When Judy Oaks moved to Mesquite, Nevada, in the summer of 2008, she interviewed at a local shelter for a job. One of her first questions was, “What do you do with feral cats?” She was shocked to hear the reply: “We kill them.” Needless to say, she did not get the job, and nor did she want it! 

Soon after, Oaks learned about a local organization, We Care for Animals. She contacted them and asked if they were involved with feral cats. The response was no, but Judy was invited to attend their next meeting. From that meeting, Judy walked away with a new responsibility: to advocate for the feral cats of Mesquite. She is now also the secretary for We Care for Animals, which is Mesquite’s only rescue organization.

For the past year and a half, Oaks, who has three cats of her own, has been taking care of a colony of about seventeen cats that live around a mostly-abandoned hotel, the Oasis. To prepare herself to care for a colony, she did a lot of online research using both the Best Friends and the Alley Cat Allies websites.

 Oaks learned quickly that caring for a colony is not a part-time gig; it’s a full-time, seven-day-a-week commitment. As she says, “The cats don’t know it’s Christmas.” Only recently has she asked for help. Two women Bonnie Lammens and Marsha Meissnar, who are “snowbirds,” stepped up to the plate.  Oaks is thrilled to have weekends off — for now. Of course, since the two assistants are only part-time residents, this break is only temporary.

Mesquite is a town of about 19,000 residents and lies eighty miles north-east of Las Vegas.  Oaks is also now Mesquite’s only trapper. “I’ve trapped forty-three cats so far,” she says proudly. “It’s a passion: one cat at a time,” echoing the well-known story about the boy who tosses starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

“Frankie is a white Siamese that I trapped in January 2009. He was not a feral. Sadly, he tested positive for feline leukemia. We put him on Petfinder, Catster, and a Siamese cat rescue site. Finally, just a couple of weeks ago, one of the ladies who is helping with the colony found someone to foster him. Vicky Eckman is Frankie’s angel and foster mom,” says Oaks.

Oaks related another recent story to illustrate the challenge of changing people’s perception of strays: “A lady called and said she had a feral cat in her backyard. I came over, trapped it, and took it to the vet. We quickly found out that the cat was already spayed. She has since been placed in foster care. I tell this story because so many people assume a cat is feral when in fact so many cats are simply abandoned.”

“It’s all about getting the awareness out. You do have a choice [in how to manage ferals] – there are options!” Oaks says. “What I do is so rewarding. We’re starting to get a lot of public awareness now. It warms my heart – I can’t tell you how tickled I am that the awareness is growing.”

About We Care for Animals

We Care for Animals is “dedicated to finding good compatible homes for homeless and unwanted companion animals; assisting with spay and neuter for qualified pet owners; promoting the benefits of spay and neuter and responsible pet ownership.”

It is run by volunteers; there are no paid employees. The volunteers work tirelessly to be “out there” in the community. They hold adoptions twice a month, march in the Veteran’s Day Parade, and attend events at the Casablanca Hotel.  In April they will host their annual “Rummage for Rover” fundraiser. Animal rescue depends on the network of foster homes available, as they have no permanent shelter. Of course, they are always looking for new foster homes. In 2009, they adopted out forty cats and seventy-six dogs.

Their website has resources for spay/neuter, coping with the loss of your pet, Mesquite veterinarians, and rescue organizations. They also maintain a wish list of items they would love to have donated. But the one item on the website that everyone who is involved in homeless cat advocacy should download, print, and carry with her is a chart that shows how, in four years, if there is no intervention, two cats will multiply into over four thousand!

Some sobering statistics provided by the We Care For Animals website and by Oaks:

• There are 250,000 feral cats in Las Vegas.
• Only one of every twelve cats finds a forever home.
• Just in southern Nevada alone, 30,000 cats and dogs are euthanized annually.

Shelly Kotter, Best Friends’ Focus on Felines campaign specialist is excited about the merging of efforts by dedicated volunteers in both Mesquite and Las Vegas. “We heartily support Judy Oaks’s efforts,” said Shelly. “Best Friends intends to keep her and We Care for Animals in the limelight.”

For more information about We Care For Animals, please visit: wecareforanimals.org.

Photos courtesy of Judy Oaks.