News Briefs for the Week of November 11, 2002
By Marcella Durand for Cat Facts
- Pizza Man Delivers Life
Now, this is the kind of pizza man you'd like to find outside your door! In the river town of Easton, Pennsylvania, pizza delivery person David Dilts just happened to be delivering a pizza on Sunday, October 20th, when he saw smoke pouring out of a window in his niece's home. Quick-thinking Dilts dialed 911 on his cell phone and raced to the door.
"I just kicked the door in and let the animals out," he says. Sixteen-year-old Mark Lisetski, who had been bicycling in the park nearby with his friends, helped Dilts get the pets to safety. While two German shepherds were able to escape on their own, one of the cats had to be carried out and was struggling for air. But neighbors and emergency personnel worked together to save its life. One neighbor gently wrapped a sweater around the cat while an emergency worker held a human-sized oxygen mask to its face. After 15 minutes, the cat lifted its head and looked around. "Sweet!" said Lisetski. "It's alive. That's what I was waiting to see."
Once the cat regained its breath, Dianne Nuttall of the Easton Emergency Squad helped the little black-and-white kitty sip water from a bottle cap. She says that emergency workers will do whatever it takes to save a life. According to her, it's not the first time the squad has tended to an animal. "They're family members. They have everything a family member has, short of a Social Security number," Nuttall says.
- Study Gives Trap-Neuter-Return Programs a Boost
The practice of trapping feral cats, neutering or spaying them, then returning them to their colony (known as trap-neuter-return, or simply TNR) continues to be controversial, but a new study just released by the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida may help settle the controversy on the side of TNR.
After studying 5,323 free-roaming cats, the researchers concluded that, "It is feasible and safe to neuter large numbers of free-roaming cats in large-scale clinics." The study was published in the October 15th issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The researchers found that more spays (of female cats) are performed than neuterings (of males) and that clinics should be prepared appropriately. In addition, they found that typically almost half of female cats trapped during the spring are pregnant (which is why many shelter workers not-so-affectionately call the spring "kitten season"). Happily, the researchers also found that, "Euthanasia of debilitated cats for humane reasons is rarely necessary, and unexpected deaths occur at a low rate."
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