Woman goes above and beyond for her feral cats
The Purr-fect Caregiver
Claire Whitham drives roughly 40 minutes, from Georgetown to Bolton, every single day to feed cats. Whitham is a feral cat colony caregiver, a volunteer who takes care of feral cats. Feral cats, also known as community cats, are wild, undersocialized felines that live outside permanently. Feral cats typically live in groups called colonies.
Rain or shine or two feet of snow in Canadian winters, Whitham provides her colonies with fresh food and water, 365 days a year, even on Christmas day.
“I just love them. I adore them. I can’t even stress that enough. I adore them more than my house cats because these guys are in, they’re safe. I love them too, but I really adore the street cats because they’re so vulnerable,” says Whitham.
Claire has been feeding feral cats for 25 years and currently cares for 17 feral cats in the industrial area of Bolton, Ont.
Feral cats are frightened of humans and tend to stay away from people. However, Whitham has built a bond and unique trust with her cats.
Whitham says she has an incredible relationship with her feral cats.
"The bond of trust that I have with these [cats] is like mind blowing for me…The fact that this animal is able to overcome its fear and develop a trust with a human is really sweet for me."
— Claire Whitham
Whitham also works with the local community to educate people about feral cats.
However, the biggest challenge for a caregiver is working with business owners and local residents that own the property the feral cats live and feed at, says Whitham.
“It can take so much energy, so many words, so many ideas presented to them to sort of talk them off the ledge about the plight of feral cats and how it would really be helpful if they could just be a little accommodating.”
Whitham says that people have thrown out her cat shelter and food bowls in the past.
But Whitham encourages people to get involved with helping feral cats.
“It's just a minute out of people's days to help an animal. So we just hope that there's compassionate people all over in every corner.”
