Keeping Hawaii Cats Healthy and Safe
Keeping Hawaii Cats Healthy and Safe
Our tropical island paradise is also home to a variety or infectious organisms and health threats. Awareness allows us to better protect our feline companions and to work together as a community towards prevention and eradication. Here are some considerations:
As with any reference, these pages are not a substitute for veterinary care. Veterinary practice is an eyes, ears, nose, and hands-on profession which cannot be accomplished over the Internet.
The Feral Cat Controversies
Feral cats are wild cousins to the domestic cats that we keep as pets. It is a bit of a tricky distinction because feral cats look just like pet cats; they can successfully reproduce with pet cats; and if feral kittens are socialized to humans from a young enough age, many of them can become domesticated pets. But for the most part, feral cats are wild. They are capable of hunting and procuring their own food. They are wary of humans. They do not let us pick them up and hold them. They will avoid, hide, or attack. As adults, they rarely adapt to living happily in captivity. Although they may look like a pet cat, feral cats are more like mongooses, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and the other wild mammals with which we share the planet.
The problem in Hawaii is cat overpopulation. In our tropical climate, cats reach puberty at about 6 months of age. Many queens produce their first litter before the end of their first year and continue to produce one or two litters each year thereafter. Litter size can vary but is typically 3 to 6 kittens. At this rate, if half of the offspring are female, 2 cats can become 38 cats in 2 years. Cats in Hawaii can be very prolific and have few natural predators; hence there is a natural tendency towards overpopulation.
As attractive cats can be, overpopulation of feral cats can lead to problems. Cats are talented hunters and too many of them threaten ecologic balance. Native bird populations are particularly vulnerable. Feral cat colonies harboring infectious diseases threaten the health of pet cats. Unhealthy feral cat colonies can also pose a threat to the health of other species, including humans, with zoonotic (those that can affect different species) diseases such as ringworm and toxoplasmosis.
Some people don't appreciate cats in any number. Intact male cats have a distinctive and pungent urine odor. It is unpleasant when cats dig holes in nicely kept gardens, bury poop in children's sandboxes, yowl and scream at all hours of the night when they are in heat or having territorial warfare, or stalk songbirds at feeders. Less tolerant individuals are moved to set up poisoned baits or shoot at them with guns. These actions pose threats to other animals, children, and adults who might inadvertently become victimized by an enraged weapon-wielding neighbor.
The solutions are complicated and controversial. Tens of thousands of cats are euthanized annually at humane societies in the state of Hawaii. Euthanasia is certainly a practical solution. It is also a tragic one. Statistically, spay and neuter programs can work, but they require community cooperation and support. Feeding feral cats does improve the nutritional status of a colony and indirectly help to stave off disease; however, it also supports reproduction thereby increasing the size of the colony. If cats are being spayed and neutered only as fast as other cats are reproducing, then the overall population stays the same. People who choose not to spay or neuter their pets need to be responsible for the offspring that result.