[Vertebrate Pests] Cats in the Community, Part 1

Guilt? What guilt? "Be appreciative little kitty that I didn’t drop you at the local animal pound!" Or, the "rewarding feeling" that some people get from "rescuing" cats they have found abandoned from a fate at the local animal "shelter." You get the picture.

The feral cat volunteers in my town are now "caring" for the abandoned/feral cats in our park by feeding, immunizing and neutering the cats — at least those they can find. The volunteers believe that with their help, the park serves as a humane refuge for the cats while not posing any health threat to the community.

Other city residents, however, disagree and feel the cats are out of control and do in fact threaten the public and hurt the local environment. These residents want the cats live-trapped and removed from the park. The cat volunteers argue back that the community should demonstrate kindness and compassion towards the cats.

The debate has now gone public via our newspaper providing coverage of town meetings, opinions, suggestions and heated emotional verbal comments from both sides. What’s a town to do? Should the town tolerate the cats in the park?

For example, one of my clients is a prestigious pharmaceutical firm located on a campus containing 37 buildings within one of the largest and most popular cities in the U.S. For the past 10 years or so, the feral cat caretaker employees of this firm have been "taking in" abandoned cats to the general campus, feeding and neutering them and providing for their general health. The cats are allowed to roam all over the pharmaceutical campus. This company is now known to many of the city residents as a cat sanctuary for feral/abandoned cats. Thus, the general public literally "drops off" unwanted cats on the edge of the property on a regular basis.

Similar to the situation in my town, a debate ensued from one group of valued employees who thought the cats pose a violation of the FDA good manufacturing code (which in my opinion, they do) and the employee cat volunteers (also valued, talented scientists) who want to provide a compassionate refuge for cats. The result: the firm’s administrators and general employees are between a rock and hard place — the same place as my town’s park and recreation board.

First, once the word is out in a community that cat sanctuaries exist complete with volunteers, cats will be "dropped off" on a regular basis by the public. Regardless of the volunteers’ care, some of the abandoned cats will revert to the wild (feral) after only a few months of having to fend for themselves. And this includes an unpredictable feral behavior pattern — sometimes friendly, sometimes aggressive. It seems obvious to me that picnicking families, inquisitive children, friendly students and/or employees in populated areas that contain free-roaming feral cats are, for these reasons, at risk.

Cats are documented carriers of various diseases such as rabies, distemper, cat scratch fever, toxoplasmosis, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, mumps, ringworm and various endo and ectoparasites. Even plague has emerged among cats in some parts of the U.S. in the past 20 years.

DISEASES. Perhaps of most practical concern in urban parks, campuses and industrial facilities, however, is the threat of toxoplasmosis. This disease is caused by the pathogenic protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, which is most commonly associated with cat feces.

The oocysts (i.e., an environmentally resistant "egg/larval form" of the organism) of Toxoplasma, are passed in cat feces and then transmitted to people when their hands contact the oocysts in the soil where the cat feces were deposited. Of course, due to the food scraps and odors associated with people who recreate in parks or on lawns, cats during the night will be quite active in people-active areas and of course be depositing excrement and urine in those areas.

The Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) has a detailed section on toxoplasmosis and congenital toxoplasmosis and the involvement of cats. Congenital toxoplasmosis is of particular concern to pregnant women, as the protozoan can be transmitted to the fetus and cause severe illness to the baby (e.g., mental retardation, blindness and epilepsy).

Of particular interest is that the CDC specifically recommends pregnant woman "avoid exposures to cat feces" in cat boxes and/or on the ground or in the soil. For a pregnant woman looking to enjoy a picnic in the park or their company’s grounds, without knowing of a risk due to the park or property owners openly allowing their grounds to be used as a cat sanctuary, poses a significant dilemma relative to potential litigation for the property owners.

Moreover, considering all the various wild animals feral cats consume (birds, decaying carrion, rodents, etc.), the range of bacterial and parasitic organisms that can be deposited onto areas commonly used by picnickers, concert goers, sunbathers, etc., is unsettling to say the least.

Then there are ectoparasites, primarily fleas and ticks, and pathogenic organisms associated with these well-known disease vectors. It’s hard to imagine cat volunteers will be able to keep up with keeping cats free of fleas and ticks when they are free to mingle in the same spaces as tree squirrels, raccoons, skunks, field mice, woodchucks and so forth.

Well-intentioned volunteers may be able to spay and immunize some of the cats, but not all of them and at the very least, not right away. So how does this system work should a child or person be scratched or bitten and the cat runs off? Was that cat a "safe" cat or a diseased cat? Are the feces lying about the grounds safe or hazardous? And who’s to monitor and/or profile the feces for pathogenic loads?

It may not be an attractive thought to cat-loving volunteers. But community health and environmental reason must prevail here.

In next month’s column, I will discuss the feral cat, its impact on the local environment and its management. I will also discuss possibilities for accommodating cat enthusiasts, a health-concerned public and stymied parks, academic and business sector administrators.