NEWS

Cats of Davidson requests change to town’s animal ordinance to help fulfill their mission

Cats of Davidson, a local 501(c)(3) organization, has recently reached out to Town officials to propose a change to Davidson’s municipal ordinance. Following in the footsteps of several North Carolina municipalities and counties who have adopted a similar program, Cats of Davidson is proposing that the town establish a “Community Cat Program.” They argue that making certain adjustments to the town’s existing ordinance related to animals can produce improved outcomes for cats, neighbors, animal shelters, and taxpayers.

Just one of the many rescued tiny, tiny kittens.

Cats of Davidson “exists to end the suffering of unwanted and abandoned cats in the Town of Davidson through active trap, neuter, manage and release and adoption programs.” Cats of Davidson has been working to reduce feral cat populations in Davidson for six years. Reducing cat populations takes persistence and a multi-pronged approach. Cats of Davidson employs an approach known as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to stabilize and slowly reduce feral cat populations.

Roni LaBarbera is the president and founder of Cats of Davidson. While working from home during the pandemic, LaBarbera became aware of several feral cat populations growing uncontrolled in Davidson. She did some research and taught herself how to trap feral cats safely and humanely. At first, she took it upon herself to have the cats spayed and neutered, and Cats of Davidson grew from there.

Eventually, LaBarbera partnered with Davidson resident Amy Doughten, who serves as the vice president of Cats of Davidson. Doughten is primarily focused on creating a large network of foster and adoptive homes for kittens as well as adult stray cats who are friendly and not afraid of humans. Pregnant cats are especially important to trap. Even if feral, pregnant cats can be kept safe in foster homes, in a garage or secure outbuilding, until they have given birth and weaned their kittens. The mother cats are then taken to veterinarians to be spayed and can be released back to their familiar territory. The kittens are never released into the wild. They quickly become comfortable with humans and are cared for by foster families until they can be adopted.

Cats of Davidson has successfully TNR’d hundreds of cats over the years. When a feral cat community is identified in Davidson, Cats of Davidson first reaches out to neighbors around the cat community to let them know that Cats of Davidson is planning to begin the TNR process to humanely reduce the population.

Next, trained Cats of Davidson volunteers begin setting out traps to lure the feral cats with food. The traps are constantly monitored by volunteers in the neighborhood. Often cameras are used to know exactly when a trap door shuts. Cats in the traps are picked up immediately and taken to veterinary offices. The cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, then taken into foster care for a short recuperation period before being returned to their cat community. Veterinarians clip the tip off of a neutered cat’s ear during the operation, so that no cat risks being caught again and taken to the vet for an unnecessary surgery.

This process is continued until every cat in a cat community has been TNR’d, thereby reducing the cat population to a small group of known cats who are fed and monitored by Cats of Davidson. Cats of Davidson has made the unusual decision to remain responsible for the health of each cat that they have trapped, neutered, and returned.

Cats of Davidson prefers to proactively feed cats while they are in the process of trapping and neutering cats in an area. Even after all of the cats have been neutered, Cats of Davidson will continue to feed the community as long as cats remain. Providing food in a responsible and reliable manner keeps feral cats from hunting songbirds or approaching homes and businesses looking for trash or handouts. Cats of Davidson uses volunteers to provide food to cats unobtrusively, on an outdoor porch, back yard, or nearby remote area infrequently traversed by humans.

Additionally, Cats of Davidson pays to insert identification chips every cat that they neuter, which ensures that Cats of Davidson will be notified if one of their community cats ends up at a shelter or is picked up by animal control. If a neighbor or volunteer notices an injury to one of the community cats, Cats of Davidson will take the cat to a vet and have a foster home care for it until it is healthy enough to be released. Foster homes can also be provided for aging cats, offering a comfortable and safe location for a cat in its final days.

With the additional support provided by Cats of Davidson, cats who have been TNR’d can live out the balance of their lives quietly, as relatively unobtrusive community cats. Cats of Davidson currently feeds and cares for five feral cat communities in the Town of Davidson. They supply food, veterinary care, and preventative medications.

While Cats of Davidson has been successful in their mission, certain problems have arisen over time. Their TNR program, which includes feeding cats while simultaneously reducing their number, has run afoul of certain well-meaning regulations that govern the care and ownership of animals in Davidson.

A letter to town officials submitted by Cats of Davidson states that that the town’s current ordinance has resulted in the following obstacles for the organization:

• Residents feeding free-roaming cats may be deemed “owners”
• Caregivers are subject to fines and citations
• Unspayed and unneutered cats continue reproducing unchecked
• Enforcement discourages humane intervention without reducing the cat population

Even though LaBarbera and Doughten have full-time jobs in addition to their volunteer work with Cats of Davidson, they are closely involved with the care of the cats in their communities. They shared that have been distressed about some recent instances of abuse and hostility toward the cats in their communities.

Neighbors have called Davidson police to report groups of community cats as a nuisance. That has resulted in volunteers who feed the community cats on behalf of Cats of Davidson being fined. In Davidson, owning more than four outdoor animals requires specific permitting. Currently, residents who continuously provide food for animals for more than 14 days are deemed to be owners. Volunteers can’t risk repetitive fines for continuing to feed cats.

Gracie (top step) and Kalani are Cats of Davidson alumni and they are now living their best lives in their "furever home."

Recently one of Cats of Davidson’s longtime community cats, a spayed female known as Pizza Mamma, was found in distress by a neighbor. Cats of Davidson volunteers took Pizza Mamma to a familiar vet and found that she had a shattered jaw and terrible facial injuries. The vet indicated that the injury was consistent with a blow to the face from a heavy object. The vet needed to wire Pizza Mamma’s jaw shut. She was placed in foster care for several months until the wound was healed. The veterinary bills were in the thousands.

LaBarbera and Doughten shared that other Davidson cats taken to veterinarians for TNR or for other health issues were found to have multiple wounds from BB guns. Several cats from another feral cat community in Davidson had nearly starved after having been locked in an outbuilding for several days before being let out, just short of death.

“Violence towards cats doesn’t drive them away,” says LaBarbera. “The cats stay in the area they know. It is just abuse, and it causes suffering without solving the problem.” LaBarbera and Doughten ask neighbors for patience as they work through the process of using TNR in a community of cats. “The TNR program works,” they say. “It is a humane, effective way to steadily reduce populations of free-roaming cats.”

In a recent Facebook post on the Cats of Davidson page, supporters of Cats of Davidson were encouraged to attend the April 28 meeting of the Town Board of Commissioners. Cats of Davidson plans to have a representative of their organization share their proposal during the Public Comment period at that meeting. In the Facebook post, Cats of Davidson explained to their followers that “the current Davidson municipal code makes it difficult to legally care for community cats. Our feeders were fined and told to stop feeding, which leaves cats with nowhere to go and no humane path forward.”

Cats of Davidson is formally asking the town to update the code so “Davidson can support humane, effective community cat management with clear rules for everyone.”