Tuesday, August 17, 1999
Friend to felines
Too many cats, too little space
BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In three hours on a recent morning, Linda Rilea, who operates a nonprofit cat shelter and adoption center, had calls to take in 13 cats.
She had to refuse them.
Mrs. Rilea operates the Scratching Post in Silverton, which she said is exceeding its capacity of 50 cats. She thinks the cat population is getting out of hand and reproduction has to be controlled.
“We can't take any more, and there are not enough people to adopt them. It is inhumane to kill them,” she said, sitting in a room of felines in her no-kill shelter at 6958 Plainfield Road.
About 30 to 50 calls a day come in from people wanting to send cats and kittens to the shelter. Mrs. Rilea said she has started a Cat SNIP Program to help reduce the cat population. The program will pay $35 to help with spaying, and $20 for neutering cats.
“My latest research showed that there are approximately six cats to every person in Hamilton County,” Mrs. Rilea said. In seven years, one female cat and its young can produce 420,000 cats, she said.
She said when they get a call and can accept a cat, it is referred to a veterinarian, where it can be spayed or neutered. She said they also will help pay for feral (wild) cats to be spayed and neutered if people catch them and bring them in.
Before cats are accepted at the shelter they are checked for cancer and FIV (feline AIDS).
If cats aren't adopted, they remain at the shelter.
“In 10 years, I never saw an ugly cat,” Mrs. Rilea said.
Funds for operating the shelter come from donations and from money made through the Meow Mart, attached to the shelter, Mrs. Rilea said. The staff consists of about 30 volunteers.
Volunteer Jim Wittkopf said the shelter takes in about 500 cats a year. “But we turn away about 15,000,” he said.
Some cats are never adopted, such as a 19-year-old long-haired orange tabby named Granny.
“Ten years ago when we first opened, we received a call that a family had left behind an injured cat,” Mrs. Rilea said. She said someone brought the cat in, and it was nursed back to health and placed on the adoption list, but, so far, no takers.
She said she is making plans to expand the center and parking next door.
Mrs. Rilea would not say how many cats she has at her shelter, but said the city of Silverton has limited her to 50 cats.
Paul Steman, Silverton's service manager, said he is not sure what the limit is. “We are not concerned. We hope they will stay since they are talking about expanding the operation,” he said.
The Scratching Post and the Meow Mart are in Silverton's main business district.
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