Lake County has the highest cat euthanasia rate of any county in California – 500 percent higher than the the average California county.

Fortunately, we do much better with dogs, but our cat problem has gone on unchecked for many years.

The source of the problem comes largely from what are called “community cats” – unowned, sometimes feral cats living in colonies throughout the area.

Although “unowned” these cats are often “cared for” or fed by well-meaning citizens who are unaware that many of these cats will eventually die (from starvation or disease) or be put to sleep as neighborhood nuisances.

The colonies' sizes and numbers are only limited by the amount of food that is provided to them, so they tend to grow and grow, in a gruesome cycle of “survival of the fittest.”

Nearly every community has some degree of this problem, but Lake County has the dubious distinction of being the worst of the worse.

Solutions to our problem are difficult to find because it is hard to discourage people from feeding these cats, it is expensive and complicated to spay and neuter these populations, and no person or no agency is willing or able to take responsibility for these animals.

For years our country, our state, and our county have failed to significantly reduce these populations, or the euthanasias associated with them, because of the lack of will, understanding and resources needed to change a history of irresponsible behavior.

In order to succeed, Lake County needs to do three things:

1. Spay and neuter all owned cats and kittens. This is an essential component of being a responsible cat owner, as well as the beginning element of most community cat colonies. Low-cost spay and neuter are readily available and are a known benefit to both individual animals as well as to the population in general.

2. Limit or eliminate the feeding of community cat colonies. Though well-intentioned, feeding intact community cats only sustains them to reproduce more kittens until they have exhausted their food source – leading to starvation for some and survival for others.

3. Spay and neuter all community cats. Since most folks do not support trapping and euthanizing these community cats, the next most practical solution is “T-N-R” – trap-neuter-release. In this way the reproductive cycle is reduced, and ideally eliminated, so that these colonies stop the endless cycle of self-populating.

Step one is largely a function of education, responsible ownership and government mandates (our county has a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance).

Step two is largely a function of education, outreach, and again, government mandates (there are ordinances governing the feeding and health of these colonies).

Step three is largely a function of humane groups and animal control agencies.

In our county, animal control has not addressed this problem, and so Lake County veterinarians have come together to offer a cost-free “CatSnip Program.”

Each full-time veterinary clinic in the county will perform up to two free cat spay/neuters per week on unowned cats. This will amount to as many as 450 free surgeries per year – a number which could potentially make a dramatic impact on our cat euthanasia numbers if there is community support on steps one and two as well.

The CatSnip Program is being administered by Vicki Chamberlain in Lakeport, Kathy Langlais in Clearlake and Erica Bergstrom in Middletown.

These folks have volunteered their time to be the “gatekeepers” of the program in order to insure a fair, orderly and responsible application of the programs' goals and requirements.

Please note again that this program is ONLY FOR UNOWNED CATS and that individual pets are not eligible.

In the coming weeks we will publish followup articles speaking to some of the specifics of this program and of the community/feral cat problem.

In the meantime, please help us help our county by supporting steps one, two and three, and let local government know that you think this is an important problem to address.

Dr. Jeff Smith, DVM is owner of Middletown Animal Hospital in Middletown, Calif. His guest commentary is endorsed by his colleagues at Main Street Veterinary Clinic, Animal Hospital of Lake County, Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic and Clearlake Veterinary Clinic.