COLUMBUS, Ohio – A woman is dedicated to helping the estimated 400,000 stray cats and kittens that roam the wild in Franklin County.
It’s a skill developed by Sadie Price’s mother that Sadie now passes on to her eight-year-old girl.
Sadie Price has captured, neutered, or neutered and released or reintroduced about 500 cats and kittens in the past year.
“Of the 500 cats I made last year, a good percentage were kittens,” Price said. “In spring there are kittens everywhere. You cannot take them to shelters. Nobody’s answering the phone. We’re all busy with kittens. “
A female cat has about three litters of kittens per year. “Many of these kittens suffer and die. You can’t go, ”Price said. She will always keep and tame the kittens when they are younger than 12 weeks and then bring them back home.
Price traps cats in Columbus and takes them to SOS, Ohio, in Linwood, where they spay and neuter dogs and cats at subsidized prices to help low-income people and community veterans and rescue workers like Sadie Price.
“We help people with low incomes. Our daily prices reflect the low cost. Cats and dogs every day, usually we are around 30-50 cats a day and 15-30 dogs a day. COVID has asked us to cut back a little, ”said Aley Butler, the clinic director. On one day last spring, during their busy season, SOS of Ohio spayed and neutered approximately 120 cats and dogs.
“We love being able to help people. One of the greatest things we do is catch people like Sadie, neutralize them, come back and help them, ”Butler said.
It is a skill and passion that Price’s mother passed on to her, and that her own daughter Ivy is taught to help reduce the number of cats suffering. Eight year old Ivy can operate a trap and knows how to keep the kittens safe, fed, and comfortably until they come to the clinic.
At the clinic, cats are treated with earplugs for health problems before they are returned to their colony.
Price’s work is based on donations. Two women privately sponsor the cost of what she does so she can catch and care for the cats all day. The work is based on donations to the Cat Welfare Association, which issues coupons to cover the cost of services at SOS Ohio.
If you want to help cats in your community, Price encourages you to donate. To help care for wild cats you can join the Columbus Ohio Wildcat Community on Facebook.