Don’t just feed them, fix them

Wendy Odom checks on one of the foster cats living in her heated habitat. Photos by Samantha Lyles

By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net

The Darlington County Humane Society (DCHS), operating the Darlington County Animal Shelter, took in just over 3,100 dogs and cats in 2018. The number of dogs and cats coming to the shelter last year was just about equal, but cats and kittens are euthanized in higher numbers than dogs due to illness and limited space.

“Cats are more fragile than dogs and have inadequate housing at the shelter so they become sicker and have to be euthanized,” says Kathy McDonald of DCHS.

Curbing the number of stray and feral cats requires action on the part of individual citizens, since the only way to stop unchecked breeding is to spay and neuter the animals. This is a lesson Wendy Odom is uniquely positioned to help deliver.
“Believe it or not, up until 2010 or 2011, I was scared of cats,” says Odom, fully aware of the irony as she pets a fluffy black feline named Grizzly, one of several cats she now fosters in her home.

Possum

Her journey from wariness to sympathy happened quickly, as she investigated reports of a number of cats roaming the Darlington trailer park owned by her family.

“I thought there was maybe 20 or so. There was 64 cats,” says Odom, noting that she immediately felt sorry for the scraggly strays and underfed kittens. “People think cats can just fend on their own, but they really can’t. … The average feral cat only lives about two to three years. They starve or get sick or get killed by other animals.”

Odom says she knew simply feeding the cats would not fix the problem, as the feral cat population would continue to grow. According to Spay USA, an unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing two litters per year with 2.8 kittens surviving per litter, can produce 11.6 million cats over the course of nine years. Odom says she found the numbers downright alarming.`

“So I started getting them fixed,” she says.

Spay and neuter surgeries can cost upwards of $100 per animal, but Odom utilized the low-cost alternative provided by SNIP (Spay and Neuter Intervention of the Pee Dee) clinic, located in Florence.

She also received a price break due to the high number of cats involved.

In addition to feeding the now-fixed trailer park cats, Odom keeps several cats indoors and several more in a heated habitat she built for them, complete with overhead walkways and numerous privacy nooks where they can nap in peace.

Some of the cats she fosters get adopted by lo­cal families, but Odom knows that cats are adopted at much lower rates than dogs, so she takes care of as many as she can, and always makes sure the animals are snipped for population control and for their own safety.

Smokey

“A spayed or neutered cat is healthier, less prone to get sick, to roam, to get in fights. It’s just better for them,” says Odom.

McDonald says The Humane Society is trying to build a new cat building to replace one of the old sheds that the cats have been living in, but rain delays have that project about two months behind.

She also notes that 94 cats/kittens had been adopted from the shelter by Sept. 30. The numbers for the last quarter have not been reported yet.

“Dr. Belva High has been working on building relationships with cat rescues for about three years now and finally DCHS has a good rescue option for cats,” says McDonald.

“This year 523 cats and kittens, about half of the felines coming to the shelter, were adopted out through rescue partners in other states.”

She adds that Pam Davidson, manager of the DCHS Spay/Neuter Outreach Program, does an excellent job of preventing cats from ever coming to the shelter.

Davidson works with area residents to spay/neuter their cats, allowing the cats to remain with people who will feed and care for them.

Grizzly

She also solicits donations and manages a loyal group of volunteers who team with owners to keep pets healthy and safe in their homes.

“These lower shelter numbers are a testament to Pam and the program’s supporters, who have built cat boxes and transported cats to vet appointments and even relocated some cats to different homes,” says McDonald.

“Managing a healthy pet population takes a whole community. Thanks to people like Wendy, Belva, Pam and the many DCHS volunteers and supporters, Darlington County is headed in the right direction.”

Odom says that momentum would get a big boost if South Carolina – or at least Darlington County – would pass legislation requiring owners to fix non-breeding animals.

“If I won the lottery, I would use the money to get a spay/neuter law passed, and all the people who want to get their animals fixed, I would help them pay for it,” she says.

For more information about low-cost spay and neuter options, visit snipclinic.org or call them at (843) 407-7981.

Author: Stephan Drew

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