Gripe : Cat Owners: ‘Think Beyond Here and Now’

MICHELLE MOONEY

Los Angeles

Cities in Southern California are starting to require licenses for cats, and it’s about time. But inexpensive licenses may not end a problem that I see everywhere. Here are some cases in point, just from among the people I know:

- One woman in Lancaster, a welfare recipient who lives in a one-room house with her husband, is the “owner” of “about” eight cats. She began with three, more or less adopted, which she fed and which slept in an abandoned car. Two were run over. A female was left, gave birth to eight in a pile of clothing in the one-room home. One was killed by a dog and one disappeared, while more cats were “dumped” on her side of a wood fence and others simply happened, attracted by cat food left by the door. Females in heat, more cats, more road-kills, more “good homes” searches. She has no money for spaying, no car for transport to the vet. Where will it end?

- A bachelor in Atwater helps his neighbor in a large apartment complex by claiming ownership of three of her seven cats. Now he risks eviction because, according to management’s complaint, “his” cats defecate in garages, bother neighbors and are a nuisance.

- A man in South Los Angeles has adopted a female kitten that is left outside at all times and is fed no more than a quarter of a can of pet food a day (any pet food will do) and not otherwise taken care of. He says he wants the cat to stay hungry so she’ll kill rodents and other pests.

- A mother in Reseda has daughters 9 and 10 years old. Each wanted a kitten, each had her wish granted (so many kittens are available for free). The girls tired of their pets and the mother suddenly found herself allergic to cat fur. The cats were banished outdoors and their feeding grew erratic when the cat food attracted flies and roaches. Then, the cats were shooed from the back yard after neighbors complained of cat droppings in their gardens, flower bushes uprooted and night-long howling. The number of feral cats issued by these two rejected females will probably never be known.

These are but four cases with which I am familiar. Each of these people is well-meaning but, like so many of us, has failed to think further than the here and now.

If cats were licensed, they might be considered less of an expendable, disposable piece of property. But $5 or $10 licenses are too low. The more one disburses for a privilege, the better care one provides for its continuance.

People who truly care for cats will not mind paying for a license; neither will they mind spending time to accustom their feline companions to a light harness with an ID tag. Cats can be educated, just like cat owners!

Those who take their cat “surplus” to animal shelters should have to witness the cats’ executions a few days later. Those who allow cats to roam should have to scrape cat carcasses off the streets and freeways.