Cyborg Kitties

We have two cats with which I coexist in a perfectly cordial manner – I have even been known to pet these creatures amiably from time to time. So I am no cat hater.

But, I have also had the experience of living next door to a grotesquely irresponsible woman who allowed her 30+ unfixed cats to roam free creating a health, safety, aesthetic, and humanitarian problem for everyone in the vicinity. The noise and smell alone were unbelieveable, and I invite anyone to conjure pictures in their mind of sweet little furry kittens when one cannot take a single step without stepping in cat feces, urine, glanular secretions or the felines themselves.

So I applaud the city of Akron for at least attempting to tackle the problem:

More stray cats could find their way home under a proposed plan to implant microchips that would electronically identify the cats’ owners.

Democrat Renee Greene introduced legislation Monday to implant microchips beneath the fur of 1,000 cats, giving the animals a permanent identification tag. A runaway cat’s owner would be identified by scanning the chip, which would be about the size of a grain of rice, then checking the scan against a voluntary registry maintained by the city.

Buying and installing the microchips would cost the city nearly $10,000. The City Council still must approve the legislation.

The legislation is an amendment to a cat law passed about 18 months ago that added cats to the city’s laws governing dogs and gave the city’s animal wardens the right to capture free-roaming cats, which can be killed if they aren’t claimed. The Summit County Animal Shelter, where stray cats are taken, already has the scanners that would be used on the microchips.

….Jeff Fusco, the city’s deputy service director, said the city likely would charge about $10 for a microchip, which the Summit County Veterinary Medical Association would implant. Microchips normally cost between $70 and $120. The city would not charge residents to maintain the registry of owners.

The city also plans to host four free or low-cost spay-and-neuter clinics throughout the year, Fusco said.

….Mayor Don Plusquellic said the legislation will help fulfill the city’s responsibility to ensure that pet owners, regardless of their financial situation, won’t lose their animals. [AP]

For God’s sake, get your cats fixed – the fewer cats there are, the nicer we can be to them.