HELP SAVE “ANGUS”
“Angus” was featured in the Belmont Citizen Herald on January 25th in a desperate attempt to find his owners after he was found laying motionless on Pleasant Street in 5 degree weather on January 17th. No one has replied and he now waits at City Cats in Arlington for hope. Normally, any animal that is picked up by Animal Control gets put up for adoption after aggressive efforts are made to find their owners fail. The problem with “Angus” is that he was brought in with what’s called, “a wound of unknown origin”. Because we have no vaccination history on him, he must be quarantined for 6 months. With no owner, he must either be quarantined at Belmont Animal Hospital (the town’s contract pound
facility) at the expense of the Town, or be euthanized.
“Angus” is an extremely affectionate, healthy, young male cat who captured the hearts of the Animal Control Officer and the folks at Belmont Animal Hospital. We desperately looked for a solution to keep “Angus” alive, so we contacted City Cats of Arlington and told them of his fate. They have agreed to take “Angus,” neuter him, care for him and hold him for the six months. What excellent people!
City Cats has accepted “Angus” into their facility with a promise that donations will help support and off-set the huge cost of housing, vaccinations, feeding, and neutering him for the next six months. City Cats is a small veterinary practice that specializes in cats. They took “Angus” because they care so much about animals and fell in love with him the moment they saw him.
Please help “Angus” and City Cats by sending a donation in his name. “Angus” desperately needs your help to get him through the six month quarantine so that he can be adopted out into a loving home. Please send a generous donation to:
City Cats
665 Massachusetts Ave.
Arlington, MA 02476
781-641-3673
Please be sure to indicate your donation is for “Angus”
Thanks so much to Belmont Animal Hospital and City Cats for caring so much and making such a difference to the strays that are brought through their doors far too often.
John Maguranis
Belmont Animal Control Officer
617-993-2724
"Angus" "Angus"
"Angus" "Angus"
There's a lot of controversy regarding feral cats and what to do with them. Many organizations and groups have sprung up over the years and different programs put into effect. The most common would be the TNR or trap, neuter and release programs. In order to control feral cat populations, these groups trap them and spay/neuter them and return them into the wild or suburban area. Group members proclaim to monitor and some even feed and house colonies. All these efforts also include rabies vaccination of the animals.
Most people are unaware that cats are "induced ovulators". In simple terms, this means female cats will come into heat and accept a male cat for breeding just by his presence, (usually induced by pheromones). Because of this, cats can have several litters of kittens every year. This is why a feral cat population can seem to spring up so suddenly.
There are many who say that cats living out on their own are a hard and cruel way of life, as they're not "wild" animals and have a difficult time existing on their own, yet others say they do fine. Concerns that there's little to no veterinary care for cat bites, abscesses and/or others that are hit by cars or diseased. There's simply good arguments for both sides.
In Belmont, our policy is to trap any feral cats reported and evaluate them for adoption. Due to budget constraints, these animals cannot be kept for months on end, so it's our policy to euthanized them if they're not suitable for adoption within 3 to 5 days.
It's sad that animals have to pay for the mistakes and improper care by "humans", but that's exactly what happens when we fail to care for our pets properly. All companion animals should be spayed or neutered and if not, they should be strictly supervised as to prevent breeding.
Please spay or neuter your pets and keep them in loving homes and not let loose to breed and left to survive on fading wild instincts that often results in slow, suffering deaths. Contact the ACO for information on low cost spay/neuter programs or click here: http://www.friendsofanimals.org/
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