Study Ties Family Income To Cat Spay/Neuter

A recent Alley Cat Allies study (conducted by Harris Interactive) projects that over 80% of U.S. pet cats are neutered. That number rises to over 93% in households whose annual income exceed $35,000, but then dips to 51% in those with incomes below $35,000. The study --“Population Characteristics and Neuter Status of Cats Living in Households in the United States” is published in the April 15th edition of JAVMA (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2009;234:1023-1030)). The study concludes that family income is the strongest single predictor of whether house cats are neutered. For years many old-guard humane institutions – particularly when defending their questionable practice of putting down healthy-but-homeless cats and kittens – blame cat overpopulation on “irresponsible pet owners who didn’t get their cats fixed”. We hope this study dispels their myth once and for all.

We never bought the theory. Knowing how challenging living with an un-neutered cat is , why would anyone choose to live with one -- if they had affordable and convenient access to spay/neuter. So in 2004 we augmented our feral colony spay/neuter program with a lower-income program and began giving free spay/neuter help to households with annual incomes under $40,000. The program has been a great success. In 2008 1,325 of our 3,500 spay/neuters were of lower-income pet cats.

This January, though, we modified the program to charge a modest $25 fee for each lower-income spay/neuter voucher. Even at that charge, we were still the lowest-cost program in the area and did not anticipate the charge would have any negative impact. Well, much to our dismay it did. The drop-off in participation was considerable. For the first 4 months of this year, our lower-income sterilizations are down 65% from 2008.

We got the message – even $25 is more than many can afford for cat spay/neuter. Knowing how important our service was for lower-income families, we are again providing free vouchers and are alrealdy seeing an upturn in applications.

We’re confident If more programs like this were available, the overall rate of pet cat spay/neuters would climb – and cats that may otherwise be given to shelters or left to fend for themselves outdoors -- would stand a better chance of staying in their original home. We like to think of the lower-income program as our pre-emptive TNR (trap-neuter-return). Every cat that stays in her original home reduces the number of free-roaming cats that won’t need TNR. And because they are sterilized, even if they are lost or abandoned, they won’t reproduce.

Who benefits from our lower-income vouchers? Primarily three groups – the very young (students and single parents), the disabled and the elderly (retirees)– who live on fixed incomes. Many are on food stamps, but they can afford the day-to-day costs of a pet. It’s the front-end cost of sterilization that’s out of their reach.

As the Chinese proverb says, “One picture is worth a thousand words”. The woman in this photo, is one of our elderly participants. Her expression alone shows how much her kitties mean to her – and how lucky they are to be her friends. And -- the fact that she sought out financial help to get them fixed -- shows how totally responsible she is.

"Help! Rogue cats are terrorizing my neighborhood!"

Responding to a voice mail like that is not one of my favorite assignments. Of course I know not everyone is as big a cat fan as me – and occasionally I’ll have to listen to someone venting over cats living in their yard. But as much as I want to help, I know calls like this one are destined to end poorly.

By the time someone leaves the message, their situation is already out of control. The last thing the caller wants to hear is me saying that it’s normal for free-roaming cats to be outdoors – just like squirrels and rabbits. This turns them off even before I suggest their best strategy is not removing the cats but managing them (providing daily food, water and outdoor dry shelter) -- so they’ll know how many are actually there. They never even hear the part about getting them fixed to prevent kittens -- even if I throw in free vet services. Thankfully, these calls are rare. Most people we hear from are already instinctively caring for the cats and only need help fixing them.

Being a confirmed optimist, I returned this call anyway. A voice mail about cats terrorizing the neighborhood intrigued me. It gave me an image of a gang of marauding cats wearing dark sunglasses and leather jackets swinging iron chains while hissing and sneering at everyone in their path. And I knew nothing could be further from the truth. Free-roaming cats are timid and afraid of people and won’t be aggressive unless they’re cornered. They believe firmly in the philosophy that the best offense is a good defense. When you do see feral cats, they’ll most likely be peeping at you from behind a bush or –if they can -- darting away from you.

Well it turned out that the man who called was a very nice -- albeit concerned gentleman. When I asked him to explain how the outdoor cats were terrorizing his neighborhood, he conveyed the real problem. He always let his pet cat George out when he left for work and lately these cats have been chasing him – once all the way back into his house. While he didn’t want anything bad to happen to them, he did think George should be able to live safely in his own yard. This made a bit more sense. Outdoor cat-to-cat aggression can happen. Cats will fight to claim territorial rights. Most of their “fighting” is really non-contact posturing but it can escalate into paw-to-paw combat if neither cat backs down– especially between intact males. Aggression can happen between any cats (companion or feral) when they find themselves occupying the same territory. It can even happen in your home if you bring a new cat in too quickly.

Because the caller mentioned that George had been going out for a long time without any incidents, I asked him how old George was. He told me fifteen. I did some quick math and asked if he knew how old that was in people years? He didn’t so I told him – 76 years old. He replied, so what? I know many elderly people and they’re still very capable. I agreed but asked him how many of them played pro football?

Cats, like people, lose physical prowess with age. The reason George was having trouble with other cats may have more to do with aging than anything else. To keep other cats away, George has to keep his territory well-marked – otherwise, how do roaming cats know that they’re on his land? This requires diligent patrolling and boundary-marking using urine spray and mouth rubbing. If he lets the markings go, he loses the territory. Maybe George was getting too old to defend his land. If so, George would have other threats outdoors even if these intruders were removed. I suggested he consider keeping George in when he was at work and maybe taking him out on a leash to enjoy the outdoors – or put a cat fence on his yard to keep George in and others out.

The signs of aging in cats are subtle – sleeping longer, drinking more water, moving slower. Being sensitive to them can help you alter your cat’s home to meet his aging needs. Instead of letting him outdoors all the time, a window perch with stairs leading to it – or even a nice bed on the living room couch – may be a better match. Cat napping and dreaming about the good old days can be every bit as enjoyable to a senior cat as a day of sitting on the front porch – and has none of the inherent risks. For George’s sake, I hope my message got through.