About

About

The rod

The rodent control program created by animal activist Melya in 1999. Melya came up with the original name “Working Cats” to designate the quality of rodent-control services to be provided. WORKING CATS was later registered as a service mark with the U.S. Trademark Office. WORKING CATS® is a green program that relocates sterilized and vaccinated feral cats to residences or businesses with large rat populations. Melya came up with the original name “Working Cats” to designate the quality of rodent-control services to be provided. WORKING CATS was later registered as a service mark with the U.S. Trademark Office.      WORKING CATS® is a green program that relocates sterilized and vaccinated feral cats to residences or businesses with large rat populations. Overview

The program provides a useful role in society for feral cats, who would otherwise be euthanized in shelters. It is humane for both the cats and the rats, who through traditional extermination methods, die painful deaths through poisoning and glue traps. Instead, the rats are simply repelled by the cats’ odor, and leave the site.

The Process

  1.  The process begins with taking unsocialized cats who would otherwise be euthanized in shelters, and getting them neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated.
  2. The cats are then brought to the new environment, a business or residence with a rodent problem, and the owners sign adoption contracts.
  3. They are then kept in a large holding cages for one month where they become accustomed to the sights, smells, and sounds of their new location. This is called grounding, or re-colonizing, which is acclimating the cats to their new homes.
  4. Once the cats are acclimated to their new environment, they are released into their territory where they will remain. The cats are given fresh food and water by their new owners, which is mandatory because they do not eat the rats. It is the odor of the cats that drives away rodent populations.

History

The program was first implemented in 1999, at the Flower Mart in downtown Los Angeles. The area was plagued by rats, and the extermination methods (spraying poison) was not only making the humans sick, it did not solve the rat problem.

Melya, Executive Director of Voice For The Animals Foundation, brought in sterilized feral cats, and the rat situation was brought under control. The Los Angeles police Department is another benefactor of the Working Cats® program. When some of the police stations were overrun with rats, Melya stepped in to suggest using the program. Read more