What cat problem?

On Saturday morning last week I had the pleasure of joining the WA Cat Welfare and Management Symposium at Murdoch University. Coordinated by the Cat Alliance of Australia some of the states most dedicated cat rescuers gathered to discuss issues surrounding cat management and work on some solutions.

There seems to be agreement amongst these rescuers that cat overpopulation issues are caused mainly by abandoned pets, or cats that are semi-owned. Most owned cats (85-90%) are desexed, but it’s the unowned cats; causing a nuisance, spraying and fighting with owned cats and breeding unchecked, that has generated a strong anti-cat sentiment in the community.


The situation of the semi-owned cat is especially problematic, as although someone has taken on feeding her, they don’t really consider her ‘theirs’ so don’t have her desexed. The resulting oversupply of ‘free’ kittens means groups like SAFE find it hard to adopt cats and kittens and recoup the cost of any vet work.





Problems with desexing non-compliance are largely in low social economic areas, which see disadvantaged people unable to afford to sterilise their cats or without the transport needed to get their cat to the vet.


Cherry Leonard of the Cat Sterilisation Society commented on why support, not stronger pet ownership legislation is the way forward.

The people (who aren’t desexing) cannot pay their electricity bill. Their standard of living is unbelievably squalid. While a third of the cases we see are pensioners who could scrape together the money if they tried, two thirds of them are dysfunctional owners. Many people with mental illness have cats. They aren’t able to raise the money or get the cat to the vet. They are not connected enough to society to realise they’re part of the problem.

Often people living in these conditions have the best intentions; they adopt the strays even though they don’t have sufficient resources to care for them. With ‘hoarders’ being portrayed as evil in the media (and often by rescue groups themselves) people who are struggling feel they can’t ask for help and are afraid animal control will seize and kill their cats. Helping these people needs to be an exercise in sensitivity, not stigma.


So if the only people not desexing are genuinely needy and most other owned cats are desexed, what can we do to stem this tide of kittens?


Tomorrow: TNR in WA