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Kirk Dooley: Stray & Feral Cats
Posted by: jn at 7:18PM MT on July 2, 2009
 By Kirk DooleyI live in Mesa, Arizona and lately there has been a lot of discussion about the wisdom of feeding stray and feral cats. The stray population here in the Phoenix area has mushroomed in the last year or so -- the Arizona Humane Society took in almost 1500 strays in the month of May alone. There have been several letters to the local paper complaining about people feeding strays and ferals (most of the time, the person complaining has seen their flower beds used as a litter box), and several folks who have been taking care of these cats have been threatened by physical harm. I am feeding 14 strays here at the trailer park I live at, a chore I've taken over from a lady I lived next door to who lost her job and was evicted. I do this because I believe it is important to take care of critters who have trouble taking care of themselves. Also, I have had very little problems with cockroaches, rodents and scorpions here, all of whom I had problems with in other places I've lived in here. (I consider it payment for services rendered.) The management of this park has threatened me with fines for doing this, so I feed the critters after the office closes and the maintenance staff (which does no maintenance, but rides around in golf carts looking for folks to harass) has gone home for the evening. (I answer to a higher authority; I call this, "Doing the Lord's work.") I took in two strays a couple of years ago. One -- a male gray tabby named Oz -- unfortunately tested positive for feline leukemia virus and couldn't fight off a urinary tract a year ago. The other -- a black and white spotted female "cow cat" named Lily -- bolted from my arms when I took her to visit my stepsister in Billings last September. There were a couple of sightings of her (unfortunately, I had to return back to AZ the next day -- which broke my heart), but we never found her. I'm hoping that somebody up there (she bolted in the area of Rimrock and Rehberg) has been feeding her as a stray or has taken her in -- another reason I feed strays. (Many of these unfortunate felines have been abandoned by folks who have had their homes foreclosed upon -- something I cannot, as a pet lover, understand.) My neighbor had trapped most of the cats in her care (I've taken in three of her indoor cats for safekeeping until she can get back on her feet -- her brother-in-law is allergic to cats), taken them to a low-cost spay & neuter clinic (I have a special license plate on my car where part of the extra cost -- $17.50 per year -- goes to support these clinics) and then returns them to the wild. I'd like to be able to find homes for them all, but they are wary of humans (with good reason, I suppose), even those who feed them. I encourage everybody to do as I do, if you have these cats in your neighborhood. Despite the grief you may receive from those who don't understand, I'm sure those of us who love critters will have a good feeling -- doing the Lord's work. ~ Kirk Kirk's article is mirrored on the Petology blog, here. Here is a photo of Lily, who is still lost in Billings: 
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