Pet Talk

by Cathy Davis    I was taking a walk down the street one day when this lady came out of her front door and handed me a $100 bill. I didn’t know what to do, I thought maybe if I reached out for it she might slap me or something, but I gingerly reached out a hand and touched the bill and she let go and I was standing there with $100.
    The next day I walked down the same street and the same lady was standing in front of her house and handed me another $100 bill.
    I told my friends about this and one friend decided she didn’t believe me so she walked with me the next day and sure enough, when we walked by this house, the lady handed me a $100 bill and she handed my friend a $100 bill.
    My friend told her friends and by the end of the week there were six of us walking by this house and every day the lady of the house stepped outside and handed each of us a $100 bill.
    By the end of the month there were 20 friends walking by this house. One day the lady called the police department and said “I don’t know what to do, there are twenty people coming to my house every day wanting $100 bills”. 
    Ok, by now you’ve probably figured out that there isn’t some lady on some street handing out money, or maybe you haven’t and you’re tying your shoelaces now, ready to go on a walk. But I’m trying to make a point here, and some of you might not like the point I’m going to make.
    If a cat walks by your house and you put out food, he is going to come back tomorrow, and if there is food again tomorrow, he is going to bring his friends, and if he and his friends keep finding food, they are going to bring their friends and soon you are going to have an entire colony of cats in your backyard, and then you are going to call animal control and complain that these cats are hanging out in your backyard.
    There is a black cat that comes and sleeps in my carport. We have a soft chair there and it’s a comfy place for this black cat. It’s not my cat. The cat appears very well fed and very healthy. The cat has been in the neighborhood for months. I know that this cat belongs to someone because it is very well taken care of. But if I thought it was homeless, lost, a stray little soul, and put food out for it, what reason would this cat have to go home? All of a sudden she has a comfy place to curl up and food. It’s like I’m giving her a $100 bill every day. She might not need the food but just like I might not “need” the $100 bill, who’s going to turn down a gift like that?
    Fall is coming, I hate to say it, and right now the shelter is getting calls every single day from people who have been feeding neighborhood cats all summer and now they’re worried that the cold weather is coming, they believe these cats are strays, and they want the cats picked up and taken to the shelter. The shelter is full right now. Presque Isle has almost 200 cats. Everybody we talk to is full, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. While adoptions were way up the second quarter of the year, August has been slow so the cats are coming in faster than they are going out.
    We are obligated to take those that are true strays. State law says if you have fed the cats all summer, they are your cats. In fact state law says if you feed an animal for 10 days you are responsible for it, so once you start to feed, you not only encourage the kitty to bring his friends, you also take ownership responsibility.
    There is a solution for this.  First of all, if you truly believe a cat is a stray, and this is fairly easily determined by the condition of the animal, size, coat, temperament, health, then don’t put out food. Call animal control and have them pick up the cat while it’s just one cat. 
    Second, don’t put out food. A barrel full of $100 bills will attract a neighborhood full of people; a bowl of food will attract a neighborhood full of cats, whether they’re hungry or not. And a bowl of food will likely attract more than the neighbor’s cats!
    Third, if you are going to take responsibility to feed a colony of cats, then understand that after six months you don’t just decide it’s someone else’s responsibility and dump those animals. If you are going to do it, then make a commitment to do it long term and make a commitment to see that the animals are taken to the vet, spayed and neutered, and given all their necessary shots.
    I want to make it very clear that we understand that everybody’s heart is in the right place. So many people think they are saving a life, or many lives, while the neighbor up the street is mourning because their Fluffy didn’t come home and they don’t know where she is.  
    All of us who love animals understand the basic instinct to protect the little critters, and we appreciate all of you who work so hard to help. But if you don’t want to be handing out $100 bills to 20 neighbors a day, please think long and hard before you give out the first $100.
    Cathy Davis is a longtime volunteer for the Houlton Humane Society. She can be reached at houltonanimalshelter@gmail.com or 532-2345.