Pet Pause

When Speaking of Ferals, Fewer Is Better

But when caring for ferals, best to get some credit for your kindness

If you or someone you know has ever cared for stray animals, you may want to remember the name Jan Van Dusen — especially during tax season. She's the woman responsible for the ruling that some pet-related expenses are now tax-deductable. Van Dusen once provided foster care for about 70 feral cats (beside her own seven), taking them to be neutered or spayed by Fix Our Ferals, an IRS-approved high-volume program near her hometown of Oakland, Calif., before they could be adopted or re-released. Then this former family law attorney followed up her generosity by requesting a tax deduction for $12,068 in expenses: food, litter, vet bills, some utility bills, and things needed to keep their conditions sanitary such as paper towels and garbage …

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Pet Pause

What You Can Do About Feral Cats In Your Neighborhood

Residents have options when dealing with feral cats

This coming Sunday is National Feral Cat Day. It didn't take a national observance day to put the topic on the agenda of Mentor City Council last week. Many council members have received complaints about these ferals —these “wild” offspring of domestics, a result of pet owners failing to spay and neuter pet cats that go astray or get abandoned. It's hard to look at outdoor cats quite the same after hearing someone refer to them as an invasive species. They are — they're nonnative to the area and prey on the critters supposed to be here. Feral cats, the ones with no human contact, all their reproductive organs intact, are both an invasive species and a plague. Over 12 years, one unspayed female can exponentially be responsible for more than…

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City Council Talk Feral Cats, Deer At Meeting

Council members talked to the administration about the city's policies toward feral cats during the Council meeting Tuesday

At its last meeting, City Council talked about deer overpopulation and coyote packs in the city. And while deer came up again during the council meeting Tuesday at City Hall, council members also talked about the feral cat populations in the city. Councilman Ed Walsh broached the subject, asking other council members if they had received calls, complaining about feral cats. Many of them answered "yes." Council President Robert Shiner said the city already passed an ordinance saying that cat owners are responsible for the damage their pets do. He added there was not much else they could do. "Every community struggles with this problem," City Manager Ken Filipiak said. "Communities who take a strong stance on this ultimately have to decide …

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Mentor Resident Suggests Outdoor Cat Law to Mentor City Council

See the myriad issues that City Council discussed during its meeting Tuesday

A Mentor resident suggested that the city should have a law regarding outdoor cats during City Council's meeting Tuesday night. "A free-roaming cat that's owned by someone should be tagged, vaccinated and spayed or neutered," Robert Leach said. Leach told Council that he frequently had trouble with both outdoor and feral cats on his property. He added that he has two cats he found on the Fourth of July living at his house because he had nowhere else to take them. "Instead of watching fireworks, I was chasing feral cats," he said. Also, at the City Council meeting: "I graduated from high school with Robert," Council President Robert Shiner said. "I knew him all my life and he was one of the most honorable people I ever knew." Some people …

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