There are a fair amount of stray cats in every city, but Auburn seems to have more than its share of cats. The Lee County Humane Society reports that an average of 15 to 20 stray cats are brought in every day. They received almost 1,500 cats in the months of May through September alone. Although those numbers are the highest in the warmer months, the average per month remains fairly high throughout the year.

What is the main cause of such a high number of stray and feral (wild) cats? It stems from the fact that so many people don’t get their pets spayed or neutered. If a cat that isn’t neutered gets lost and becomes a stray, it will more than likely reproduce, which stimulates an endless cycle.

The Humane Society does its best to find homes for the stray cats that are brought in, but often times there just isn’t enough space. A majority of the cats aren’t even adoptable because they are too wild to tame or have diseases such as Feline Leukemia. Unfortunately, these cats are usually euthanized.

In January 2000, Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine implemented a feral cat trap-neuter-return program, “Operation Cat Nap,” to control the cat population on campus. Any cat found on campus was trapped, surgically sterilized, vaccinated and tested for disease.

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If the cat was healthy, it would be neutered and returned to the site where it was captured. A small nip of a cat’s left ear signaled that it was a part of “Operation Cat Nap.” As part of this program, volunteer caretakers would feed the cats on a regular basis.

Other cities, such as Richmond, Va. and Gainesville, Fla. have a similar program called “Operation Catnip,” and they follow the same protocols as Auburn’s program.

In the last couple of years, “Operation Cat Nap” has disbanded and is no longer actively operating.

According to Dr. Jan Steiss, who worked with “Operation Cat Nap,” the founder of the program, Brenda Griffin, left Auburn University a few years ago. The program lost its grant, which wasn’t renewed after she left, so there wasn’t enough financial support to keep the program going.

The university’s College of Veterinary Medicine has since created a smaller program called the “Feral Cat Feeding Program.” Vet students have created feeding stations on campus where they provide stray cats food and water. If they notice a cat that hasn’t been neutered, they attempt to capture it and take it to the veterinary school.

On another scale, a senior at Auburn Univeristy, Laura Cherry, has her own personal way of contributing to helping the stray cats in the city.

Cherry said she has felt a strong connection to animals, especially strays, since she was little. She has single handedly rescued seven cats and at least five dogs. She kept six of these animals, which brings her family’s pet count up to ten.

Although she said her friends poke fun at her for it, she owns and uses a cat trap to capture stray cats and then takes them to the Humane Society. The last stray she found was a 3-week-old kitten behind Barnes Automotive Service on Opelika Road.

“It’s so sad to see all these animals without homes, and I wish there was more I could do,” Cherry said. “The most important lesson to learn here is that spaying or neutering your cat is key to preventing this outrageously high stray cat population.”