In The News
Cat Crisis in Canada
April 2013
By Tenille Bonoguore, MSN.ca
In the age-old rivalry between cats and dogs, felines might be winning the numbers battle but they appear to be losing the tug-of-heartstrings war.
Shelters across the country are swamped under a deluge of lost and unwanted cats, leading to thousands being put down each year. Meanwhile the numbers of wild and feral cats continue to go untallied.
Cats were recently condemned as "cuddly killers" when a U.S. report found that free-ranging cats kill up to 3.7 million birds and 20 billion small mammals a year. In New Zealand, prominent economist and environmentalist Gareth Morgan has even proposed measures that would eliminate cats from that whole country.
And in Canada, a damning December report from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies warns the country is in the midst of a cat-overpopulation crisis, as unwanted felines clog shelters, the cat population breeds unsustainably, wild cats wreak havoc on natural environments, and euthanasia-numbers reaching in disturbing highs.
If that's not enough to make cat-fanciers cringe, consider this: If a pet cat and a pet dog go missing, the dog is 30 times more likely to be reclaimed by its owner.
That's largely due to the fact that dog owners are much more likely to microchip or otherwise identify their pets. Cats, it seems, are considered the more expendable pet.
That is not because Canadians don't like cats. Cat ownership is on the rise nationally. The problem is that cat owners often don't assume the same responsibilities as dog owners.
Cats are less likely to receive veterinary care, partly because it's harder to tell when they are sick. They can also be difficult to transport to the vet, so some pet owners choose to avoid the stress of travel.
"It creates the optics that cat owners might not be as dedicated," says Ontario Veterinarian College instructor John Tait. That is incorrect, he says. Cat owners get just as attached as dog owners, and grieve their loss equally deeply.
Federation of Human Societies CEO Barb Cartwright says cat overpopulation isn't due to a dislike of cats. It's due, largely, to societal inaction.
"Cats are less likely to receive veterinary care, they're less likely to be identified (with a microchip or collar), they are less likely to be adopted," Cartwright says.
But this can change. Fifty years ago, society treated dogs just as it now treats cats, Cartwright says.
"We need to evolve our idea of [animal] companionship."
Bringing cat ownership up to scratch
Three main factors have led to the current overpopulation crisis: not enough owners de-sex their pets; not enough owners identify their cats; and not enough adult cats in shelters find adoptive homes.
On top of that, thousands of people each year surrender their pet cats because they simply can no longer keep them, most often due to housing issues.
This means high numbers of lost or unwanted cats are being surrendered to already-full shelters, or turned onto the streets where they join the ranks of Canada's wild felines.
Shelters across the country are having trouble addressing the issue, with many shelters near or at capacity. Because cats are sensitive to stress, the packed environment can send a healthy cat to death row.
Not all shelters euthanize. Some, like the Nova Scotia SPCA, only accept cats if there is room for them, Cartwright says.
At the moment, that shelter has hundreds of cats on the waiting list to get in. "This really is a community issue that we need to address."
A number of municipalities are taking the cat crisis into their own hands and considering a range of programs to help address it, such as licensing and subsidized neutering operations for the cats of low-income owners.
The City of Calgary passed a licensing bylaw in 2006 that required cat registration, just as they require it for dogs. Within a year there were fewer cats brought to the shelter, and the euthanasia rate was halved.
A number of other Canadian cities now have some kind of cat registration in place, while others, including Winnipeg, are considering introducing cat licensing.
The move is a step in the right direction, says Dr. Liz O'Brien, a Hamilton, Ont., veterinarian and spokesperson for Care For Cats, an organization devoted to raising awareness about the cat crisis.
Cat identification and spaying/neutering are the two most essential steps owners can take to help get cat numbers under control, just as people previously did with dogs, O'Brien says.
"Dogs used to roam the streets, and the pound was full of them. We've solved that problem for dogs, and now we need to do it with cats," O'Brien says.
The goal, she says, is to reach an equilibrium at which there are as many cats as there are homes for cats.
But reaching that goal requires not only a drastic change in how we approach cat ownership, but some tough love for the cats already in the wild.
The feral question
It's not known how many feral cats live in Canada. Toronto alone is thought to be home to 3,000. Cape Breton is believed to have between 5,00 and 10,000 cats roaming wild.
Without proper monitoring programs, it is almost impossible to tally the nation's feral cat population and its environmental impact. What experts do know is that the problem cannot continue to go unaddressed.
Each year, untold numbers of cats are simply let into the wild by owners who no long can, or want to, care for them. These additional cats join the large number of wild and "unowned" cats that already live outside.
While some residents feed these wild cats, believing it to be a humanitarian gesture, those efforts are only helpful if they are backed up with veterinary care, spaying and neutering, says the CFHS's Cartwright.
"If you feed a cat regularly, you should think about giving it treatment and finding it a home," Cartwright says.
Experts agree that the best option for dealing with wild cats is to run a trap-neuter-return program that manages the population until it runs out. That can take years, warns a Cape Breton group that began a trap-neuter-release program in November.
Cape Breton SPCA member Ann Dunn told the Cape Breton Post it "will probably be about two years before people begin to notice a difference."
But that's what happened at Canada's best known feral cat colony, the Canadian Parliamentary Cats.
Managed for more than 25 years by a dedicated group of volunteers, the cats were all vaccinated, spayed and neutered, and any cats abandoned at the site were taken to the Ottawa Humane Society for adoption.
The colony was shut down in January after the final four resident cats were adopted.
"That's a great example of how a colony could be," Cartwright says.
April 2013
By Tenille Bonoguore, MSN.ca
In the age-old rivalry between cats and dogs, felines might be winning the numbers battle but they appear to be losing the tug-of-heartstrings war.
Shelters across the country are swamped under a deluge of lost and unwanted cats, leading to thousands being put down each year. Meanwhile the numbers of wild and feral cats continue to go untallied.
Cats were recently condemned as "cuddly killers" when a U.S. report found that free-ranging cats kill up to 3.7 million birds and 20 billion small mammals a year. In New Zealand, prominent economist and environmentalist Gareth Morgan has even proposed measures that would eliminate cats from that whole country.
And in Canada, a damning December report from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies warns the country is in the midst of a cat-overpopulation crisis, as unwanted felines clog shelters, the cat population breeds unsustainably, wild cats wreak havoc on natural environments, and euthanasia-numbers reaching in disturbing highs.
If that's not enough to make cat-fanciers cringe, consider this: If a pet cat and a pet dog go missing, the dog is 30 times more likely to be reclaimed by its owner.
That's largely due to the fact that dog owners are much more likely to microchip or otherwise identify their pets. Cats, it seems, are considered the more expendable pet.
That is not because Canadians don't like cats. Cat ownership is on the rise nationally. The problem is that cat owners often don't assume the same responsibilities as dog owners.
Cats are less likely to receive veterinary care, partly because it's harder to tell when they are sick. They can also be difficult to transport to the vet, so some pet owners choose to avoid the stress of travel.
"It creates the optics that cat owners might not be as dedicated," says Ontario Veterinarian College instructor John Tait. That is incorrect, he says. Cat owners get just as attached as dog owners, and grieve their loss equally deeply.
Federation of Human Societies CEO Barb Cartwright says cat overpopulation isn't due to a dislike of cats. It's due, largely, to societal inaction.
"Cats are less likely to receive veterinary care, they're less likely to be identified (with a microchip or collar), they are less likely to be adopted," Cartwright says.
But this can change. Fifty years ago, society treated dogs just as it now treats cats, Cartwright says.
"We need to evolve our idea of [animal] companionship."
Bringing cat ownership up to scratch
Three main factors have led to the current overpopulation crisis: not enough owners de-sex their pets; not enough owners identify their cats; and not enough adult cats in shelters find adoptive homes.
On top of that, thousands of people each year surrender their pet cats because they simply can no longer keep them, most often due to housing issues.
This means high numbers of lost or unwanted cats are being surrendered to already-full shelters, or turned onto the streets where they join the ranks of Canada's wild felines.
Shelters across the country are having trouble addressing the issue, with many shelters near or at capacity. Because cats are sensitive to stress, the packed environment can send a healthy cat to death row.
Not all shelters euthanize. Some, like the Nova Scotia SPCA, only accept cats if there is room for them, Cartwright says.
At the moment, that shelter has hundreds of cats on the waiting list to get in. "This really is a community issue that we need to address."
A number of municipalities are taking the cat crisis into their own hands and considering a range of programs to help address it, such as licensing and subsidized neutering operations for the cats of low-income owners.
The City of Calgary passed a licensing bylaw in 2006 that required cat registration, just as they require it for dogs. Within a year there were fewer cats brought to the shelter, and the euthanasia rate was halved.
A number of other Canadian cities now have some kind of cat registration in place, while others, including Winnipeg, are considering introducing cat licensing.
The move is a step in the right direction, says Dr. Liz O'Brien, a Hamilton, Ont., veterinarian and spokesperson for Care For Cats, an organization devoted to raising awareness about the cat crisis.
Cat identification and spaying/neutering are the two most essential steps owners can take to help get cat numbers under control, just as people previously did with dogs, O'Brien says.
"Dogs used to roam the streets, and the pound was full of them. We've solved that problem for dogs, and now we need to do it with cats," O'Brien says.
The goal, she says, is to reach an equilibrium at which there are as many cats as there are homes for cats.
But reaching that goal requires not only a drastic change in how we approach cat ownership, but some tough love for the cats already in the wild.
The feral question
It's not known how many feral cats live in Canada. Toronto alone is thought to be home to 3,000. Cape Breton is believed to have between 5,00 and 10,000 cats roaming wild.
Without proper monitoring programs, it is almost impossible to tally the nation's feral cat population and its environmental impact. What experts do know is that the problem cannot continue to go unaddressed.
Each year, untold numbers of cats are simply let into the wild by owners who no long can, or want to, care for them. These additional cats join the large number of wild and "unowned" cats that already live outside.
While some residents feed these wild cats, believing it to be a humanitarian gesture, those efforts are only helpful if they are backed up with veterinary care, spaying and neutering, says the CFHS's Cartwright.
"If you feed a cat regularly, you should think about giving it treatment and finding it a home," Cartwright says.
Experts agree that the best option for dealing with wild cats is to run a trap-neuter-return program that manages the population until it runs out. That can take years, warns a Cape Breton group that began a trap-neuter-release program in November.
Cape Breton SPCA member Ann Dunn told the Cape Breton Post it "will probably be about two years before people begin to notice a difference."
But that's what happened at Canada's best known feral cat colony, the Canadian Parliamentary Cats.
Managed for more than 25 years by a dedicated group of volunteers, the cats were all vaccinated, spayed and neutered, and any cats abandoned at the site were taken to the Ottawa Humane Society for adoption.
The colony was shut down in January after the final four resident cats were adopted.
"That's a great example of how a colony could be," Cartwright says.
