Volunteers getting cat colonies under control

Since beginning a regional feline control program in March, volunteers with the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments have captured, treated and released more than 40 cats in Killingly and Putnam.

"It's a great start to the program," Program Director Rita Aguiar said. "There's a couple smaller colonies in Killingly we'll go to next before going into Moosup."

The council is using a $175,000 state Regional Performance Incentive grant to identify and capture members of the large cat colonies with the goal of spaying and neutering up to 1,000 cats during the next year.

Officials said the spay-and-neuter option has proven effective in other communities, drastically reducing the "community" cat population by up to 55 percent after three or four years. Council Executive Director John Filchak said the feral cat population in the council's 16-town coverage area number in the "hundreds, if not thousands."

Aguiar said she's typically notified about a cat colony by local caregivers or residents who regularly tend the animals. She said a core group of volunteers, most of them who donate their time at the regional shelter, have been assisting with the program.

"About two weeks before trapping, I ask the caregivers to feed the cats once a day at the same time of day in the same place, to get the cats used to coming to the same area," Aguiar said. "Then, 24 to 48 hours before we arrive, we stop feeding the cats. We then bait the traps with tuna, or something else that stinky and good to eat."

After being trapped, the felines are held at the council's animal shelter before being transported for surgery.

"Companion Veterinary Health Center in Dayville has been doing the surgery for us for free, which has been a huge help," Aguiar said. "We're also getting heavily discounted supplies."

Nancy Dutra, co-owner of the animal hospital, said her facility got involved in the program as a way to "give back to the community." In addition to the surgeries, felines brought in get rabies shots, a quick flea spray and a check for ear mites.

"We also surgically remove a quarter of the cats' left ears, making it easier to tell from far away if a cat has been spayed or neutered," Dutra said. "I also got in touch with several vendors who donated $500 worth of rabies vaccine, along with gloves and other supplies."

Dutra said cat colonies can be a brutal place for kittens, with maybe one or two young cats surviving to adulthood out of a litter of five.

"These are wild animals and not domesticated," she said. "Their food and housing are limited, so just relocating them doesn't work."

Once the surgeries are complete, the cats go back to the shelter for between 24 and 48 hours, depending on the felines' gender. Then it's a quick trip back to the colony where the cats are released.

"They're usually thrilled to be back outside," Aguiar said.

On Friday, Aguiar checked in on a colony behind a Reynolds Street home in Killingly. Soon after she scraped some wet cat food into a bowl under a lean-to shelter, an adult cat with missing fur on her belly and a clipped ear tentatively crept out from some nearby underbrush and began eating breakfast.

"Colonies like this get a social benefit from the program, too," she said. "The males don't fight as much and there's a lot less spraying. They're healthy."