Mobile clinic snipping overpopulation problem
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Veterinarian Doctor Kietra Kay performed the spaying and neutering surgeries at this mobile veterinary service.
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This kitten is one of many that visited the mobile veterinary service by the Dane County Humane Society Shelter Outreach Services provided for six south-central Wisconsin counties at various locations.
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Mary Baron (left) and Lela Schuster tend to a cat in recovery after a spaying operation performed at a mobile veterinary service for south central Wisconsin provided by the Dane County Humane Society Shelter Outreach Services.
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Lori McAuley tends to a cat during preoperative procedures before surgery at a south central Wisconsin mobile veterinary service.
RICHMOND TOWNSHIP — A quiet chorus of meows emerges from the floor, where dozens of pet carriers covered in fraying bath towels are lined up in rows.
Steady beeping punctuates the assembly-line movement of a skilled veterinarian as she deftly wields a surgical scissors.
A pungent scent of rubbing alcohol and antibacterial soap mixed with salty meat-and-gravy food from a can fills the stale, humid air.
The Richmond Town Hall is transformed into an operating room.
A folding table serves as an operating table, where Gray Betty, a female feral cat, lies unconscious as Dr. Kietra Kay removes her ovaries and uterus, a routine procedure that takes just short of 10 minutes.
“I do as many surgeries here in one day as I do in two to three weeks,” she said as she stitched shut the 1 1/2-inch incision on the cat’s lower abdomen.
Kay is a veterinarian with Shelter Outreach Services (S.O.S.), a low-cost, mobile veterinary program of the Dane County Humane Society. The program works with local animal shelters and rescues to provide high-volume, low-cost spaying and neutering.
“Our goal is to help those who otherwise wouldn’t be getting help. And that goes for the people and the cats,” said Lela Schuster of Touched by a Paw, a nonprofit, no-kill cat rescue and shelter in Whitewater.
Tackling the problem
A record 51 cats, both those housed at the shelter and those brought in by the public, were spayed or neutered at the July 25 clinic, sponsored by Touched by a Paw.
“We want to get them in the door and get them done,” said Dawn Perry, a veterinary technician with S.O.S.
She said the growing numbers—from about 30 during an average clinic to more than 50 in July—reflect the severity of the overpopulation problem.
“You’d think we’d make a dent,” Perry said.
Touched by a Paw has sponsored the monthly clinics since the program started in November 2006, and each month the shelter has more cats scheduled for sterilization, said Schuster, who spearheaded the effort to bring the program to Walworth County.
“I’ve been trying to work on getting us to be as efficient as possible, to get as many animals done as possible,” she said. “But as much as our hearts are in helping people who need the help, helping the cats that need the help, the bigger issue is reducing the whole cat population.”
The easiest way to curb the rapidly growing population—caused by the breeding and abandoning of unwanted pets—is to have the animals spayed or neutered, said Angela Rhodes, resource and development manager at the Dane County Humane Society.
“Whatever we can do to stem that (overpopulation),” she said.
But the surgeries aren’t exactly cheap. The average spay or neuter surgery can cost upwards of $200. Touched by a Paw charges just $40.
Schuster doesn’t expect the volume to decrease anytime soon.
“There’s an immense number of people who want these services,” she said. “If we ever ran out, I’d be shocked.”
Tapping into service
Gail Fettig of Whitewater has brought nearly two-dozen feral cats to the monthly S.O.S. clinics sponsored by Touched by a Paw.
Her foray into the caretaking of feral cats began six years ago, when she noticed six kittens in her backyard. Fettig set out food for the cats to make sure they’d survive the approaching winter.
“And every year there were more and more that would just drift in,” she said. “It kind of got a little out of hand.”
Fettig contacted Touched by a Paw, where she met Schuster, who taught her how to trap the cats so they could be sterilized and released back into the wild. As Fettig was able to trap the cats, she brought them to the monthly S.O.S. clinics.
“This is the first year I haven’t had kittens,” she said.
Fettig said she might not have been able to control her feral cat population if it wasn’t for the low-cost monthly clinics.
“This is a good thing for people who don’t know what to do with these feral cats,” she said.
Bringing in the clinic
The July clinic at Richmond Town Hall runs like a well-oiled machine.
A veterinary technician and a trained shelter volunteer, who acts as a second pair of hands, prepare the cats for surgery, administering a heavy sedative so the animal easily can be controlled during the procedure and then placing the animal under gas anesthesia.
They carry the cats to the operating table on the animal equivalent of a stretcher.
Males are neutered first, one right after another, often in a line three to four cats long. Females are spayed one at a time because the surgery is more invasive and takes twice as long.
The volunteers closely monitor the cats as they come out of their sleepy state.
That’s the fun part for the animal-loving volunteers.
“A cat needs to be pestered until it wakes up,” Schuster said.
When the shelter volunteers were trained for the clinics, they were told to “act like a 5-year-old trying to wake up a parent,” she said.
The cats also receive post-op antibiotics, rabies and distemper vaccinations and a flea treatment. They get their ears cleaned and nails clipped, too.
“I feel like I’m doing a lot of good,” Kay said of her work with S.O.S. “I’m helping animals who don’t have anyone else to help them.”
Although overpopulation continues to plague local animal shelters and rescues such as Touched by a Paw, which has a limited number of cages to house cats, the Whitewater shelter is starting to see some localized impact, Schuster said.
“But this is not where it ends,” she said. “This is the beginning.”
Schuster said she would like to see programs such as S.O.S. sponsored by more shelters in more places. Better yet, she’d like to see freestanding low-cost veterinary clinics open.
Aug 21, 2008 at 8:05 a.m.
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There are low cost spay/neuter programs out there. Unfortunately, they are not always well advertised. Touched By A Paw has the clinic in this article the fourth Friday of every month. We always fill up. The price is going up to $50, but that includes spay/neuter, rabies vacc, distemper vacc, flea and tick treatment and microchipping. We do not take dogs because our focus is the cats. But there are places that do. Shelter From the Storm in Madison does cats and dogs. Cats are $15 (M) and $30 (F). Dogs are $40(M) and $60 (F). Their number is 608-213-8864. You do not need to live in Dane County. Dane County Humane Society runs a similar program, again you do not need to live in Dane County. Their number is 608-838-0413 ext 0. They charge $26 for cats and $65 for dogs. Not all clinics include the same services, but all will get your animal spay/neutered. Rock County has an assistance program that will give you a $25 voucher to take your animal to the vet to help cover the cost if it is a female or you are on government assistance. Hopefully some of this will help someone who might otherwise not be able to care for their pet or barn animal. As far as taking in animals, you might need to check with your city. Some cities have not contracted with the Humane Society for your county. If that is the case, the humane society will not take your animal. Rescues work differently and many focus on one type of animal, or even one breed. I agree there is not enough help. But we are trying our best to change that.
Tammy N
Aug 20, 2008 at 6:48 p.m.
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Here’s what happens when a cat is dropped off at our farm.
If they make it past the dogs (not likely) they either hide in the hay mow or run into the cornfield. If they make it to the mow we wouldn’t know they are there until we here this god awful scream. That’s the sound they make when they die from starvation. They are so scared they will not come out even to eat. The ones that make it to the cornfield? Countrydawg is right the coyotes get them.
Dropped off dogs aren’t much better. They get chased from farm to farm until they get hit on the road or go wild.
A farm is not a wonderful place to dump your pet.
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As far as barn cats we have a male & female with 4 kittens. By the time they are grown 3 of the kittens will have the urge to hunt in the cornfield. The last one will most likely try to cross the road more than once.
Aug 19, 2008 at 8:04 p.m.
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It's fairly common knowledge that MANY, not ALL, MANY farmers do not spay or neuter their cats. Kudos to those that do. Luckducky, you got your tail over the line and are acting all insulted, but YOU brought up how cheap it is to shoot cats rather than caring for them properly. And, yes, many city folks dump off their pets in the country and country folks take care of them. Been there, done that. And not everyone has a bad experience with the humane society, Twerp13. Sorry you seem to have, but they are doing a job that most either can't or won't and I would say they are doing more good than harm.
Aug 19, 2008 at 7:45 p.m.
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Sure, Luckducky, just where is your farm?
Aug 19, 2008 at 5:43 p.m.
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It's too bad we cannot do this as easily with humans (voluntarily of course).
World population 1950: 2.5 billion
World population 2010 projected: 6.8 billion
World population 2050 projected: 9.1 billion
How DENSE can we get?
Aug 19, 2008 at 3:13 p.m.
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It's not all about irresponsible owners be they farmers or city folk. Everywhere you hear or read, "you must spay/neuter" your pets. My opinion is, it boils down to one thing. The COST to spay or neuter. Normal families do not have the money to fork over $188.00 for these operations! I just adopted a beautiful dog from a family that was going to pay $35 to put him to sleep instead of the $188 it cost me to have him neutered! All Clinics should start being more responsible toward this terrible situation! They Need To Lower the Cost of Spay/Neuter Operations!!!
Aug 19, 2008 at 1:51 p.m.
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Coyotes got to eat too! Those dumped off cats don't last very long.
Aug 19, 2008 at 8:59 a.m.
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I believe it is unfair to generalize about any group of people. I work at this spay/neuter clinic and we have many wonderful people who bring in their barn cats to be spay/neutered and vaccinated. These same farmers will also bring in those cats that end up dumped on the end of their driveways, alter them, and care for them. Then I also know of farmers who don't care about their cats who will say that they are 'just barn cats' and don't care if they are killed in the road because they are roaming because they are unaltererd. But there are MANY other people who are not farmers that are just as careless with their pets. We also have people who are trapping feral and stray cats in their neighborhood and getting them taken care of. These are not their cats or their problem, but they choose to take control and fix the problem. We hope to educate, one person at a time. Spay/neuter will reduce cat overpopulation, plain and simple. Barn cats that are spay/neutered are much more likely to stay and take care of the rodents. They won't be roaming to find a mate and kittens won't be born that aren't going to make it. The whole community needs to come together to solve the overpopulation problem, one spay/neuter at a time.
Tammy N - Touched By A Paw Volunteer
Aug 14, 2008 at 12:18 p.m.
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The farmers around us know that it is better to get the cats fixed, than to let them keep having kittens all of the time. Cat overpopulation is a bad thing on a farm, and we hate to see any of the cats get killed in the road. It is not cheap to get these cts fixed, but it is cheaper than having to feed and deal with a ton of cats.
By the way yes the humane society does turn people away. And it is not just for cats. I had a brother in law who was being evicted and going into the homeless shelter. Our wonderfull humane society REFUSED to take his dog, even though they knew he couldn't take it with him. This was a emergency situation. I told them that he planned on letting the dog go free as a stray,if that was the case and they said oh well we will just prosecute him if he does. They also suggested that I look for a rescue group to find it a home, but that they couldn't call one for me or even give me a phone number. Some good our humane society is.
Aug 13, 2008 at 3:53 p.m.
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No, LuckyDucky, all farmers aren't cheap...just didn't like your comment suggesting shooting cats as a solution. You're the one who said bullets are cheap.
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Twerp13, I guess I must be acquainted with the wrong farmers....none of their barn cats are spayed or neutered. Also, I know the humane society takes in stray cats all the time.
Aug 10, 2008 at 6:28 p.m.
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as humans over populate it`s should`nt be suprising something like this happens with un wanted humans
Aug 10, 2008 at 4:55 p.m.
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I agree lots of these animals end up dumpd out here in the country. Many people figure oh there is a farm they will take in my cat/dog.
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You claim the farmers are unwilling to do anything for their cats, I beg to differ. The farms around me have ALL of their cats fixed and give them their yearly shots.
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If it wasn't for irresponsible people dumping off their animals when they got tired of them or found out they got pregnant then we wouldn't have to spend our own money feeding them and giving them vet care.
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And if you say take them to the humane society.. HA HA that is a good laugh. They refused to take any of the cats that were dropped off at our house a few years ago.
Aug 9, 2008 at 11:42 p.m.
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Sorry jstwndrn, but many of the cats and dogs for that matter that end up on a farm are dumped off in the country by irresponsible owners who get them and then decide they don't want them or don't want to be putting any money into them.
The thing is that they are here NOW and in order to prevent even more unwanted pets, those that are here need to be altered so that they aren't producing more. These animals did not ask to be given life or to have crappy owners to begin with.
Aug 9, 2008 at 5:43 p.m.
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Farmers are a huge cause of the cat over-population problem. All MOST farmers SEEM to care about is what the cats can do for them, as far as rodent control, and after that, they are on their own. When the population soars, and diseases set in from gross in-breeding and health neglect, the farmer shows little or no interest in responsibility for these animals. Because of the competition due to over-population on the farm, these basically feral cats strike out on their own, often driven away by the dominant tom cat. That's when it becomes someone else's problem, as these pitiful, sickly, mite and flea-infested, half-starved animals begin showing up on someone else's doorstep. It's way past time for the farm families to start showing some real responsibility for the problem they are creating. With the size of the problem in the country, they apparently are too cheap to even spend the nine cents for a bullet, let alone the cost of surgery, vacinations, basic health care, etc. Maybe they could figure out a way to get the government to subsidize cat sterilization, along with all the rest they get.
Aug 9, 2008 at 4:28 p.m.
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Hopefully, luckyducky, there is as efficient a solution for inane comments such as yours.
Aug 9, 2008 at 10:04 a.m.
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I'm very involved with rescue on a daily basis and very glad to hear about this organization. I would love to actually be out of the "volunteer job" because the dire need for rescues and humane societies no longer existed.
I know that vet's need to go to school for a long time and need to make a living as well. But isn't enough money made in private practice to donated even a couple of days per year to get involved with something like this? Isn't it possible to offer a bit of a break with normal pricing for fosters from rescue groups?
Aug 9, 2008 at 9:35 a.m.
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you can save a lot of kitties by getting one from your humane society and the fee includes a couple shots and fixing them. they are great cats from there!!!
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