Dineen on 48th St.

Donna
Dec 22, 2025
2 min read

Dineen is one of many of my caregivers who have had threatening letters from their landlords. They threaten to take any cats they see outside to the shelter. This is wrong on so many levels. First of all, how do they know if the cat is a stray or someone's pet? Also, the caregivers who are feeding the stray cats are doing the community a great service by working with GCCCP and Idaho Humane Society to control the cat population by spay\neutering and removing all the kittens to IHS for adoption. If they were to stop feeding the cats, the cats would go unneutered, and multitudes of kittens would be born. We have written letters to the landlords and owners trying to explain, but instead they ignore the opportunity they have to control the cats. Not to mention the rat infestation that would replace the cats.

With Dineen, all taken to IHS.

Cat – Very sick. Euthanized

Cat – Abandoned. Rehomed

Momma – Rehomed to barn

Kitten – Female. Intake for Adoption

Scenario Without Dineen

Cat – Very sick. Suffer and die in someone’s yard.

Cat – Abandoned. Try to survive on the streets.

Momma – Have litters of kittens every 4 months!

Kitten – Female. Have litters of kittens every 4 months!

Dineen had another threat. It was from a woman, Karen, who used to trap in Garden City before Garden City Community Cats Project and before Garden City had the contract with Idaho Humane Society. She was one of the first “guides” I had that showed me through the cat-crowded streets of Garden City. It was gruesome! She stopped trapping shortly after I started, about 6 years ago.

This woman has a different way of caring for free-roaming cats than GCCCP.

She sees every cat as homeless, and everyone as a threat. GCCCP understands that most of the cats in Garden City have a caregiver who feeds them, and a colony that is their community. We are grateful for the caregivers and succeed because we all work together.

Karen sees Dineen’s cats as strays and tries to lure them away. Luckily these cats are plenty satisfied, right where they are. 😉