MEDINA, Ohio – In an effort to reduce feral cat populations within the city, Medina’s finance committee is considering an additional expenditure of money to the nonprofit group Medina Meow Fix.
Council President John Coyne said the city appropriated $5,000 to the organization in September of 2023 by way of the Medina County SPCA. When volunteers from Medina Meow Fix trap, neuter and release feral cats within city limits, they send invoices to the SPCA and the SPCA would refund Medina Meow Fix with funds provided by the city to help cover the vet bills associated with the program.
Julie Pflaum of Medina Meow Fix said the funds have lasted for nearly two years but added that the SPCA recently cut the final check from the funds. She provided the finance committee with a breakdown of the TNR efforts that have taken place throughout the city through that time.
“We already started trapping yesterday on North Harmony so we are hoping council will consider additional funding for us,” she said.
Coyne asked if the organization expects there to be fewer cats in the future due to the successful TNR efforts in Medina.
“If we were in a bubble, that is exactly how that would work,” Pflaum said. “But you can have one female cat and one male cat come into an area and wipe out everything we have done within a matter of months to a year. We are huge on educating and getting homeowners to be proactive and reach out to us ahead of time so we can clean up areas before they get out of hand.”
Pflaum said Medina Meow Fix has trapped, neutered and released approximately 4,000 cats within Medina County and the surrounding areas.
“We are making a dent, but there’s so much to be done and there’s no such thing as kitten season,” she said. “Just last week we received a call about one-week old kittens left at a construction site.”
Pflaum said that factories and industrial areas are often frequent dumping areas for cats, as is Lincoln Crossing and Brookdale Trailer Park.
“We have people who work with us and really want to put in the effort to clean up these populations, but they don’t have the funds to have the cats neutered,” Pflaum said. “There is a woman in her late 70s who lives at Lincoln Crossing who puts in a lot of effort, but she is sick and doesn’t have the funds.”
Pflaum said that some homeowners will cover the vet bills for the TNR program when they can. She said Medina Meow Fix also participates in fundraising efforts and has some monthly donors to offset costs, but she said an additional contribution from the city would be helpful in the organization continuing their work.
“I think we need time to digest this information and then we can make a determination at the next finance meeting to make a determination,” Coyne said.
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