LAKEPORT, Calif. – County officials are hoping a newly accepted policy will complement a community cat program that has helped to significantly reduce the county's high feline euthanasia rate.
On Dec. 3, Lake County Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson went to the Board of Supervisors to ask for its support for a new stray cat intake policy.
As a result of the board's approval, beginning July 1, stray cats – which previously could be dropped off for free – will be accepted at the shelter for a drop-off fee of $15 per animal, Davidson said.
However, rather that simply paying the fee and dropping off the animal, there is an alternative already available – the free community cat program.
Any cat eligible for the county's community cat program – cats over 1 year of age typically qualify – may be left at no charge if the person bringing it in is willing to return it to the community once it has been spayed or neutered, had a rabies vaccination and an ear notch, Davidson said.
The charges are only for those people who don't want the animals back, said Davidson. For those animals, the shelter will hold them, and attempt to adopt them out or transfer them to rescue.
The supervisors gave unanimous support for the new policy based on a recommendation from the Lake County Animal Control Advisory Board, which submitted a letter in support of it.
While the supervisors don't like charging fees, Davidson said the new fee makes sense for a variety of reasons.
In the 2012-13 fiscal year the county took in 1,500 stray cats at a cost of almost $84,000 to taxpayers, which equals $55 per cat, Davidson said.
The new $15 fee that Animal Care and Control will collect will help to offset the county's costs and allow the agency to more properly care for the cats they do take in, Davidson said.
He expects to use some of that money to fund new part-time positions to help care for the cats.
Davidson said Animal Care and Control will continue to take in injured cats and cats responsible for bites at no charge.
Other areas have had small drop-off fees for cats for some time, including the nearby rural counties of Tehama, Glenn and Colusa, with other counties also going that direction, Davidson said.
“What to do with cats has kind of been a hot topic in the shelter world for the last few years,” said Davidson.
Because there is no state mandate to take in stray cats, many jurisdictions simply won't accept them any longer, Davidson said. In the case of Sonoma County, it partnered with a rescue group called Forgotten Felines and now only takes cats in to spay and neuter them as part of its own community cat program.
The SPCA of Clear Lake, which now is providing some animal control services for the city of Clearlake, will take in stray cats from Clearlake residents for a $10 per-cat fee, but only if space is available, Davidson said.
Davidson said he hopes that the new policy will help Animal Care and Control continue to reduce its euthanasia rates and lead to eventually getting control of the county's cat overpopulation problem.
Free program reduces euthanasia
The community cat program in Lake County began in April 2012 on a limited basis after Animal Care and Control opened its onsite veterinary clinic, Davidson said. Since then, about 2,000 cats have been altered through the program.
The altering services are included in the contract the county has with veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Bennett, who runs the clinic, he explained.
Lake County's community cat program is always free to any county resident who is willing to participate and who has an eligible cat, Davidson said.
It has the benefit of allowing cats which already are established in neighborhoods to live out their lives without contributing to the overpopulation problem or the county's high euthanasia rate, he explained.
Davidson said the bottom line is that the community cat program offers a more humane and cost effective way to deal with stray cats compared to continuing to collect and destroy them.
“We have done the latter for over 30 years and gotten nowhere,” Davidson said.
He said studies have shown that those areas that participate in active spaying and neutering of community cats have a steady decline in cat populations over time.
Davidson said the community cat program already has resulted in “a huge drop” in the county's euthanasia rates.
According to statistics Davidson compiled, for the 2011-12 fiscal year – during the last quarter of which the community cat program was implemented – the cat euthanasia rate was 85 percent, with an overall animal euthanasia rate of 64 percent. Thirty-one percent of animals were returned to the community.
In 2012-13, the cat euthanasia rate dropped to 50 percent, with the overall rate decreasing to 42 percent. The rate of animals returned to the community increased to 51 percent, based on Davidson's numbers.
The program also has resulted in Animal Care and Control taking in about 600 fewer cats in 2012-13 than it did the previous year, the numbers showed.
So far, Davidson said he hasn't seen a huge reduction in the number of kittens coming into the shelter during the spring and summer kitten season.
“I personally think it has diminished,” he said, adding that he believed he needed several more years of statistics to analyze what impact the spay and neuter effort is having on community cats.
Animal Care and Control doesn't currently work with any organizations that specifically transfer large numbers of cats for adoption.
“Most places have their own cats problem so they're not interested in taking any more,” he said.
However, the agency is receiving assistance from a Petaluma veterinarian who takes about a dozen cats a month, spays or neuters them, and finds them homes, as well as Anderson Valley Animal Rescue, which assists with cat adoptions, according to Davidson.
Animal Care and Control also has a “barn cat” adoption program just for finding homes for feral cats, but he said they've only found homes for about half a dozen cats that way.
Community cats are in neighborhoods for a reason, Davidson said. Studies show that one in 12 homes is putting out food for them.
Davidson said that cats are territorial and so will keep other cats out of an area, which he believes is another reason to return the altered and vaccinated community cats to their neighborhoods.
For those who don't want stray cats on their properties, Davidson said there are several steps they can take.
They include not leaving food on the property, as it attracts cats and other animals; own a dog, because cats don't frequent yards with dogs; get a motion detector sprinkler; and strategically place things like fresh orange or lemon peels as well as the scent of lavender and the herb rue.
For more information about the community cat program, call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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