Returning to my car after lunch in downtown Asheville on April 3, I passed a small, crouching cat behind a restaurant. She was tiny; I initially thought she was just a few months old. I started petting her and discovered dirty matted fur, crusted eyes and several plump ticks on her body. I scooped her up and kept her in my spare room overnight, anxious to find her owners—or a new home, if that was impossible.
The next afternoon, I left my vet’s office with an empty carrier and a hole in my heart. Peep (as I had decided to call her) had feline leukemia and her tiny body was failing. The vet was kind, the tech cried with me, and I held Peep’s little body wrapped in a towel as she went, purring until the last.
Peep’s death at a young age is a tragic—but common—occurrence. And as another kitten season approaches, a whole new generation of stray kittens is being conceived. One cat or dog who has babies and whose babies have babies can be responsible for the birth of 50 to 200 kittens or puppies in one year. Mortality rates are high: Many die before 8 weeks of age from injury, parasites, cars, dogs, starvation and disease from other cats or their own mothers—like Peep. But the rest will mature as early as 6 months old and be ready for a litter of their own. Most will end up euthanized at a shelter, given away to dubious homes, sold to research facilities, or left to fend for themselves on the street and keep reproducing.
Please spay or neuter your pets. If there’s a roaming cat in your neighborhood, get it fixed. Talk to neighbors, family and friends about their intact pets. We have a tremendous resource in Buncombe County: The Humane Alliance in Asheville offers cheap, safe, spay/neutering and rabies shots for dogs and cats. From now until December, under the “Big Meow” program, they are spaying ($25) or neutering ($15) cats and including rabies vaccination and microchip. Call 252-2079 to make an appointment. Cats, by the way, can be spayed even when pregnant.
With their help, and the recent acceptance of the trap-neuter-return method here in the United States, the dream of creating a no-kill society is within our grasp. Despite the setbacks and sorrows, like my little Peep, this is a great time to be in animal rescue. Grab a cat and get it fixed!
— Jackie Teeple
Asheville
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