Own up or scratch cat

IT’S raining cats in Casey and officials are trying to stem the flow of stray felines.
The City of Casey has joined a state-wide public education campaign to highlight the current cat overpopulation issue in Victoria.
Casey mayor Janet Halsall said the State Government’s Who’s for Cats? campaign is about educating the community in dealing with the problem of stray and feral cats.
“Victoria is facing a cat overpopulation crisis with about half a million unowned stray or feral cats living throughout the state,” she said.
“To tackle this problem in Casey, I am urging residents who feed stray or feral cats to either take full responsibility for the cat or contact council.
“Unfortunately, many people who feed unowned cats do so without realising the consequences of their actions,” Cr Halsall said.
Feeding unowned cats helps regenerate cat colonies by keeping cats strong enough to reproduce.
Thousands of kittens that are born are healthy and sociable but they have to be euthanased because not enough homes can be found for them, officials say.
Other cats and kittens have to be euthanased because of poor health or because they are wild or feral.
“Each year 50,000 cats are impounded in Victoria and, of these, 35,000 are euthanased. Tragically, many of these cats and kittens are healthy but homes cannot be found for them.
“Aside from the shortage of homes required for cats, stray or feral cats cause a lot of nuisance problems in the community, such as spraying strong-smelling urine around houses and cars, preying on wildlife, fighting with owned cats and spreading disease,” Cr Halsall said.
There are simple actions residents can take if they come across an unowned stray or feral cat:
Determine whether the cat is unowned by contacting council’s local laws unit on 9705 5200.
If it is unowned, decide whether you can take full ownership for the cat.
This includes giving the cat a health check, registering it with council, ensuring its basic needs are looked after and keeping it inside at night.
If you cannot take responsibility for the cat, contact council on 9705 5200 to arrange to have the cat brought to a shelter facility.
For more information about stray or feral cats, visit www.whosforcats.com.au or phone 136 186.