Rachel Beech knows what it takes to go the extra mile - it's how the Just Cats founder became a champion of turning stray cats into home cats. More than a decade ago, Mrs Beech moved from Melbourne, where she had been a registered cat breeder, to Longford. Coinciding with her move was the introduction of the Cat Management Act in Tasmania, which placed a requirement to desex and microchip any kitten or cat given away. A Facebook post on social media saying their three-legged, farm cat KitKat was pregnant and they were going to give the kittens away for free. Other social media users were quick to say that shouldn't be done. "I'm following the posts as well, nobody's even offering her any advice," Mrs Beech said. She said those restrictions were the norm for her experience interstate, and decided to help. From there, the Last Litter program was born after working out a plan of attack with a vet to desex, microchip and vaccinate kittens at an affordable cost. "I called it the Last Litter program, where I don't want to help the same person twice." From the first litter, word quickly spread and the program expanded from cats and kittens in her laundry to the creation of a not-for-profit, Just Cats, that now has a purposely fitted out shelter. "It's pretty amazing how it just started and then it just kind of went a little bit wild," she said. Mrs Beech said she initially thought it would be one or two cats a month, but finished the first year desexing, microchipping and vaccinating 500 cats. Now, that number is between 1500-1800 a year. "It was a lot for someone who was working full time and trying to balance work, life kids, and the cats," she said. "It was pretty full on back then when we first started. I've never thought it'd be as big as what it was." The Cat Management Act had "definitely helped" and acted as a deterrent for a couple years, however she said that had waned due to poor policing of the matter. "I felt like more people were doing the right thing, so either surrendering them to a cat management facility or a shelter, or desexing them themselves and just being really mindful about doing the right thing," Mrs Beech said. "But because nobody gets in trouble for it, it's lapsed a little bit where people just go 'oh, who cares'. "There are 1000s of cats every year that don't get a home or are being euthanised at other shelters. It's really unfair that people are a little bit blindsided about the bigger picture." How quickly Just Cats can go from few cats to many is demonstrated by being in a quiet period of around eight cats at their Mowbray surrender facility and about 25 up for adoption at Longford, mostly older kittens. Two and a half weeks later, they had 170 kittens. "It's amazing how quickly it can change as soon as kitten season hits," Mrs Beech said. "We're all about trying to get stray cats off the street, getting them desexed, people can help have the cat if they want." The cost of living, she said had made it harder for some to do what's needed and that was why Just Cats was extending their vet clinic. "We're all about making change," she said. "I don't want to continue taking in 800 kittens a year like it's just, I feel like we're just doing this little cycle. "The last litter program is fantastic because we know that one mum is not going to have any more kittens after this." She said the goal for the next 12 months was to try and desex as many cats as possible, including publicly owned cats that the vet board recently gave approval for them to do.
