ROTHENBURGER: Cats should be licensed, fixed and allowed to run free
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW, Kamloops has a cat problem. It was ever thus.
The SPCA says the town has a cat overpopulation “crisis.” It says 78 per cent of the BC SPCA’s total feline intake in the Thompson-Nicola region comes from Kamloops. Seriously, that’s what it says.
So, a spay-and-neuter clinic is ramping up again for low-income families who feel they just can’t afford the cost themselves, as well as for feral cats.
I wonder sometimes why people adopt pets if they don’t have the means to properly look after them. Cats are like furniture; they decorate our homes but we don’t necessarily want to make a big investment in them. When they become inconvenient we toss them out like disposable diapers.
I cringe when I see people buying cheapo pet food that’s so devoid of nutrition it will probably shorten Fido or Pusskins’ life by at least a couple of years.
One of the most depressing parts of a veterinarian’s job must be putting down a dog or a cat that could be made healthy with a small expense but whose owners don’t want to, or can’t afford to, spend the money to do it.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I’m not sure where the idea that the number of birds killed by cats is “overstated” comes from; there is lots of published scientific evidence to suggest otherwise. Some of our most common songbirds are in trouble today, their populations declining dramatically, and cats are a major source of mortality. There are many resources on this, but this is a good place to start:
https://www.3billionbirds.org/