Mid April - Fullerton Observer

Page 18 FULLERTON OBSERVER LOCAL NEWS MID APRIL 2013
How You Can Help Fullerton’s Cat Population
by Wendy Mueller
I have a bumper sticker on my car that
reads, “PET OVERPOPULATION IS A
PROBLEM YOU CAN HELP SOLVE.
SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR PETS.”
It’s really such a simple answer to a very
big problem, both here in Fullerton and
throughout the U.S. The simple truth is:
If you own a pet cat, it is your responsibility
to spay/neuter that cat by the time it’s
6 months old. The main reason for this
would be to prevent further over-
population of homeless cats by
preventing unwanted litters of
kittens. However, most people
don’t realize all the secondary
benefits of having a pet cat
spayed or neutered, such as the
following, which are a few of the
reasons for spaying/neutering
from the web site of the ASPCA
(American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals) at www.aspca.org:
Your female cat will live a longer,
healthier life. Spaying helps prevent uterine
infections and breast cancer, which is
fatal in about 90 percent of cats. Spaying
your pet before her first heat offers the
best protection from these diseases.
Neutering provides major health benefits
for your male. Besides preventing
unwanted litters, neutering your male cat
prevents testicular cancer, if done before 6
months of age.
Your spayed female won’t go into heat.
Female cats usually go into heat for 4 to 5
days every 3 weeks during breeding season.
In an effort to advertise for mates,
OC Human Relations will honor people
and groups who have helped combat
prejudice, intolerance and discrimination
countywide at The City National Grove
of Anaheim on May 2, 2013. Categories
include Community Leaders, Diversity in
Business, Community Policing, and
Distinguished Schools. Go to ochumanrelations.org
to see the entire list of
awardees and their stories.
Heading the list of Community Leaders
this year is Jonah Mowry.
In August 2011, then 14-year-old Lake
Forest resident Jonah Mowry posted a
heart-wrenching video on YouTube, it
went viral. In this video, that has now
been viewed by more than 10 million people
worldwide, Jonah poignantly describes
his despair and turmoil over being bullied
for being gay since he was in the first
grade. The video was made at 4am before
Jonah went back to school at Serrano
Intermediate School. In it he spoke of the
impact bullying has had on his life.
Not only did Jonah have the courage to
they’ll yowl and urinate more frequently—sometimes
all over the house!
Your neutered male will be much better
behaved. Neutered cats focus their attention
on their human families. On the
other hand, unneutered cats may mark
their territory by spraying strong-smelling
urine all over the house. Many aggression
problems can be avoided by early neutering.
Spaying or neutering will NOT make
your pet fat. Lack of exercise and overfeeding
will cause your pet to
pack on the extra pounds—
not neutering.
It is highly cost-effective.
The cost of your pet’s
spay/neuter surgery is a lot
less than the cost of having
and caring for a litter of kittens.
It also beats the cost of
treatment when your
unneutered male cat escapes
and gets into fights with the
neighborhood stray!
Spaying and neutering helps fight pet
overpopulation. Every year, millions of
cats are euthanized or suffer as strays.
These high numbers are the result of
unplanned litters that could have been
prevented by spaying or neutering.
Another very important fact that many
cat owners ignore is this: Pet cats should
be kept indoors ALL the time. Cats do
not “need” to go outdoors. There is no
reason your pet cat needs to roam outdoors,
where it is subject to diseases, parasites,
cars, dogs, wild animals, and other
hazards. If you provide your pet cat with
regular food and clean water, a daily-
Every year,
millions
of cats are
euthanized or
suffer as
strays...that
can be
prevented.
stand up for himself and become the face
of courage against bullying, but he also
became a national icon. At a time when
the headlines were full of stories of other
young people being bullied - some of
whom committed suicide, like Tyler
Clementi, Amanda Todd, and others -
Jonah had the courage to go public with
the impact of bullying. He stood up
against bullying at a time when teen bullying
had reached epidemic proportions.
Last summer, Jonah started posting
weekly videos called, “Jonah Mowry
Advice.” The first one dealt with depression
and answered questions he had
received on Twitter. He talked openly
about how much therapy was helping him
deal with depression. Many, many teens
grapple with depression and feel that they
are alone. His candor is encouraging
many of them to seek the help that they
need. Another video installment dealt
with self-harm and emotional triggers.
He started the advice videos because he
wanted to turn the 55,000 subscribers
Squirt, a feral cat that Wendy trapped/spayed as a kitten and has cared for for the last 7 years
cleaned litter box, regular veterinary
checkups, regular playtime with family
members, and interesting stimuli (like a
window through which to watch the outdoor
birds and a variety of safe cat toys),
you are providing everything your pet cat
needs for a good, healthy life. Letting a
pet cat roam outdoors is bad for your cat
and bad for the community as a whole.
Unfortunately, there remains the problem
of feral cats. Feral cats are “wild” cats
who have never been part of a human
home. They are cats that were born in the
wild and live their lives in the wild. But
you can do a lot to help feral cats as well.
Again, the best thing you could do for a
feral cat and for your community is to
trap the cat in a humane trap, get the cat
spayed/neutered at a low-cost clinic (there
are many of them in the Fullerton area),
and then release the cat back into its own
environment, thus ensuring that the cat
BULLIED STUDENT WHOSE VIDEO WENT VIRAL LEADS THE PACK AT 2013 HUMAN RELATIONS AWARDS
that he had with the first video into something
good. He answers questions from
his own experiences and from what he is
learning from going through therapy.
In February 2012, Jonah took on a
national spokesperson role when he headlined
the launch of the Monster March in
San Francisco appearing with parents of
teens who had committed suicide because
of bullying.
In October 2012, Jonah joined others
in a march opposing bullying at Main
Beach in Laguna Beach. The event, the
People’s March Against Bullying, was
organized by Cool 2 Be Kind, a club at
San Clemente High started by friends of
Daniel Mendez, who committed suicide
in 2010 because of bullying.
There is no telling how many countless
young lives he has saved with his courageous
acts. His courage has made a difference
in so many people’s lives—young
and old alike.
This year’s awardees in the Diverse
Community Leaders Awards category are:
•Jonah Mowry-(Lake Forest) for the
courage to stand up for himself and
become the face of courage against bullying,
and using his national recognition to
increase awareness about the consequences
of bullying.
•Barbara Jennings (Fullerton) for her
tireless advocacy and dedication to
will not contribute to any further litters of
homeless kittens. This “trap-neuterreturn”
or “TNR” program is endorsed by
the ASPCA, as well as most animal welfare
organizations. In my small corner of
Fullerton, over the last 7 years, I have
trapped and had neutered/spayed 5 feral
cats, who I then released back into the
wild, and I know that I’ve done my part to
prevent more homeless cats in my neighborhood.
I also provide daily food and
water for these cats, making sure to
remove the food bowls by dusk to prevent
the local skunk, opossum, and raccoon
population from invading my yard after
dark.
If everyone who owns a pet cat – or
cares for a feral cat – can take to heart the
message that every cat should be
spayed/neutered by 6 months of age, we
could all do so much to help these animals
and our community as a whole.
rebuilding the lives of the hungry and
homeless of Orange County. Barbara is
truly committed to the service of those in
need and currently is board president of
the Pathways of Hope (formerly FIES).
•Geraldine “Gerry” Gerken (Newport
Beach) for a lifetime of support for
women’s issues. Since 1955, Gerry has
been a member of Zonta International,
working to improve the legal, political,
economic, educational, health and professional
status of women at the global and
local levels.
•Michael Drake (Irvine) for his commitment
to the principle that at UCI all
perspectives and opinions should be heard
in the academic environment. He has
made it a priority to strive to create a climate
where students of all faiths feel safe.
His leadership at UCI has helped create
an increasingly diverse university tempered
by the voice of reason in a democratic
society.
•WE are Anaheim, SOMOS Anaheim
(Anaheim) is a community-based group
of volunteers that represents Anaheim residents.
Members of the group come from
different walks of life, live in different zip
codes, speak different languages, and have
varying opinions, but come together with
the common goal of working for peace
and progress in the City of Anaheim.
Since 1971, Orange County Human
Relations has worked to build bridges of
understanding to promote a vision of our
community where all people are valued
and included and our diversity is realized
as a source of strength.
The OC Human Relations Council is a
private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization
founded in 1991 for the purpose of developing
and implementing proactive
human relations programs in partnership
with schools, corporations, cities, foundations
and individuals. For more information,
visit www.ochumanrelations.org or
call 714-567-7470.