Feral cats in the city

Part one of a two-part series

MONTE VISTA— Cats need to be taken care of and deserve loving homes too. There are many feral cat colonies throughout Monte Vista and these felines need resources to survive. One such colony is at the home of Becky Aultman who hopes to raise awareness and inspire residents to help develop better adoption choices and find ways to tackle the issue.

A problem Aultman has identified is the local shelter’s inability to help with cats. Aultman stated she had called the shelter to get the feral cats housed but was told they did not have the capacity to assist. She hopes that within the city of Monte Vista citizens might consider donating to the shelter or to local organizations to help them consider building an area and get more resources for feral or stray cats. The lack of funds prevents the shelter from helping with feral kittens even though the shelter will take some cats. “What happens then is the parents land up having more litters. Since I’ve been here the parents have landed up having two litters and that has created 10 cats,” said Aultman.

Aultman is a new resident to Monte Vista and was surprised with the lack of cat specific resources in the city. “Everywhere I’ve lived there’s always been funds for cats and dogs.”

“I have three kittens and one cat. There’s just so much need cats like these have. They need volunteers, medical supplies and food. There’s these wonderful people from an organization who helped me set up cages and brought me food to help these cats become domesticated and adoptable,” she said.

A prevention method is participation in a spay/neuter clinic. Feral cats and kittens can be trapped and taken to these clinics. “This keeps them from reproducing and helps in reducing and controlling the feral cat population,” said Aultman. Local clinics that are often set up throughout the Valley in different cities and locations are relatively inexpensive. She said the cost to her to getting her kittens and cats spayed and neutered was low.

She hopes to combat the problem head on and love and play with such kittens. Once kittens such as the ones she’s caring for are helped she would like to get them foster homes and permanent, loving forever homes.

In part two of this series, learn about the local organization Cats Alive. It is the organization who has helped Aultman and who is finding ways to help with the feral cat issues and building resources for feline friends throughout the San Luis Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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