“They are not people's pets.”

HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — A team of Furbish Thrift volunteers and veterinarians from Hanover County's Jessica Bies Veterinary Clinic and Kincheloe South worked hard Thursday afternoon to ensure Richmond's feral cat population is under control. was.

“We call this event the Big Fix,” Bill Harrison said.

Harrison is CEO of the William A. Harrison Jr. Foundation, which operates the Furbish Thrift Store in Richmond. Harrison said he held three Big Fix events during the year Thrift Shop A was in operation.

“The captors go out at night several days before the event, capture stray cats, and take them to Furbish Thrift. We load the cats into thrift store trucks and take them to the clinic here in Hanover. We will go there and provide medical care there,” Harrison explained. ”

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Stray cats that arrive at the clinic are not only spayed or neutered. Associate veterinarian Katrina Colgaard said the cats will receive dental treatment and treatment for parasites and diseases before being released back into the wild.

“It's not just fleas, but infectious diseases like rabies as well. It definitely helps to keep the fleas as healthy as possible,” Colgaard said.

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Thanks to support from the community, Kincheloe is able to offer this surgery for just $40, Harrison said. Harrison said for every $40 donation Furbish Thrift receives, it will match it so it can help more stray cats.

Furbish Thrift is funding $4,000 to cover treatment costs.

“By matching each donor's $2,000 donation and by providing low-cost services, Kincheloe will be able to help so many people,” said Laura Cotterman, president of the William A. Harrison Jr. Foundation. “We can now treat animals.”

“It's an important part of not only controlling feral cat populations, but also stopping the spread of disease,” Harrison said.

“Most of these cats are truly wild, meaning they have never had contact with humans, so they are not domesticated and cannot be tamed. They reproduce very quickly, so this definitely helps ''Kolgaard explained. It is definitely a big problem for feral cats, so we need to control their overpopulation in certain areas. ”

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In fact, according to Harrison, cats can have up to three litters per year, with an average of two to five kittens each time. Therefore, such efforts are essential to control wild colonies.

“The people who trap these feral cats collect them and bring them back to the place where they were captured,” Harrison said. “And that's the best process, because most of these cats are cats that can be domesticated. They're not human pets. These are animals born in the wild.”

Harrison said she plans to fix up about 80 cats. He estimates that nearly 300 cats have been rehabilitated and released back into the wild since the event began.

“This is the only time most of these cats will see a veterinarian, probably for the rest of their lives,” Harrison said.

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“This gives them the opportunity to continue to live happy lives, be healthier, and remain in a situation that is as stress-free as possible and safe for others,” Colgaard said.

Harrison said Furbish Thrift is planning another event in April.

“This is a service that covers so many different areas,” Harrison says. “This has been a very rewarding process that we are going through, and we are very humbled by the support of our community.”

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