Unwanted cat problem 'out of control'
Tipp Friends of Animals holding blessing in Nenagh this Sunday
A blessing of animals will take place in Nenagh this Sunday, partly as a means of encouraging people to be more considerate of cats in particular.
Hosted by Nenagh Union of Parishes and Tipperary Friends of Animals, all are welcome to bring their pets to be blessed in the grounds of St Mary's Church of Ireland on Sunday morning. The event will coincide with the feast day of St Francis, the patron saint of animals.
Tipperary Friends of Animals provide a subsidised neutering voucher scheme for both cats and dogs, but most of their work involves cats. Linda Hehir of the Tipperary Friends hoped Sunday's blessing would help raise awareness around cat neutering, as she said the numbers of unwanted cats that the local voluntary group sees is concerning.
"The problem with unwanted cats is absolutely out of control," she said. "A lot of cats end up as strays and abandoned. There are a lot of unwanted cats and ferrals, semi-ferrals and strays."
Ms Hehir explained that cats, unlike dogs, breed continually and become pregnant with much greater regularity. A cat pregnancy lasts just nine weeks. She said it is unfortunate that many cat owners do not seem to realise this until it is too late.
"It's sad when people ring up and say the cat had kittens last year and now they're having kittens this year, and in no time at all the numbers are rocketing. And then people are in a panic. But if they had neutered the cat in the first place, that wouldn't have been a problem."
Voluntary groups like the Tipp Friends of Animals try to assist as best they can, but the demand for help is always far greater than the help available. Whatever about kittens, it is very difficult to find a home for unwanted adult cats.
"We don't have a sanctuary so we can't take in everyone's unwanted kittens," Ms Hehir said. "We take in what we can and a lot of the kittens that we take in would have either been dumped or found."
Reminding people of the service provided by the Tipperary Friends, Ms Hehir said that, ultimately, until people take responsibility and neuter their own cats, the problem of unwanted animals is only going to continue.
"We provide neutering vouchers for people who are on low income or social welfare, and if somebody is using our voucher they only have to pay €20 to neuter a cat," she said.
"We trap cats for neutering as well. Some of these are stray cats that people feed; others are cats that people own. They might be farm or yard cats that are not easy to handle; they're used to being fed but they're not used to being handled; they don't come in the house."
The neutering scheme is run in Nenagh by Summerhill Vets and A Country Practice (Sarsfield St). The Tipperary Friends of Animals have around a dozen volunteers at present and are always looking for more help. Though not presently in a position to open an animal shelter, Ms Hehir hoped the group may do so in the future.
The Friends' main source of income is the charity shop on Friar St, Nenagh. They're always on the lookout for donations of saleable goods for their charity shop, such as clothes, small pieces of furniture, ornaments and bric-a-brac. They have a Facebook page with more information, and members of the group will be present at Sunday's outdoor blessing, which will take place at 11am.