U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Stray cats, free pets?

By Colin Day

The box on the corner of High Street and Lane Avenue read, "Free kittens." The man behind it, a middle-aged Columbus-ite, watched students walking by, hoping someone might take a kitten or two. Eventually, one student passed who couldn't resist. Ashley Scott, bent over the box, selected one black and tan kitten, and continued her walk on High Street.

"It's two weeks old," Scott explained. "I don't want anything bad to happen to it."

While Scott has no litter box, food or toys for the kitten, she said she has wanted one for a very long time.

This random act of kindness, taking a stray kitten into your home, is something many students might be inclined to do. Cats run rampant off campus, live under cars, scrounge through dumpsters and disappear in sewers. But why are so many cats living on the streets?

As altruistic as students' motives may be, it is often that they adopt or take on pets that they realistically can't handle. The college lifestyle has students running to and from class, sometimes not getting home until late in the day. Also, the relative cheapness of a cat is enticing to many future pet owners that do not have to pay for a license.

For some, a cat can be the perfect companion because they are relatively unsocial and approach humans only when they want to. However, because many students live together, the duties as caretaker sometimes falls upon others. Kristie Stout, a graduate of Ohio State University, lived with a cat owner who consistently forgot to tell her when he would be gone for a couple weeks.

"I made sure the cat had food and water, but I wasn't there a whole lot myself," she said. "I kinda felt bad for the cat."

When someone cannot care for their cat any longer, they might be swayed to get rid of it the old-fashioned way by opening up the door and letting it go. Many cats have accumulated outside doorsteps because of this line of thinking. As Scott said, "At least I can take care of it until it's older."

However, housecats are not raised to feed themselves and struggle to live on their own. If they do survive, they tend to breed and create more feral cats, increasing the problem. But there is a solution, and half of it is just having knowledge of animals.

"Students should realize that this is a multi-year commitment," said Sherri Miller, marketing and events manager at the Capital Area Humane Society in Hilliard. "Pets cost money, and they need to be taken care of."

According to the Society, the shelter took in more than 10,000 cats from Columbus in 2007. Only 20 percent of those cats were reportedly adopted. Feral cats, according to their Web site, are not admitted into the shelter because they are not to be kept as pets. Instead, the Humane Society will spay or neuter the animal, clip its ear to identify it as a non-reproducing animal and release it back into the wild. If the animal is just left on the doorstep, the feral cat "will be a candidate for immediate and humane euthanasia."

The fates of these cats is a startling reminder that pet ownership is a responsibility and not to be taken lightly. If you want a pet, a backup plan is a priority in case you cannot take care of it.

"My parents will take it and my sister would also. I checked [first]," said Michelle Horne, who owns an orange cat named Pickles. "I wouldn't just kick her out on the street ... if I couldn't find a person I would give it to a shelter."

'Fixing' your house cat is also an important part of pet ownership. For Miller, it is a big concern to spay and neuter your pet to "limit the pet population and stop ferals from breeding with them."

Last October, the CAHS worked in cooperation with Franklin County to offer 500 vouchers to spay or neuter cats to halt the abandonment of future kittens. To help move cats into permanent homes, CAHS offered the first 10 adopters each day for 10 days an adoption rate for $10 in the month of June. The plans were meant to encourage others to become responsible pet owners.

As Scott walked to her apartment, her books in one hand and a ball of fur in the other, one less cat is left to roam the streets. With responsible ownership, that respite from alleys will be a lifelong one.

Originally Published: October 7, 2009

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