helping cats

Millstone resident cares for hundreds of area cats Feline friend spent over $10,000 last year in vet fees alone BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer Front_Page/049p1_lg Millstone Township resident Layne Sultana takes care of a cat colony in her hometown. She also volunteers to manage colonies in Manalapan and Freehold. As the midsize sport-utility vehicle pulls into the parking lot, cats of all stripes suddenly appear. Their caretaker, Layne Sultana, has arrived, making one of her 13 daily stops to care for cat colonies in Millstone, Freehold, Marlboro and Manal-apan. The Millstone resident cares for the felines seven days a week, 365 days a year. She estimates that she puts 100 miles a day on her vehicle. While some friends donate food and money, the bulk of expenses falls on her, she said. Sultana spends $800 a month for cat food, which consists of 1,100 pounds of dry cat food and 840 cans of wet food. Last year, she accumulated approximately $10,000 in veterinary fees. The colonies range in size from one to 20 cats. All the felines have been tattooed or ear-tipped for identification. Front_Page/049p2_lg PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Layne Sultana, of Millstone Township, sets food out for her feline friends in a cat colony. Sultana did not want to give out the colonies’ exact locations because a couple of the landlords do not want the cats on their property. While she tries to get approval from landowners to feed a colony, she said, two landlords would have her arrested if they caught her. She said she takes the risk because she simply cannot allow the cats to starve. “I don’t like doing things that way,” Sultana said. “I’d rather have approval.” Sultana said that restaurant owners in strip malls are usually glad to have the cats around because they take care of rodent problems. She said that some local animal control officers are sympathetic to the work she and other colony caregivers do, while others do not believe in trap-neuter-release (TNR), the basic tenet of maintaining a colony. Sultana is a board member of Spay Neuter and Protect Strays (SNAPS). “We advocate the nonlethal feral cat population controls of trap, sterilize and release in supported areas,” Sultana said. “Spaying and neutering is the only effective humane way to eliminate overpopulation. This is an alternative to euthanasia.” Sultana uses various veterinarians in the area for spaying, neutering and treatments. Sultana takes care of the problem others have created by dumping their unspayed and non-neutered unwanted cats. “Colonies are developed by people dumping cats or leaving them when they move,” Sultana said. “Unfortunately,” she added, “all of my colonies were acquired when people called me up and said, ‘There is a colony behind a minimall. Would you help trap the cats?’ ” Most people say they will continue to feed the cats, “but that never happens,” according to Sultana. Sultana also helps her friends who have colonies when they must go out of town. “It takes a person who is totally dedicated to the cause to do this,” she said. “ I do not suggest anyone getting involved unless they look into the project ahead of time.” Winters are the most difficult, according to Sultana, as she must shovel the cats out of the protected shelters she has made for them. According to Sultana, one male and one female cat can produce 80,000 offspring in a decade. She said females can have three litters a year, with five or more kittens per litter. “That is why neutering is so important,” she said. All the cats in her colonies have been spayed or neutered as well as vaccinated, she said. Sultana said it took her 2 1/2 years to trap one particular cat, but she finally managed to catch her and have her spayed. None of the cats is scrawny or sickly, and all of the felines have names, she said. Sultana adopts out suitable cats and kittens, but she said so many of her cats need homes. She organizes adoptions through the Petcos in Howell and Freehold Township. She also has a pet food bin at the Freehold Township ShopRite, where people can drop off donations for the animals. Sultana has been involved in animal rescue for 20 years. Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., she rescued cats there and continued to do so when she moved to Freehold and then to Millstone 12 years ago. Sultana works as a dog groomer and pet sitter and owns her own business called Beastly Doos, which gives her the flexibility to care for the colonies. Over the years, she has rescued dogs, birds, ducklings and a host of wildlife. She has gerbils that someone dumped at a park in Manalapan. Someone once left a guinea pig at her Millstone colony, which she gladly found before the cats did. “People think that domestic animals can survive outside, but they cannot,” Sultana said. “Bring them to a shelter.” Sultana said she never takes a vacation. When asked why she devotes herself so much to the cats, she replied, “They’re a life. That’s the important thing. That’s why I feel so strongly about keeping the colonies going.” Sultana said she would pick up any donations of pet food for the colonies from interested area residents. To make a donation or for more information, call (732) 446-6242. Monetary donations for spaying and neutering should be sent to SNAPS, P.O. Box 92, Oakhurst 07755.