BURSTAleshia Spence is dealing with Houston’s feral cat population one street at a time.
“I have already made a difference on Pearson,” said Spence who has been providing care to ill and hungry felines since April. “Hagman and Park Lane are next and then I will continue on in other areas around this district.”
The list of diseases afflicting cats Spence has taken in include feline herpes, parvo, mycoplasma and chlamydia.
“All felines that have been housed with me so far have all needed medicine and eye drops or some sort of medical care,” Spence said.
One cat is scheduled for surgery to close one eye and cauterize the ducts so there will be less risk of an infection by not having the eye space fill up with fluids.
“I received a kitten who had fish line wrapped around its foot for a long time that when I cleaned out the maggots from the foot, it was double in size,” Spence said.
She’s hoping for medical care for this kitten as the skin is dead, exposing flesh and ligaments.
Spence is now organizing a charitable society called the Luna Safe Haven Feline Society and is hoping others will join her.
“We need to do better as a whole. I need the world’s help with this because this is not the only rural area or town or city who has an over cat population,” she said.
Local vet Katie Myron is on board to medically assess cats regarding who will be saved and who will not be saved and Janelle Johnson is raising money.
“There will be a trap, neuter and release program. All cats will be housed till healed,” Spence continued praising Myron for her assistance to date.
“I am willing to do all the work of housing, trapping and/or placing them back outside. The cats that are being returned outside will be returned where he/she was caught from and will have a clipped ear. A clipped ear will tell us which ones we have already dealt with.”
Spence said working with feral felines is not easy and is a task requiring patience and understanding.
“They are scared and they do not know better. They fight starvation every single day, most cat fights are due to the lack of food, lack of water supply. Cats are being found dead with no cause and they are not found for days,” she said.
In addition to medical care, Spence says the felines need kennels for housing and travelling kennels for transport.
She also needs donations to pay for putting down those felines that cannot be helped.
Spence said local residents are feeding cats but that is not enough.
“They get into trash, mostly the pregnant cats. It’s not healthy for them and they also affect the bird population,” she said.
“We are the problem. Nobody has the time to make a difference. The town does not have rules and regulations with regards to the strays. There are no bylaws when it comes to cats. That’s the problem, they can’t help themselves.”
“We all need to come together and help these little helpless felines who cannot defend themselves.”