Students in Nanjing University have noticed an increasing number of cats shown on campus since this semester.
These new-borns not only bring joy to cat lovers in school, but also worries to the eight student members of the “Pets Family” association, founded to care for stray cats on campus in 2012. “There are more than 50 strays on campus, about one-third of which are female,” said Lu Fenxiao, head of the association, from the School of Environment. It is her second year in the association. “We are lucky to have more than 100 volunteers now, to help us with cat counting and feeding in their spare time. The number of volunteers is still increasing,” Lu added.
From the data Lu provided, “Pet’s Family” spent ¥2,800 this semester; ¥200 on carriers for sick cats, ¥800 on food and ¥1,800 on medical fees, for emergency rescue for those cats afflicted by illnesses or car accidents on campus.
“We get money from online donation and charity sales,” Lu said. “Over ¥3,000 has been received in funds in the last school year, we really appreciated it but… [it’s] far from enough. There’s no extra money for those cats to receive vaccination, sterilisation and all the necessary health care. We can only afford food, cattery and a few emergency treatments cost; that cost us all the money we had”.
According to the nearest pet’s hospital, Yadong hospital, on Xueze Lu, it costs ¥4-500 for a male cat to receive sterilisation and approximately ¥1,000 yuan for a female. Through sterilisation, cats can avoid suffering from endless bearing, unsatisfying needs when on heat and worsened living conditions due to overpopulation.
Members of Pet’s Family have decided to focus on sterilising the female cats. “Although it’s more expensive, there are fewer female cats on campus, and it’s more efficient for number control,” said Lu. But there is always something more urgent. Last year, a cat was hit by a car in front of the building of Environment and Science School. It cost Pet’s Family over ¥3,000 yuan to rescue him, and that was all they had at that time. This semester, “Flower”, a female cat, was suffering from a severe stomatitis and ¥1,600 yuan was spent on her recovery.
Different voices can be heard from students about cats’ sterilisation on campus. Dan Qiao, a third-year-student from the College of Marine Science, who was previously a volunteer in Pet’s Family said, “I don’t see the necessity or feasibility to have stray cats neutered on campus. I mean, they are wild animals after all, it’s nature’s job to control their population. We can’t be that sympathetic just because cats are cuter than other wild animals. If we did make all those stray cats neutered, why don’t we take charge of all those wild animals in nature? Let alone it takes too long a time for caring them after sterilisation, it’s not simply about the money”.
“I never heard of the Pets Family, said Wubang Tang, a third-year graduate student from the College of Chemistry. “Nor do I feed those stray cats”. When asked about cats’ neuter and examinations, Tang indicated he will not pay attention to things like this.
“For now, it’s impossible for these cats to get a health examination, we can only help them, like, survive,” Lu said. “And the school authorities don’t take charge of this; our proposal about cats’ caring on campus once got into the top 20 in a school-wide competition, but we didn’t hear from the school authority thereafter.”
When asked about the stray cats on campus, Ms Li, the dorm supervisor of the 4th dormitory on campus showed her worry about the disease cats may bring into dorms. “There are more cats in the dormitory passageways in winter because it’s really cold outside, but we can’t let them stay. Once we find them, we have to get them out,” she said.
Pet’s Family is an association under the School of Environment’s student union, and therefore members come from within. The head of the association said she would like to change Pet’s Family to a university-wide association. “It may probably bring stray cats more attention and funds, we hope,” said Fenxiao Lu.
