More than ‘something sticky’: Purrs and Spurs saves campus cats

BY BROOKLYN MCKINNEY

Feature Editor

Mary Leak, the risk management officer for Tarleton State University’s Purrs and Spurs, was out on the prowl for a cat that had been reported as a kitten covered in “something sticky” at one of the brick buildings on campus.

When Leak spotted her dark fur in a dumpster near the  O.A. Grant Humanities Building, a police officer opened the gate and handed her some gloves so she could lift the small, trembling kitten out unscathed. Upon further inspection, she quickly realized that it wasn’t a sticky substance she was covered in, but dead skin.

A puncture wound had formed an abscess that popped on one side of her head, taking most of her skin and fur with it and exposing part of the skull.

“One eye was swollen shut, and the other eye was covered in dead skin,” Leak said. “We took her to the vet, they cleaned her up and were like, ‘Hey, she’ll probably have to get her eye removed. She might not heal from this, she might take a really long time to heal.’”

This cat didn’t know when to quit. When they arrived at the hospital, veterinarians weren’t expecting her to make it through the night.

While known by many Purrs and Spurs members as “Sleepy”, she also goes by “Phantom” and “Toph”.

Things looked grim for Sleepy, but with the help of Purrs and Spurs, she made a full recovery. A member of the Trap-Neuter-Release group has been fostering the cat at home before she gets spayed and adopted by Leak’s coworker at the end of January.

“Two days ago, she had surgery to remove the few pieces of her eye that weren’t healing fast enough and sew it shut,” Leak said. “She has regrown all of her fur, all of the skin and started developing the bottom eyelid again, which is insane.”

This is just one of the many success stories Purrs and Spurs has seen with the TNR method. Many rural towns like Stephenville are overrun with stray cats, and according to Purrs and Spurs President Kora Clark, this is the only practical solution. She claims that alternatives like relocation or even euthanization aren’t effectively solving this issue long-term.

“Nature loves a vacuum. So if you take something out of its ecological niche, there’s bound to be another creature that fills in that space. Nine times out of 10, it's another feral cat, which is now unaltered, so they still have their reproductive organs,” Clark said. “And then they are not vaccinated, so they could potentially spread rabies or whatever might be going around.”

Not only do constant capture and relocation efforts put unnecessary stress on the cats, but mass euthanizations are often very expensive.

“You'll see a decrease in the population,” Clark said. “But within five years, you'll see more, if not the same amount that you had to begin with. Because now that those spaces were empty, you can go somewhere else and they'll actively fight off other cats because this is where they reside.”

The TNR group will set up their traps on campus with wet food or tuna as bait to lure the cats inside as they lurk quietly in the shadows.

Vice President Jake Stalker explains Purrs and Spurs’ gentle approach to trapping the cats.

“We’re not really chasing them with big nets or sticks prodding at them,” Stalker said. “But once one actually is trapped, we will quickly approach it and cover it with a blanket.”

Due to TNR regulations, the cats are kept on campus overnight and then taken to Texas Coalition for Animal Protection (TCAP)  early the next morning to get neutered or spayed.

“We use them for all of our spaying and neutering of any of the cats we TNR because they’re one of the only places in Texas that works with feral cats,” Leak said.

Another organization that Purrs and Spurs works closely with is the Erath County Humane Society.

Last semester, Purrs and Spurs was granted permission to sell an entire warehouse of Erath County Humane Society’s unwanted donations at a thrift store event during homecoming.

The thrift store was a massive hit on campus, and all of the proceeds went towards Sleepy’s eye surgery, which was originally estimated to cost $2,000.

Not only are they planning on setting up another thrift store with the Erath Humane Society’s support this semester, but starting on Feb. 4, the organization is volunteering at the shelter every Wednesday.

Purrs and Spurrs will also be donating litter boxes to the Humane Society in February and writing names on them upon student request at their annual “Love Stinks” event.

A lot of the club’s meetings are dedicated to educating students about cat behaviors and how they should respond.

A common misconception is that Purrs and Spurs is only here to help Tarleton’s feline friends, but they also help dogs through their partnership with the Erath Humane Society.

In fact, many of their members were encouraged to join because of their pre-vet track and didn’t consider themselves what most would call a “cat person.”

Clark offers her perspective on what people should consider before adopting cats, as someone who grew to love them while serving the Stephenville community with Purrs and Spurs.

“I think a lot of people are expecting a dog. They want a dog to cuddle with them and want to be with them all the time, and they don't understand why their cat doesn't love them, but that's not necessarily true,” Clark said. “I think cats show affection in a very different way, and cats are very selective, so I think it’s just kind of like, ‘This is the first time that she cuddled with me because she was cold,’ and you just start building that bond.”

If you would also like to foster a bond with the cats on campus, go to Purrs and Spurs TexanSync or follow their Instagram page, @tsupurrsandspurs, to stay updated on future meetings and events.