Compassion Fatigue
While there has been research on compassion fatigue for professionals (paid workers with certified training etc.), there does not yet appear to be research relating to volunteers. However, it is to be expected that volunteers with cat rescue groups go through the same if not worse experiences, as cat rescuers have high empathy and are dedicating their spare time, labour, funds for the love of animals. Cat rescue individuals and groups experience both:
- primary trauma in the form of mental, emotional and sometimes physical abuse from working in adverse, extreme and often dangerous environments (anecdotally cat rescue groups advise their female volunteers to only proceed into some metropolitan areas in groups of two or more as they have been physically threatened for helping and retrieving cats and kittens), and
- secondary trauma due to frequently being involved with the trauma of unwanted cats (and sometimes their owners) in harsh conditions where many free roaming cats in ill health desperately need assistance, with the numbers ever increasing despite desexing as many as possible.
Generally, cat rescue groups do not have the resources, expertise or funds to proactively address compassion fatigue as do council pounds or large animal shelters. Cat rescue groups find it challenging to take sick leave, find backup staff/volunteers, or make time for training etc. Many operate under respectful conditions within their own groups. Yet engagement with the public may lead to verbal abuse in phone calls, emails or on social media, especially when needs to assist cats exceed the capacity for care.
Escalating Pressure on Cat Rescue Groups
Many rescue groups in NSW are finding it difficult to cope with the number of people requesting their support for stray unowned cats that are breeding.
Anecdotally, a small number of rescues in the Sydney Metropolitan area (who are not Rehoming Organisations) have provided the following feedback. From social media activity and feedback from several cat rescue groups, it appears that the number of people seeking help for cats from cat rescue groups is increasing.
- There has been a noticeable increase in requests for help for semi-owned or unowned cats and kittens – estimates vary from 30% to much more – in forms of direct requests (phone, email, Facebook messages) and requests on social media on a number of Facebook group pages. Examples include:
“During kitten season 2020/2021 we peaked at 110 cats on board; an increase of over 30% on previous years.”
“We have seen a massive rise in street cat populations… we are seeing an increase of 40%.”
“Normally approx 30… the past 12 months 250” (re cats/kittens taken in per year).
“We definitely are being hit up more to help cats and we cannot keep up and have to constantly say no – it’s heartbreaking.”
“We also receive many calls for help and we are just not able to take any more cats on board. Whilst the huge increase in adoptions during Covid means many adoptions in that year, the fallout is that adoptions are now very slow and that means we are not taking on new cats as we usually would.”
“The pressure is extreme too” (pressure from requestors to rescuers for assistance with cats/kittens).
- The “incoming” rate in colonies is increasing. In areas where unowned cats congregate (most often on private property and less often around schools, hospitals, aged care facilities, government housing and in parks or light industrial areas), referred to as colonies, new cats continue to be “found” at a more rapid rate than previously. This is beyond new kittens being born to cats in managed colonies because these cats have often been desexed. Examples include:
“Everyone we know caring for a colony is reporting new cats arriving in their colonies very regularly; possibly weekly to monthly. There is a high level of frustration that the desexing of these colonies never ends. The colony carers think they have their colony desexed and they find a few more undesexed cats have turned up.”
“So many new colonies springing up everywhere”
“…we are so pressured with activities for trap/desex and advise mostly locally.”
- There has been a significant increase in the number of cats surrendered or abandoned (i.e. socialised cats found without an owner in a yard, street, school, park etc.) who are either pregnant females or females with a litter of kittens. Examples include:
“15 years ago mostly we rescued young kittens from unsocialised mums and desexed the mums… In rescue we say each kitten season is worse than the year before but 3 years ago I was utterly shocked at what appeared to be a huge increase in friendly stray numbers. In the last 3 years we have probably doubled the number of very pregnant or lactating mums we have taken on each spring/summer.”
“In the last few years we have received many more requests for subsidised desexing vouchers than previously; especially during Covid as people reported financial stress. Many more people are finding a stray cat or kitten and willing to keep them if they can have some financial help with the vet work. Sadly, because we have so many more cats on board and also the fact that our per cat costs have increased A LOT especially when you take into account the $80 late desexing fee, we have not been able to issue many vouchers this year.”
“We work closely with trappers/colony feeders and the number of community members not desexing then dumping their undesexed cats before or after they have babies is absolutely appalling. We are possibly talking thousands of these cats dumped each year and most of them are breeding.”
“I understand the intention of the ‘Annual permit’ is to encourage people to desex before their first litter, but people who don’t desex their pets don’t microchip anyway.”
“…once people find out the ramifications of chipping their cats they won’t do it.”
- There has been a noticeable increase in illness amongst the cats abandoned (unowned or semi-owned cats), either in more cats being ill or more virulent forms of illnesses. Examples include:
“As the number of stray cats has increased over the years, so has the deterioration in their health. As a very experienced carer with a wonderful network of vets, I am getting increasingly frustrated at how much harder it is now to stabilise the health of the kittens/cats and transform them into healthy, robust felines. We are seeing more deformities in the last 3 to 5 years than ever before and other afflictions such as ringworm and the herpes virus are more bombastic and harder to treat. This means the cats are having to stay in care longer as we battle to get them healthy so they can have their vet work and be adopted and it also means they are costing us more money.”
“We are seeing a horrible number of starving and sick cats on the streets now. We are seeing more congenital deformities. In previous years, perhaps we would have 1 cat test FIV positive a year. This year we have had THREE of our mums test positive. This also impacts the number of cats we can rescue as FIV positive cats are very hard to adopt.”
“…in the past two years we have seen a severe increase in ringworm… Cat flu also seems to be more virulent and we do often find dead kittens and we have had more cats with congenital eye issues come onboard “
- Small rescues are being asked more often to assist vets, businesses and council pounds in taking on the “harder” cases involving ill cats/kittens that need more resources than a business-run facility can take on (based on costs decisions). Examples include:
“…we have also extended our intakes to take strays surrendered to the pound and take strays surrendered to vet practices. We are taking more and more from various vets, even vets we don’t partner with who are just desperate.”
“…now finding more requests more often on social media from “friends of” groups for pounds looking for “rescues only” to assist with ill kittens and cats.”
“We find we are called out more and more to … businesses where the people have no tolerance for the cats.”
LRC 