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- Apr 6, 2006
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We have a small (15-ish) colony of feral cats in our college town; and they're cared for by the owners of a small restaurant nearby. I've talked to them about the cats some--every time I come in I ask how they're doing--and they say that often times, college students will adopt kittens, then abandon them when they move away. Naturally I think this is a pretty awful thing to do, and it adds to the cat problem too.
It isn't a very bad cat problem, chiefly because the restaurant people have been good about feeding, neutering, and re-homing the tamest of the strays, and sometimes sending others that are too wild to be house cats to live on a family member's farm. That's why there are only a couple dozen cats, at most, and the ones I've seen are pretty healthy.
But now it's kitten season, and they tell me that some of the cats they couldn't trap or didn't have enough money to neuter probably have litters. That means it's going to cost them even more to take care of the cats. They're owners of a small business, not millionaires--and feeding and TNR costs a lot of money.
And on top of that, school will end in a month or so; and some of the college students, like every year, will say to themselves, "Oh, Fluffy will be fine on her own--this is such a small town," and dump their cats.
So I've been thinking:
Our college has a pretty good computer network, and everybody gets an e-mail address. I think I could probably get permission to send out a mass e-mail to everybody--I know one of the Deans, and she likes cats--telling them not to dump their cats.
But I'm not sure what to say. I want to explain how horrid it is to abandon a pet, and I want to tell them to find a shelter instead... I don't know where there are any no-kill shelters in Ohio though. The restaurant has a little "tip jar" for the cats, and maybe I could ask them to put change in that when they go to eat there.
I'm not very good at communicating though...
Can you help me?
It isn't a very bad cat problem, chiefly because the restaurant people have been good about feeding, neutering, and re-homing the tamest of the strays, and sometimes sending others that are too wild to be house cats to live on a family member's farm. That's why there are only a couple dozen cats, at most, and the ones I've seen are pretty healthy.
But now it's kitten season, and they tell me that some of the cats they couldn't trap or didn't have enough money to neuter probably have litters. That means it's going to cost them even more to take care of the cats. They're owners of a small business, not millionaires--and feeding and TNR costs a lot of money.
And on top of that, school will end in a month or so; and some of the college students, like every year, will say to themselves, "Oh, Fluffy will be fine on her own--this is such a small town," and dump their cats.
So I've been thinking:
Our college has a pretty good computer network, and everybody gets an e-mail address. I think I could probably get permission to send out a mass e-mail to everybody--I know one of the Deans, and she likes cats--telling them not to dump their cats.
But I'm not sure what to say. I want to explain how horrid it is to abandon a pet, and I want to tell them to find a shelter instead... I don't know where there are any no-kill shelters in Ohio though. The restaurant has a little "tip jar" for the cats, and maybe I could ask them to put change in that when they go to eat there.
I'm not very good at communicating though...
Can you help me?