Group works to humanely keep campus cats under control.
They gave the name Lyle to the first to start showing regularly because of the tuft of hair on top of his head that brought singer Lyle Lovett to mind. Lyle loved fish. He was a beautiful and friendly tabby, but emaciated and sickly from living in the wild and scavenging for food.
Lyle is one of several cats that Aggie Cat Services is trying to help. Shannon Jolley, theme housing coordinator for USU and one of the co-founders of Aggie Cat Services, said the plight of feral cats attracted the attention of several university employees as well as community members who are also animal lovers.
Whitney Milligan, assistant director of housing and another cofounder of Aggie Cat Services, said the idea for the servce came from the pre-vet club when their adviser began trapping cats to demonstrate how to spay and neuter them. Soon, a woman in the club suggested tipping the ears and the No Homeless Pets organization was invited and held a meeting, which Milligan said she attended.
Working in campus housing, Milligan said she was aware of the problems feral cats caused. “I thought it could be a really good way to curtail the feral cat problem and a good, humane way to help cats,” she said.
Some feral cats are are born wild, others are abandoned by their owners, but they all face similar problems, she said. Some cats have feline AIDS or feline leukemia. All the cats are starving.
But one of the biggest problems with feral cat communities is breeding, she said. Cats that have several litters of kittens in a year are unhealthy, she said, and many of the kittens don’t survive because of the harsh environment they are born into.
To combat this problem, Aggie Cat Services has set up feeding stations in different locations – one near the Junction and one near University housing’s townhouses, which she operates.
The cats are fed at a set time each night, she said, and have become conditioned to gathering on her front porch at 5 in the afternoon – the time when she typically puts food out. “They’re like Pavlov’s dogs,” she said.
As the cats become used to their new feeding routine, Jolley said she then begins putting the food inside the traps provided by No Homeless Pets. Initially, the traps are not set to actually trap the cats, she said.
When the cats become comfortable with the traps, Aggie Cat Services sets them, putting dry food and a smelly fish such as salmon or mackerel inside to attract the cats. Cats who venture inside the cages to eat get trapped. Then, trapped cats have to be watched closely to make sure they don’t hurt themselves.
“It’s hard. It freaks them out,” Jolley said.
Those cats that are trapped are taken to a local vet, who spays or neuters and vaccinates the cats, tipping their ears so that those who have been taken care of can be recognized. Male cats are immediately released and females are kept overnight and given pain medication before being set free.
Milligan said that costs – around $35 for female cats and a little less for males – have been covered by donations from university faculty and members of the community.
Aggie Cat Services has conducted two trappings, Milligan said. The first in October trapped around eight cats, but the second, held the third week in March, was less successful because of bad weather, and trapped only one cat.
The cats that are fed regularly have formed a colony, Milligan said. The ones who are trapped are documented and pictured, so the service can keep an eye on them.
Colonies of feral cats can actually be a good thing for a community, Jolley said. Colonies can help with rodent problems, and once they are spayed or neutered, the cats are simply a self-sustaining community that isn’t growing.
The possibility of adopting out these cats was considered, but Four Paws, a local service for abandoned pets, was already full and Milligan said they decided the cats would be better off living free in their colony than waiting in cages to be adopted.
Cats that have been fed and taken care of by Aggie Cat Services look plump and glossy, Jolley said. “They look healthy, not like most wild cats,” she said.
One of the cats trapped in October was Lyle. It turned out he had already been neutered, indicating he had been abandoned by his owners, or perhaps he just wandered away from home. Milligan said her sister was going to adopt Lyle, but when they took him to the vet, it turned out he had feline AIDS. Although it does not affect humans, feline AIDS is highly contagious among cats and can be transmitted merely through licking an infected cat.
Milligan took Lyle home herself, giving him his own room away from her dogs while he became more and more ill. Shortly before Christmas, Lyle was put to sleep.
“He was a sweet cat,” Jolley said. “We all miss him.”
Still, Milligan said, it’s good to know that the last few months of his life were peaceful and comfortable.
-dmaxfield@cc.usu.edu