SpokAnimal program for feral cats gets boost from viral video

An innovative Spokane program that has been putting feral felines to work as farmhands has recently become an international sensation.

An 11-minute video about the program, produced for a popular cat show on the Animal Planet cable channel, has logged 6 million views since it first appeared about two weeks ago.

“It’s kind of exploded,” said Gail Mackie, executive director of SpokAnimal, where the feral farm cat program was developed eight years ago.

The program rehabilitates feral and other untamed cats so they can go to work on farms or in warehouses controlling rodents. All of the cats are sterilized and vaccinated.

Since 2009, the Farm Livin’ program has placed 1,700 cats on farms or in new homes.

“Those are cats that wouldn’t have had a chance otherwise,” Mackie said.

It’s one of a series of innovative programs at SpokAnimal that nearly have eliminated the problem of unwanted cats and dogs in Spokane.

After the video, titled “From Feral to Farm: A Cat’s Life,” went viral, the agency at 710 N. Napa St. received 100 phone calls a day from across the country and around the world from people and other agency officials inquiring about how the program works.

The calls have slowed since then.

Mackie said she’s happy to share the secrets of successful farm living for cats.

“We are all about saving lives,” she said of the pets that SpokAnimal handles.

The feral cat adoption arose following the 2007 decision by SpokAnimal to become a no-kill shelter. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals offered a $200,000 grant to Spokane to help implement programs to achieve that goal.

Today, SpokAnimal places nearly all of the cats and dogs it receives. Only very sick and unadoptable pets are euthanized.

The agency has been successful enough that it now brings cats and dogs to Spokane from cities as far away as Los Angeles.

Among the creative programs at SpokAnimal, prospective pet owners can request an adoption by preferred breed, age and other attributes. SpokAnimal staff will search other agency websites to obtain a pet matching the request and notify people when the animal arrives.

“We find homes for animals from all over the country,” said Cristel Carlson, owner of Spokane Sport Horse Farm on Sherman Road southwest of Spokane.

Her 150-acre spread is where the Farm Livin’ program got its start. The name was taken from the theme song of the popular “Green Acres” television comedy from 1965 to 1971.

Mackie, who is working half time at SpokAnimal while she transitions into retirement, manages the sport horse farm where she also lives and boards her Lipizaner horse.

“We have no rodent problem at all,” she said about the horse farm.

Over the years, other horse farmers have adopted farm cats for their own places, often after meeting one of the feline farmhands at a horse show.

Currently, there are five farm cats at the Spokane Sport Horse Farm, including one that was not feral but came from an abusive home.

Ami, a Siamese cross, is now a gentle, people-friendly cat and a favorite at the horse farm.

Ami and the other cats are uniquely suited to living in the horse barns, where their favorite bedding spots are the cubbyholes between bales of hay.

A dozen cats were cycled through the farm and adopted out last year.

Many of the cats are obtained from feral feline colonies in Spokane.

SpokAnimal has been catching and sterilizing feral cats for years in an ongoing program to keep their numbers in check.

Mackie said one of the earliest steps toward reducing unwanted dogs and cats in Spokane was the decision to offer vouchers to prospective pet owners to reduce the cost of sterilizing animals.

SpokAnimal provided animal control services to the city of Spokane from 1984 until 2014.

Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service took over from SpokAnimal and now provides animal control across the county.

SpokAnimal and the Spokane Humane Society operate independent shelters.

One of SpokAnimal’s other creative programs sends homeless dogs to the Airway Heights Corrections Center, where prisoners train them prior to adoption. Nine dogs graduated from the Pawsitive Prison Dog program last month after passing a “canine good citizen test,” Mackie said.

SpokAnimal also offers a Guardian Angel program intended for older pet owners who want to make sure their pets have a good home if they become unable to care for them in the future. The pet owners can declare their wishes much like a will.

Domestic violence victims can have their pets placed with SpokAnimal for temporary boarding while they transition to a new home.

On the adoption side, SpokAnimal supplies pets to 20 locations, including retail pet stores, in the Spokane area.

Some pets find their way to nursing homes.

To increase the number of available pets in Spokane, the agency employs a Cruising Critters vehicle to pick up dogs and cats from other cities.

The agency also goes to restaurants with a mobile adoption vehicle in what it calls its Critter Cuisine program.

Charis Howser, a former horse owner and sport horse farm regular, volunteers to feed the farm cats. She appears in the farm cat video.

Howser said that when she shows up in the morning, the cats come running and that she is always excited to see them. Their pay for rodent control is a mix of both wet and dry food.

“I love cats, but my husband is terribly allergic,” she explained. “These are my kitty-kitties.”