US).

Reference: www.columbiatribune.com

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