Local rescues and organizations such as the Athens County Humane Society and Feral Ladies Cat Rescue work to help local and vulnerable stray cats. These organizations practice a process known as trap-neuter-return and administer vaccines to the cats.
Mary Connolly has been the executive director for the Athens County Humane Society for a year and a half. She manages communications and scheduling, reaching out to donors, helping people with an injured animal and planning the spay-neuter clinics they hold twice a month.
Connolly said traps are put out a few days before a neuter appointment to get the cats used to the trap. One to two days before the appointment, the trap is set. Once trapped, the cats are taken straight to the clinic and returned to the community, typically after 24 hours.
“We're improving, hopefully, the lives of many animals because they're getting basic care, like their vaccines,” Connolly said. “And also, there's less fighting amongst cats when they're spayed and neutered.”
Fighting between cats can cause the spread of diseases like feline immunodeficiency virus, which affects a cat’s immune system. Other diseases that can spread between stray cats include panleukopenia, which attacks white blood cells cats need to fight off infection.
The Athens County Humane Society consistently works with the Athens Vet Clinic to perform part of the trap-neuter-return procedure.
Feral Ladies Cat Rescue is an all-female-run cat rescue based in Hocking County, Ohio. They are a 501-3(c) nonprofit organization. Those involved are not paid to run the rescue, and all have full-time jobs outside it.
Elizabeth Hoskins is the CEO and co-founder of Feral Ladies Cat Rescue. She got into this line of work after feeding a colony of cats at her local Walmart in Logan, Ohio. She was concerned about who would feed and care for the felines.
From there, Hoskins learned how to trap cats to connect them with local vets who could perform the neutering procedure.
“One mom cat can have up to 20-plus kittens in a year, and then kittens can breed as young as four months so they can have kittens,” Hoskins said. “So a mom and a daughter can be having kittens the same year. It's so important to spay and neuter those.”
Returning the cats is also an integral part of the process, as well as making sure they are put back where they came from.
“We don’t keep them in our care because it has been shown that cats that are community cats, this is the general consensus, often don’t do well in a shelter environment," Connolly said. “It can be very detrimental to their mental health.”
Hoskins said it is important to release feral cats back to the environment they were picked up from. If they trap a cat that is not feral, Hoskins said they try to find the cat a home.
“Feral cats will basically die trying to make it back to where they came from,” Hoskins said.
However, Connolly said they keep cats that have sustained bad injuries or were found as kittens without a mother. Both of these organizations offer adoption of the cats they keep. Feral Ladies Cat Rescue charges $100 for adoption of any cat, and Athens County Humane Society’s adoption fees range from $75-$150 based on the age of the cat.
Sara Strongosky, a senior studying psychology, is serving her second year as president of All Nine Lives, an organization that provides a space for cat lovers and aims to support the Athens County Humane Society and surrounding shelters.
All Nine Lives recently held an event where they made cat toys and gave them to Friendly Paws Pet Supply and Grooming, as well as a date party that raised $150 for the Athens County Humane Society.
“We live in a financially unstable part of Ohio where there is a stray problem, and there aren't a lot of resources to get it under control,” Strongosky said. “So the more help, the better.”
Strongosky also emphasizes the importance of leaving the stray cats alone.
“Although they're really cute, and it'd be awesome to have one in your dorm, it's best to just leave it,” Strongosky said. “The best thing I can do is get in contact with the humane society and just tell them where they are.”
For their next meeting, All Nine Lives is building cat shelters, which Strongosky said is one of the most important events they hold.
To report stray cats in Athens County, call the Athens County Humane Society at (740) 592-6047. To report stray cats in Hocking County, people can contact Feral Ladies Cat Rescue through their Facebook or their email at feralladycatrescue@gmail.com.
