Cat Action Team gets more than $20K to spay and neuter feral cats

The Cat Action Team in P.E.I. hopes to make big strides in keeping the feral cat population under control thanks to new funding.

The group, which works to get stray and feral cats sterilized, has received a PetSmart Charities of Canada grant worth $20,500.

This grant will go towards caring for cats in the western part of the Island.

"From Miscouche to North Cape, I probably have 300 cats," said Gayle Adams, secretary of the Cat Action Team.

Adams saidthe money should cover operations for at least half of those cats.

Challenging job

Adams is a retiredLicensed Practical Nurse who goes out and traps cats along with other volunteers.

The animals are then brought into a local vet clinic, usually the same day.

Volunteers also try to keep them safe and warm after surgery for a few days.

Since the cats are wild, it can be challenging work, said Adams.

"They terrified to death, a lot of them," she said. "They're wild."

She rememberedone feisty tom catwho got away before surgery as they were placing him in a truck.

"We had one one time he did head butttowards the front [of the cage], the trap went completely off the tail gate of the truck and opened up and he went. We never found him yet," she said.

'They reproduce quickly'

Adams has had up to eight cats in traps in her car at once, and estimated she's personally helped 600 cats over the years.

This time of year the team focuses more on females when possible.

"One female cat, they have five kittens each time, they reproduce quickly," she said

Numbers improving

The Cat Action Team formed in 2001, and Adams said she has seenan improvement since they began neutering and spaying.

"At one time it was so overwhelming," she said. "It just seemed like you couldn't get caught up at all."

She said it feels good to see lives of local cats are getting better.

"It's gradually improving."

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