Cat lovers unite to scratch growth.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

In just one day Sunday, Larisa Worthington kept about 6 million unwanted cats out of Oakridge.

Pied Piper? Grim Reaper?

Nope - just another cat lover who took the time and effort to bring in some stray and feral cats to a bimonthly mobile spay and neuter clinic. You can do the math different ways, but the 16 homeless cats Worthington and her volunteer group, the Feline Assistance Network, brought to the clinic could have produced untold thousands, even millions, of offspring during the next six or seven years had they been left to reproduce in the wild.

"I look at every cat we treat as another problem you've solved," said Worthington, who also served as the volunteer coordinator for Sunday's clinic. "It does the least harm, but it also does the most good."

That's the whole idea behind the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon spay and neuter clinic, which set up shop at the Emerald People's Utility District headquarters for the appointment-only surgical session. A total of 55 cats were "fixed" by an all-volunteer team of five veterinarians and dozens of technicians and caregivers.

Barbara Gunther, the local clinic coordinator, said sterilizing homeless cats is the most humane way of dealing with the huge population of animals that live mostly on their own throughout the county, state and country. Most of the cats brought in are being fed at least part of the time by sympathetic residents, but they otherwise live outdoors on their own.

"These are not owned cats. These are not pet cats in any way," she said.

People have to call ahead to get an appointment, and the service isn't free. There's a suggested donation of $25 per cat to cover the cost of vaccinations, medicine and other supplies.

Cats get a thorough examination that includes basic shots plus treatment for ear mites, worms and fleas. People have to trap the cats to get them to the clinic, then take them home and care for them for at least a day, in the case of females, until they recover enough to go back out on their own.

"It might be the only time in their whole lives they make it to the vet," Gunther said.

Volunteers come from all over Southern Oregon to help out, and many bring in cats as well. Penny Vance, a retired veterinary technician from Glide, has been doing it every two months for six years.

She said the animal control agency in Douglas County has to put down 6,000 to 7,000 abandoned animals a year, 93 percent of them cats. The only way to make a dent in numbers like that, she said, is to make sure the animals can't produce more kittens.

"Anything I can do to reduce that population is an important thing," she said. "This gives me a lot of satisfaction."

And it works, Worthington said. All cats treated at the clinic get the tips of their right ears snipped so they can be recognized if someone captures them again later, and in just the last three months she's had people show up with two marked cats.

In the Oakridge area, where Worthington and FAN do most of their work, feral cat colonies that had been producing dozens of kittens a year have had none this year, she said. And that's what makes it all worthwhile.

"We're here for the cats," she said.

GOT CATS? Appointments for the next feral cat spay and neuter clinic will be taken soon. To schedule an appointment, call 607-4282.

Mobile spay and neuter clinic provides hope for curbing feline suffering