Cats Committee needs year end support to help homeless felines

In 2010 the Côte Saint-Luc Cats Committee was established. I had been requesting  a Trap Neuter Release and Adopt Program in CSL for many years. Finally,    Luc City Councillor Mike Cohen seized the idea and worked tirelessly to get the rest of the elected officials  on board. Upon asking their constituents whether the homeless cat situation was of importance,  they discovered that  “yes,” their constituents were concerned about the cats  for many reasons.

Côte Saint-Luc City Council gave us a $5,000 grant. Canadian Pacific Railway matched that last year and we did some fundraising. Now completing our second year, we  a have trapped and neutered over 100 cats.  This has prevented the birth of over  15,000 thousand  kittens.

These adorable cats were trapped and adopted.

Just as we thought we were stopping for the year, as we have  depleted our budget, we were made aware  of a situation of an elderly woman who had been feeding cats for years.  Because of health issues, she recently  found herself in a facility  with  no one to feed the 12 cats that were coming to her home. 

This woman did not believe in neutering these cats. She felt that the cats would get  disoriented and lost.  This is not so.  It is important to keep the cats inside until they are clear-headed after any surgery, but the statistics has not proven her theory to be so.

I do not know how many she started off with, but now we are dealing with 12.

Volunteers from the our committee and other concerned citizens are helping in the feeding of these cats, but they must be neutered, vaccinated and de-wormed.

Aside from that, there were four kittens spotted  at  Maimonides Hospital  in Côte Saint-Luc last week and I just received a call from a  young woman on Wallenburg who has seen a male, female and three kittens near her home. The calls are not just from CSL, they are from all over the island.

We need to be able to continue the work that is being done to neuter, vaccinate and de-worm these cats. That takes money, something we do not have.  Every one of us is a volunteer, all the money we receive  goes to the care of these cats.

We ask  you to donate and help us fund raise so that we can continue try to reduce the misery of kittens being born outside and the perpetual overpopulation of home-less, community cats.

Please send your donations to Educhat. You can do so online at  www.educhat.ca by going to the donate tab.

Shelley Schecter

Educhat and Côte Saint-Luc Cats Committee

Dispatch from Shelley Schecter: What to do about the cats needing feeders

The last few months has been very busy for the Côte Saint-Luc Cats Committee and we are just about at the end of our season.

I don’t have the exact numbers yet but this year we did a lot of kittens and also many adoptions.

It has changed how the money has been used. The six little kittens had to be seen by the vet and vaccinated. There were two that were sick and had to be tended to until they were well. My friend was kind enough to care for Miriam until she was well enough to go to her new home. Miriam’s brother was with me until Miriam’s guardian felt she needed some companionship and he went to the same place as Miriam. All six kittens are in forever homes.

Diane held onto one of our TNR’s because she was only about 4 months old and very tame. Diane just found her a new home.

Renee’s neighbor caught one of the cats coming to her house and she took her in.  Her husband adores the cat and so she is staying.

Diane took in two, one kitten named Jack,(Female) and  a cat named Gertrude.

 

The Adeles took in Esperenza and the Shragie’s on Hudson took in a Siamese who had been hit by a car.

We caught two on Smart and Cote St. Luc Road who are being well taken care of.

We caught and neutered a large colony on Wavell. One of the neighbors took one of the cats in.

We caught and neutered 6 cats on Mackle, including a mother cat. We will need to return when the kittens are old enough to be neutered.  They are being fed by the caretaker.

We did some at Decarie Square, one at Fern’s house, and a few at  St. Patrick’s Residence.

We did 9 cats from Fairside and Donna the feeder, is going to be helping with the trapping.

We still have some to do at the Lang’s but we are on hold now until we find out how much money remains.

 

I felt that we did a good job this summer, but unfortunately, all of the hard work has now been eroded.

We knew of a woman, on Eldridge who was feeding a few cats, about 4 to six. A year a half ago, Renee  and Barbara, our volunteers,  went to visit her and told her that we would neuter, vaccinate and de-worm the cats.  The woman was very rude to them and told them to go away.  Renee returned a couple of times and again was told to go away. Since we really require permission to go on someone’s property to trap, we moved onto the next place.

Last week, Mike received an e-mail from this woman  saying that she had to go into a facility because of poor health and that there was no one to feed the cats.

 

I didn’t realize that it was the same woman that Renee and Barbara had called upon, but it was.  She now has 12 cats at her house, between the ages of 6 months – 6 years. 

It is amazing how one person can create this massive problem. None of the 12 cats are neutered, vaccinated or de-wormed and are procreating all through CSL.

 We have a very serious problem here. Firstly, I do not know if there is any money left to neuter these cats. All 12 cats must be caught and seen by a vet and neutered. It is much too late in the year to relocate these cats, as that process take a tremendous amount of time and effort.

Renee got the brilliant idea to talk to another of our volunteers, who lives near to this location   and Tanya has kindly been leaving food and water out for the cats.

I went with Renee to the house today, and the Styrofoam cat shelters are absolutely disgusting.  They need to be replaced with clean ones. The house is a rental and I do not know if someone new will be moving in, but for the time being the cats need to be fed there.

 Aside from finding the money to neuter all these cats, they need to be fed.

 

The only idea I have concerning this, is that each one of us takes a day a week and we feed the cats over the winter until we can figure out what to do in the spring.

 

I can take Wednesday each week. Renee said she will take one day and so will Barbara.   Anyone else who can help, please let me know.

We will provide you with the food and you will need to bring water for them.

I know this is a big one to ask, but if anyone has any other suggestions, please tell me, I am at a loss.

To say that I am angry about this, is an understatement.  I feel that all the work that was done this year is going right out the window because of one person who allowed these cats to keep reproducing and did nothing about it. In my heart, I cry for all those kittens that were born  outside and are forced to live outside,  through no fault of their own.

If we each take a day, it will not be a hardship for any of us. But if it is only a couple of us that will do it, it will be difficult for us.

Please help out by letting me know what day you will be able to feed. The location is on  Eldridge between Kildaire and Mackle.

Thank you for helping out.

Shelley

 

PS. I just received a call from Maimonides.  There are 4 kittens outside the front entrance. One is orange and the other three are grey. The people at Maimonides are feeding them, but here is another situation that has to be tended to. It just goes on and on.