Most pet owners love their new soft kittens as they grow to become members of their families. But what happens to other furry friends when after a year, the owners have to move and can't find an apartment that allows pets?
Jennifer Meyers / The Citizen
Molly Ryan holds one of the 14 kittens she rescued from a trailer park. The cats have received vet care and are ready to be adopted.
Molly Ryan holds one of the 14 kittens she rescued from a trailer park. The cats have received vet care and are ready to be adopted.
Pet owners who dump their once loved, then unwanted, cats are causing a problem that grows exponentially.
Stray cats not neutered or spayed can and usually do multiply repeatedly. A female cat can produce three litters within a year, which usually consist four to six kittens per litter.
A group of women are doing what they can to save felines that have formed a growing colony near a Brutus mobile home park.
Last fall, Cynthia Ryan heard of a woman who needed help having her cats neutered. Once at the Kenyon Landing Mobile Home Park, she saw unkempt cats with various medical issues.
Her daughter, Molly Ryan, went out to the area to get a kitten to take home, but couldn't turn her back on the heartbreaking sight of the hungry strays.
A colony of feral felines had settled near the park. The community has more than 200 mobile homes, and through the years, people moved and simply left their cats behind.
Tina and Peter Fietta took over the community in 2003.
“I can say that four years ago there was a larger (cat population),” Tina Fietta said. “I called Appleton Disposal and got containers with lids. With the lids on them it seemed to control not just the cats and the strays but any other animals.”
Cynthia Ryan estimates the colony is nearing 100 occupants. However, there's just no way to know for sure, said Carol Russell, executive director of the Finger Lakes Society of Prevention Cruelty to Animals of Central New York.
Russell toured the mobile home park with Fietta and saw 25 to 30, she said. But that was during the day, and cats are nocturnal animals.
Over the past few months, Molly Ryan has opened her home to foster some of the tabbies found in the park. She's taken home 14 kittens; one died, four others found homes and a few more are promised; and a pregnant cat.
People from Kenyon Landing tell her about more kittens. But that's the problem, there are always more kittens.
“I just can't accommodate them all,” she said. “They keep multiplying and multiplying and multiplying.”
The mother and daughter have spent $1,000 out of pocket for the animals' medical treatment.
Everyone seems to agree on the method to cut down the population, but finding funding is not easy.
The trap, neuter and return technique (TNR) is a humane way to cut down unwanted litters in feral cat colonies.
“There's really only one solution that's humane, and that's trap, neuter and release, TNR,” said Judy Vorreuter, the founder and director of Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes.
The slow process cuts down the amount of kittens. Adult animals are placed back in the colonies with a notch in the ear to identify the fixed ones. This will cause the colonies to stop growing, and eventually die out of natural causes, Vorreuter said.
“As a rule of thumb, new cats don't (join) feral colonies so the size shrinks,” Russell said.
However, removing the animals altogether, besides being time consuming and generally difficult, likely would result in another colony moving into the area.
Rita Sarnicola runs the Animal Resource Center, supports TNR and suggested fundraisers to come up with some of the money needed for neutering. The next step is education to cut down on the national problem.
The state offers a program to assist low income residents in paying for neutering services. However, not all veterinarians have to accept the state Agriculture and Marketing-issued vouchers.
Russell says the goal is to provide help with the feral situation with spay and neutering, and offering a safe environment with food.
A few residents are feeding the cats, and the Ryans as well as agencies have provided bags of food.
“The point is to return them to where people are feeding them,” Vorreuter said.
Fietta has agreed to follow Russell's recommendations and install two feeding stations. She's speaking with residents who feed the strays and may have become attached to them to find the best locations for them, Fietta said.
The tabbies will gather where the food is, Russell said.
“(Feeding them) doesn't really attract any more, and it is pretty inhumane not to feed them ... They don't necessarily go away if you don't,” Vorreuter said.
One tenant complained an animal sprayed his motorcycle and during the winter a couple residents told Fietta cats were settling under the skirt of the trailers, where the insulation is.
The Ryans took some of the cats from under trailers.
The SPCA investigator has been out to the park to see if there was any acts of cruelty against the animals.
However, Russell could not provide details because it is an ongoing investigation.
Fietta agreed some people view the cats as nuisances, but is usually aware of problems, such as animal abuse, in the community.
“Our policy is that you can put anything in writing and you don't have to sign it,” Fietta said.
No residents have complained about any abuse.
Meanwhile, the Ryans and Vorreuter continue to foster those kittens and approachable cats they have rescued and are seeking proper homes for them.
The women want to find good homes for the animals, where they will be new additions for families, Molly Ryan said.
“We don't want to give them to people who just want cute little kittens, that's just skirting the issue,” she said,
This issue is a national problem that is found on the streets of Auburn, in rural Cayuga County and in communities everywhere.
Russell has heard countless estimates about how widespread this problem is in the county. One figure reached 14,000 feral and strays, but there is no way to substantiate that claim. Census would take considerable amount of work, Russell said.
People can only keep them alive, provide food, and spay and neuter them, Vorreuter said. Otherwise, they will continually breed.
The female cats have kittens and those have kittens. Shortly, there are hundreds of strays, she said. After time, they and their litters can become feral - wild.
Many surrounding counties have programs to help spay and neuter animals, and Vorreuter encourages the county to invest in a program to cut back the rampant problem.
But the number one step is education.
People need to become responsible pet owners and not abandon them.
“People know what's going to happen to their cats. They may not know that their cat will turn into a hundred cats in a year or so, but they know that their life is going to be miserable,” Vorreuter said. “It's a terrible life of suffering.”
Some people get overwhelmed with their pets, others move to a place that doesn't allow furry friends.
In some cases, they want a young kitten and ditch the adult cat, she said.
The first step a prospective owner should do is determine if they are ready for a cat, Vorreuter added.
“A pet is a lifelong commitment. You're committing for their lifetime,” Vorreuter said.
If they can't handle their pets, they should seek other alternatives to dumping them in wooded areas.
People can advertise, pin a notice on bulletin boards or look for apartment complexes that allow animals, she suggested.
“You hear of houses full of cats, they're called collectors. They probably started by saving cats,” Vorreuter said.
Fietta said many of the cats congregating are some of the 210 park residents' pets and their litters.
The community imposes a two-pet rule and she will suggest owners keep their felines inside as the SPCA recommends, Fietta said.
Many people make comments about owners not getting pets if they can't feed them, but Cynthia Ryan reminds them that most of the residents are feeding strays that are already there.
“We're trying to pick up the pieces from somebody else” Cynthia Ryan said.
Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net
How to call
To report animal cruelty:
Finger Lakes SPCA, 253-5841
Local police or sheriff department
For a lost dog:
Finger Lakes Dog Protection Agency, 253-4367
To report suspected rabies:
Cayuga County Environmental Health Service, 253-1405
To adopt a cat: Finger Lakes SPCA, 253-5841
For a dog license: Contact local town or village clerk
Get free pet food for emergencies only: Pet Food Pantry, 253-2878
To get information or education on animals: Animal Resource Center, 255-1405
Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes, 651-0186,
judy@cayugaanimaladvocates.org
Where to Go
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets offers an Animal Population Control Program.
People who receive public assistance can have their animals spayed and neutered for $30 when they adopt from approved animal protective agencies. The law also allows people to have their own pets fixed for $20.
Call 1 888 669-0870 or visit www.agmkt.state.ny.us
Stray cats not neutered or spayed can and usually do multiply repeatedly. A female cat can produce three litters within a year, which usually consist four to six kittens per litter.
A group of women are doing what they can to save felines that have formed a growing colony near a Brutus mobile home park.
Last fall, Cynthia Ryan heard of a woman who needed help having her cats neutered. Once at the Kenyon Landing Mobile Home Park, she saw unkempt cats with various medical issues.
Her daughter, Molly Ryan, went out to the area to get a kitten to take home, but couldn't turn her back on the heartbreaking sight of the hungry strays.
A colony of feral felines had settled near the park. The community has more than 200 mobile homes, and through the years, people moved and simply left their cats behind.
Tina and Peter Fietta took over the community in 2003.
“I can say that four years ago there was a larger (cat population),” Tina Fietta said. “I called Appleton Disposal and got containers with lids. With the lids on them it seemed to control not just the cats and the strays but any other animals.”
Cynthia Ryan estimates the colony is nearing 100 occupants. However, there's just no way to know for sure, said Carol Russell, executive director of the Finger Lakes Society of Prevention Cruelty to Animals of Central New York.
Russell toured the mobile home park with Fietta and saw 25 to 30, she said. But that was during the day, and cats are nocturnal animals.
Over the past few months, Molly Ryan has opened her home to foster some of the tabbies found in the park. She's taken home 14 kittens; one died, four others found homes and a few more are promised; and a pregnant cat.
People from Kenyon Landing tell her about more kittens. But that's the problem, there are always more kittens.
“I just can't accommodate them all,” she said. “They keep multiplying and multiplying and multiplying.”
The mother and daughter have spent $1,000 out of pocket for the animals' medical treatment.
Everyone seems to agree on the method to cut down the population, but finding funding is not easy.
The trap, neuter and return technique (TNR) is a humane way to cut down unwanted litters in feral cat colonies.
“There's really only one solution that's humane, and that's trap, neuter and release, TNR,” said Judy Vorreuter, the founder and director of Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes.
The slow process cuts down the amount of kittens. Adult animals are placed back in the colonies with a notch in the ear to identify the fixed ones. This will cause the colonies to stop growing, and eventually die out of natural causes, Vorreuter said.
“As a rule of thumb, new cats don't (join) feral colonies so the size shrinks,” Russell said.
However, removing the animals altogether, besides being time consuming and generally difficult, likely would result in another colony moving into the area.
Rita Sarnicola runs the Animal Resource Center, supports TNR and suggested fundraisers to come up with some of the money needed for neutering. The next step is education to cut down on the national problem.
The state offers a program to assist low income residents in paying for neutering services. However, not all veterinarians have to accept the state Agriculture and Marketing-issued vouchers.
Russell says the goal is to provide help with the feral situation with spay and neutering, and offering a safe environment with food.
A few residents are feeding the cats, and the Ryans as well as agencies have provided bags of food.
“The point is to return them to where people are feeding them,” Vorreuter said.
Fietta has agreed to follow Russell's recommendations and install two feeding stations. She's speaking with residents who feed the strays and may have become attached to them to find the best locations for them, Fietta said.
The tabbies will gather where the food is, Russell said.
“(Feeding them) doesn't really attract any more, and it is pretty inhumane not to feed them ... They don't necessarily go away if you don't,” Vorreuter said.
One tenant complained an animal sprayed his motorcycle and during the winter a couple residents told Fietta cats were settling under the skirt of the trailers, where the insulation is.
The Ryans took some of the cats from under trailers.
The SPCA investigator has been out to the park to see if there was any acts of cruelty against the animals.
However, Russell could not provide details because it is an ongoing investigation.
Fietta agreed some people view the cats as nuisances, but is usually aware of problems, such as animal abuse, in the community.
“Our policy is that you can put anything in writing and you don't have to sign it,” Fietta said.
No residents have complained about any abuse.
Meanwhile, the Ryans and Vorreuter continue to foster those kittens and approachable cats they have rescued and are seeking proper homes for them.
The women want to find good homes for the animals, where they will be new additions for families, Molly Ryan said.
“We don't want to give them to people who just want cute little kittens, that's just skirting the issue,” she said,
This issue is a national problem that is found on the streets of Auburn, in rural Cayuga County and in communities everywhere.
Russell has heard countless estimates about how widespread this problem is in the county. One figure reached 14,000 feral and strays, but there is no way to substantiate that claim. Census would take considerable amount of work, Russell said.
People can only keep them alive, provide food, and spay and neuter them, Vorreuter said. Otherwise, they will continually breed.
The female cats have kittens and those have kittens. Shortly, there are hundreds of strays, she said. After time, they and their litters can become feral - wild.
Many surrounding counties have programs to help spay and neuter animals, and Vorreuter encourages the county to invest in a program to cut back the rampant problem.
But the number one step is education.
People need to become responsible pet owners and not abandon them.
“People know what's going to happen to their cats. They may not know that their cat will turn into a hundred cats in a year or so, but they know that their life is going to be miserable,” Vorreuter said. “It's a terrible life of suffering.”
Some people get overwhelmed with their pets, others move to a place that doesn't allow furry friends.
In some cases, they want a young kitten and ditch the adult cat, she said.
The first step a prospective owner should do is determine if they are ready for a cat, Vorreuter added.
“A pet is a lifelong commitment. You're committing for their lifetime,” Vorreuter said.
If they can't handle their pets, they should seek other alternatives to dumping them in wooded areas.
People can advertise, pin a notice on bulletin boards or look for apartment complexes that allow animals, she suggested.
“You hear of houses full of cats, they're called collectors. They probably started by saving cats,” Vorreuter said.
Fietta said many of the cats congregating are some of the 210 park residents' pets and their litters.
The community imposes a two-pet rule and she will suggest owners keep their felines inside as the SPCA recommends, Fietta said.
Many people make comments about owners not getting pets if they can't feed them, but Cynthia Ryan reminds them that most of the residents are feeding strays that are already there.
“We're trying to pick up the pieces from somebody else” Cynthia Ryan said.
Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net
How to call
To report animal cruelty:
Finger Lakes SPCA, 253-5841
Local police or sheriff department
For a lost dog:
Finger Lakes Dog Protection Agency, 253-4367
To report suspected rabies:
Cayuga County Environmental Health Service, 253-1405
To adopt a cat: Finger Lakes SPCA, 253-5841
For a dog license: Contact local town or village clerk
Get free pet food for emergencies only: Pet Food Pantry, 253-2878
To get information or education on animals: Animal Resource Center, 255-1405
Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes, 651-0186,
judy@cayugaanimaladvocates.org
Where to Go
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets offers an Animal Population Control Program.
People who receive public assistance can have their animals spayed and neutered for $30 when they adopt from approved animal protective agencies. The law also allows people to have their own pets fixed for $20.
Call 1 888 669-0870 or visit www.agmkt.state.ny.us
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