Trap, neuter, release: Animal Clinic provides resources to catch outdoor cats

The Community Cat Action Team at Waco's Animal Birth Control Clinic provides affordable vet care and spay and neuter surgeries for outdoor cats.

• People can rent a cat trap for a $50 deposit to capture outdoor cats and bring them into the clinic for care and surgery.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

"It's kind of like that garden gnome, like every home needs a gnome — every home needs a cat in my world," Megan Rusell-Erlich said.

Russell-Erlich moved to Waco three years ago with three cats. Now, she has seven cats and feeds four to six more in her backyard.

"I've always had animals — my mom was a single mom with also a big rescuers heart," Rusell-Erlich said.

She took all of her own animals to Waco's Animal Birth Control Clinic for care and she traps outdoor cats in her backyard through the trap neuter release program.

"I've been able to take many of these ferals that show up — I have been able to trap to them and they have covered the cost of their surgery, I usually just pay for the additional vaccines that I want them to have to boost their chances of living, safe, little lives and then I let them go," Rusell-Erlich said.

25 News went to Megan's house when she released Tilly, an outdoor cat that hangs out in her backyard, after he was neutered at the ABC Clinic.

If not spayed, cats can start having babies at just a few months old, and may have multiple litters each year.

"There are a lot of people that are actively involved in the animal rescue community here, but they are outnumbered by the pet problem — I guess not the pet problem, the animal issue," Rusell-Erlich said.

The ABC Clinic rents out the traps for our neighbors, provides affordable spay and neuter surgeries, ear tips and vaccinations before they're released.

"This program helps the community not just in making our cats healthier and safer to be around, but it also helps overpopulation," said Executive Director, Carrie Spivey.

"We want to make sure these cats aren't putting pressure on our area shelters or rescues."

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