PAWS of Muskingum County Help Reduce Cat Overpopulation

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The PAWS of Muskingum County made a stop at the Washington Township Fire Department today to assist in spaying and neutering cats for community residents. 

PAWS is a non-profit organization that raises funds to provide spay and neutering services for seniors, veterans, disabled and low income families.

Volunteers drove the Columbus Dog Connection mobile vehicle, “The Andy” to the fire department today where they spayed and neutered 35 cats. 

“Basically at this point, every shelter and rescue is totally overwhelmed and swamped. They can’t take anymore in. Our goal is spay/neuter prevention. We got to get the population under control. The cats are overwhelming,” PAWS of Muskingum County president Teresa Hildebrand said.

The PAWS has The Andy vehicle traveling to Muskingum County six times this year. With the cat population increasing, PAWS has scheduled another cat spay/neuter clinic. However, they also do dog surgeries.

In addition to serving pets, the organization will also spay and neuter stray and feral cats, as they have overpopulated the community. 

“Mothers have kittens. The kittens are going to be pregnant by the time they’re five months old and having the litter at seven months. Then, those kittens are going to be ready to go in five months. You can literally go from one mother, having five kittens, to having three or four females, and then within a year, she’s had another litter and her daughters are having litters,” Hildebrand said.

Last year, PAWS of Muskingum County spayed and neutered over 1,100 dogs and cats.

If you are interested in adopting a cat through PAWS or have more information on how you can get your pet spayed or neutered, you can call them at (740)-221-7278 or visit its Facebook page.