Irresponsible pet owners lead to surge in euthanasia

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July 06, 2008

By Sanne Specht

Mail Tribune

Breeding season has brought hundreds of homeless cats and kittens pouring into the Jackson County Animal Care and Control Shelter.

The shelter's euthanasia room has been overflowing, sometimes twice a day — the sad last stop for hundreds of unadoptable and sick felines, said Donna Patnesky.

"This is the time of year where we can get up to 50 cats a couple days a week. And we are so full to begin with. It's just so hard," said Patnesky.

Patnesky has worked at the Jackson County Animal Shelter for 15 years. On an average day animal control takes in anywhere from 20 to 25 cats. On June 20, the shelter got in 60 cats and kittens and had to put 72 to death, she said.

"Right now I have a litter of kittens sitting in a ferret cage. We are just slammed," Patnesky said.

More people are spaying and neutering their pets, but there's still a long way to go. One key factor in the pet overpopulation equation is people who move and leave their unspayed female or non-neutered male cats behind, Patnesky said.

"They think they can survive," she said.

Some do. Some don't. Either way, most breed, which only adds to the problem. A single female cat can generate up to 250,000 cats in a decade, Patnesky said.

"They fight or feed together. They start spreading the disease. Sometimes we can't tell if they're really, really old or if they're really, really sick. They're just barely alive. Those are the ones who make it easier (to euthanize). The hard ones are when you get a litter of kittens," she said.

Entire litters of kittens coming into the shelter are being put down because they are ill with life-threatening, highly-contagious diseases. Feral cats are deemed unadoptable and go straight to isolation and are euthanized the same day, she said.

"Now even nice, adoptable cats have to be put to sleep because we don't have room," Patnesky said.

Other rescue organizations, such as CATS (Committed Alliance to Strays) are also overwhelmed and have lengthy waiting lists. The Southern Oregon Humane Society only takes in cats that are brought in by their owners who fit their criteria for adoption, she said.

"We still have the reputation that people say, 'We're not going to take them to the pound because they're going to kill them,' " she said. "But we do save as many as we can."

Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail sspecht@mailtribune.com.

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