HENDRICKS COUNTY, Ind. -- Every spring, kittens pour into animal shelters. 80 percent of those are a result of stray and feral cats breeding. Overpopulation is a problem in communities big and small.
Brent McClughen and his family were looking for a breath of fresh air when they came to North Salem.
“We moved here from Brownsburg about five years ago and it was beautiful. A lot of wildlife and we got to enjoy everything,” said McClughen. “And then we started to notice we had a problem, a big cat problem.”
It started out as just a few cats hanging around the McClughen home, but that quickly changed to about 40 cats over the past four years.
“We have probably found homes for about 30, and we have been doing the spay and neuter program,” said McClughen.
McClughen says he was not aware of trap-spay-neuter-return programs and is very thankful they have been able to help with his cat situation
Lisa Tudor, the Community Cat Coordinator at Indianapolis Animal Care Services, wants people to take advantage of TSNR to reduce the constant cat overpopulation problem.
“Because unchecked, these cats are kept in an endless cycle of breeding,” said Tudor.
Cats can have anywhere from two to three litters of two to eight cats a year. With the TSNR program, local volunteers will help a homeowner trap feral cats, get them spayed or neutered, and then return them to their neighborhood home environments.
"A lot of what people complain about, is the mating behaviors. It's the yowling, the constant kittens, the spraying, the fighting, those are all mating behaviors. Once you get those cats fixed, immediately those mating behaviors diminish greatly. The cats are much calmer, they are not roaming, there are no kittens, they are better neighbors for everybody. And we can manage those cats in the community," said Tudor.
Some people worry that a fixed cat would not be a good "mouser." In other words, good to catch rodents. Tudor says that is not true because if a cat is not fixed their primary focus is to mate, not mouse.
Spay-Neuter Services of Indiana has a Community Cat Programto help with TSNR efforts. Any municipal shelter or 501c3 rescue group can apply for 30 free certificates per 12-month period.
Click here for more information on the IACS Community Cat Program, for the Hendricks County Community Cat Program, and for more TSNR resources for central Indiana.
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