CAT POPULATION KEPT IN CHECK.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Think of them as modern day cowpokes with one big difference: These people don't herd cattle, but cats by the hundreds.

Every other month, a band of "catpokes" rounds up homeless felines in live traps and takes them to a big, white hospital truck owned by the nonprofit Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon.

There, volunteer veterinarians spay or neuter the cats and administer basic vaccinations. They "brand" the cats by clipping the tip from the right ear to show they've been picked up and neutered. Then the cats - mostly cast-off pets and their descendants - get a ride back to where they came from.

Many live in feral cat colonies, tended by cat lovers who feed them, provide makeshift shelter against the weather and pay $20 apiece out of their own pockets to have the animals sterilized.

The volunteer network has taken on more importance since severe budget cuts forced the Lane County Animal Regulation Authority to eliminate all cat-related services in July.

As a result, more people have begun dumping unwanted animals in city neighborhoods, near farms or along country roads, where many go hungry, meet with accidents or fall victim to larger predators. Others take refuge with already wild cats, mate with them - and the population explodes.

Untended colonies of feral cats quickly become nuisances, spreading diseases and fighting with domestic cats, defecating in flower beds and vegetable gardens and killing songbirds, although they also help keep down populations of mice and rats.

Mike Wellington, program manager for the county animal control authority, said strong trap-neuter-and-release programs "are the only way we're ever going to solve the problem of cat overpopulation."

Before the county's cattery closed, it euthanized unclaimed or unwanted cats almost daily - more than 2,000 per year - a waste in life and taxpayer money, he said.

A citizen task force recently submitted a series of recommendations for dealing with cat overpopulation and euthanasia to county commissioners. Proposals include increased enforcement of dog licensing, with a portion of the fee supporting spay/neuter programs for dogs and cats, and a surcharge on pet food sales earmarked for low-cost sterilization.

A feral cat clinic last Sunday netted about 100 cats, which means - conservatively - well more than 2,000 fewer wild, or feral, kittens will be born in the county during the next year. Free-ranging cats can bear as many as three litters per year, averaging three to four kittens per litter, and females can become pregnant as young as 5 months.

Once sterilized, however, the population of feral cat colonies stabilizes, and growth slows, occurring primarily from the arrival of new throwaways instead of prolific breeding.

The Feral Cat Coalition's clinics in Lane County do more than 1,200 spays and neuters each year, and it's not the only group trying to control stray and feral cats. Kathy Lacki works at the city of Eugene's low-cost Spay/Neuter Clinic, which sterilizes 2,500 cats every year, and the nonprofit Stray Cat Alliance, another local rescue and spay/neuter group, adds another 600 or so.

These animal welfare groups concur that Oregon has as many as 500,000 feral cats, with the number nationally put at 60 million.

Rena Cowan, a veterinarian with the Eugene Animal Hospital, said it's not only tenders of feral cat colonies who have noticed large influxes of stray cats since the county's budget cuts went into effect.

"We've been having lots of animals dumped on our doorstep," Cowan said.

Staff members do their best to find homes for the discarded animals - "Everyone who works there has lots of cats," Cowan said wryly - but there's obviously a limit to how many can be accommodated.

That's why Cowan didn't mind spending her Sunday volunteering at the Feral Cat Coalition's clinic, standing for hours in her scrubs, spaying cat after cat after cat.

Inside the west Eugene Moose Lodge, which donated space to the clinic for the day, other volunteers lined up row after row of cat carriers, each covered with a blanket. "We use about 100 volunteers - about half of our list - for each clinic," said Jody Larson, co-coordinator of the coalition's local chapter.

When the animals arrive, each cat gets an initial health screen for battle wounds, upper respiratory ailments or signs of serious illness. Doctors immediately euthanize any that test positive for feline HIV or leukemia and treat other, nonlethal conditions.

Volunteers separate the cats by sex, and they go to the hospital truck for the sterilization procedure, with one bank of veterinarians spaying the females and another neutering the males. After the procedure, other volunteers keep a close eye on the cats as they come out of the anesthesia. Some experience a drop in body temperature, treated by a session on a heating pad or under a heat lamp, with surgical gloves filled with hot water packed around them. In the most critical cases, they get an infusion of warmth from a heated IV solution.

Tara Stark, a football player with the Eugene Edge professional women's team, gently massaged a tiny female cat as she tried to bring its temperature to a normal 100 degrees.

"This is the first time I've done something like this," said Stark, who recently adopted three feral kittens found along a roadside. "It's been a wonderful experience - I've already signed up to volunteer for the next clinic. The hard part is that we all fall in love with every one of these cats and want to take them home."

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

A number of nonprofit groups work together under the umbrella of the Animal Welfare Network of Lane County to identify, care for and control the population of unwanted cats.

The Bearen Foundation: Financial assistance to qualified people who face veterinary expenses beyond their means; 242-3827.

Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon-Eugene: Reduction of feral cat populations through spaying and neutering; 607-4282 or 689-0397.

Florence Area Humane Society: No-kill facility serving west Lane County; 997-4277.

Greenhill Humane Society: Takes owner-released animals from rural Lane County; requires spay/neuter in order to adopt.

Humane Society of Cottage Grove: Low-cost spay/neuter assistance; 942-3130.

The Ninth Life: Rescue, placement and referral for cats and kittens; 747-8964.

Pro-Bone-0: Financial and veterinary assistance to homeless people for spay/neuter and other health services through the St. Vincent de Paul Society's service station; 461-8688.

Stop Pet Overpopulation Today (SPOT): Spay/neuter financial assistance for low-income pet owners; 485-7768.

Stray Cat Alliance: Low-cost spay/neuter services, food and veterinary assistance to people who help stray cats; 341-3974.

CAPTION(S):

Braced by surgical gloves filled with hot water, anesthetized feral cats await space on the operating table during a Feral Cat Coalition mobile spay and neuter clinic. The clinic travels much of Oregon spaying and neutering as many wild felines as its network of volunteers can capture.