One Central Texas group is trying to prevent a catastrophe: an excess of feral cats in the area. The Animal Birth Control Clinic in Waco is offering some free services to help control the population.
Animal Birth Control Clinic, Executive Director, Carrie Kuehl said it's not uncommon for people to become attached to or care for neighborhood and outdoor cats. The cats may come around and eat food left out but don't really interact with people; their temperament is much different than domestic cats.
Outdoor cats can serve an important purpose. Cindy Faverou inherited four feral cats on her Riesel property when she moved in months ago. "It's a different kind of relationship, but I do have a relationship with them," she said. On her farm, they are very helpful, "They had been keeping the rodents and therefore the snakes under control, so we were pleased to have them on the property."
Faverou has a soft spot for animals. As a volunteer, she knows that it's important to make sure the cats are spayed or neutered and have had the most basic shots. While the cats may seem harmless, if they go without being fixed they can become loud, mean, and pose a risk to you and your pets. So the Faverou family took advantage of a free program for outdoor cats through the Animal Birth Clinic in Waco.
Kuehl said the process is pretty easy. For a small deposit, the center loans you a trap for one week. "You trap the cat and you bring it into our clinic, and then it gets its ear tipped, it gets it's rabies vaccination and the surgery, and then the next morning, it's released back where it came from," she said.
When the cat is back in the neighborhood, it brings some peace of mind. That animal will be vaccinated from diseases like rabies and is likely to be less of a potential nuance with erratic behavior.
"If you're feeding a cat to you as being part of a good Samaritan, those cats are going to be out there, and we want to make sure they have a good level of care beyond that basic feeding," Kuehl said.
A helpful program for a sometimes troublesome population.
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