LIFE OF THE ABANDONED
For the thousands of cats abandoned each year, 
life is a harsh struggle to survive.
by Cindy Soules

MAYBE YOU HAVE SEEN HIM while driving home late at night – yellow eyes caught in the beam of your car headlights. Just another cat on the prowl, you think. Or maybe you’ve seen him in daylight cutting across an empty lot. He pauses and looks back at you. Then he sprints out of sight. Must be a wild cat, you remark, not recognizing the signs of stress in his dull fur and anxious gaze.

Many people believe domestic cats can return to their natural instincts and fend for themselves if left on their own. “Not so,” says Nadine Gourkow, companion animal research manager for the BC SPCA. “Humans have bred cats as domestic companion animals and they depend on us for their survival.”

While domestic cats may retain some characteristics and instincts similar to their wild ancestors, this can also work against them. “Cats are highly territorial and develop strong attachments to their home,” says Gourkow. “When they are abandoned in an unfamiliar area, they experience serious emotional distress, which leads to negative physical effects, including starvation, dehydration, disease and infection resulting from confrontations with other cats or wild animals.” 

Cat abandonment is an enormous community problem with devastating effects on the welfare of individual animals. Every year, in B.C. and across Canada, thousands of cats are abandoned. For these cats, this means a shortened life of hunger, anxiety, trauma and pain. “Just consider your own experience of fear or anxiety,” says Gourkow. “Imagine that you are lost in the woods and are not sure you can find your way back before nightfall. As your fear heightens, your heart races, increased sugar and adrenaline flow into your blood and your stomach tightens. Multiply the fear and anxiety a hundred fold for a cat abandoned in unfamiliar territory.” 

The physiological changes that occur in the body during ongoing stress compromise the immune system, just as it does to humans who become ill when under pressure for extended periods. Even if cats survive the ordeal of being abandoned, the emotional and physical stress associated with the experience can leave them more prone to disease. The thousands that are not rescued live grim existences, succumbing to death in only two to three years on average. 

The life of homeless cats is a harsh struggle to survive on whatever scraps of food they can beg or scavenge. “Because of the territorial nature of cats,” says Gourkow, “when a cat is released in an area claimed by a feral or owned cat she is considered an interloper and chased away from available food and water sources. Without food or water a cat can die within three to four days.” 

Trauma and death by traffic accident is also high among abandoned cats. Even those who have experience outdoors are easily startled when in unfamiliar territory and they can run into traffic or climb to high places from which they can not escape. Other risks include injury and disease as a result of aggressive encounters between cats and other animals, including dogs, coyotes and raccoons. Should the cat manage to survive, the toll on wildlife — particularly migratory songbirds and young animals — causes additional welfare and ecological concerns. 

While cat abandonment is an immense problem, there is much we can do individually and as a community to alleviate this tragic cycle. Currently, the BC SPCA is involved in a population dynamics study of homeless cats to better understand the scope of the problem in B.C. “We already have a sense of the roots of the problem,” says Craig Naherniak, general manager of humane education for the BC SPCA. “Lack of pet guardian responsibility and commitment, behavior problems, accessibility of guardians to rental accommodation that accept pets and failure to spay and neuter are all critical issues that need to be addressed.” 

Naherniak also points out that many cats that are abandoned are the result of broken bonds where guardians lacked knowledge and patience to overcome problems such as hyperactivity and house soiling. 

“With tolerance and flexibility nearly all behavior problems can be overcome,” says Naherniak. Scratching behavior can be redirected from the couch to a sturdy scratching post and switching litter or litter boxes can solve inappropriate soiling. Spaying and neutering cats can also reduce many of the behavior problems that lead to abandonment, such as aggression, roaming or spraying. Most of all, sterilizing a cat reduces cat overpopulation by reducing future generations of homeless cats. 

In seven years, a cat and her offspring can theoretically produce 420,000 kittens. “Increasingly, the SPCA is establishing partnerships with municipalities and other concerned community members and groups to implement effective cat control measures, focusing on spay/neuter, licensing fees, bylaws and visual pet identification,” says Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the BC SPCA. “A lost cat without identification cannot find its way back home, and, if unspayed, she continues the cycle of bringing even more homeless cats into the world.”

Ultimately, pets have people problems, not vice versa, says Chortyk. “As a society we need to step up and take responsibility for the animals in our care and in our communities. When we take a cat into our home we are agreeing to provide food, safety, care and loving companionship for his or her lifetime.”