@aurora – I read that as well, and indeed I relied upon that for my cats – though I symbolically ‘sold’ them to my non-Jewish family (who were in E”Y then); one of them was actually taken to the vet by them.
We took 3 cats straight off the streets of Jerusalem – two males, one female. In a miniature house like the one we lived in then, there is absolutely no way we could have managed with more. (In fact, 3 was way too many already – but we *had* to take them in.)
I found all three of them in a very bad and difficult state. One had just been thrown out of a house and was living on the street and deteriorating day by day. The second was a nearly dead miniature skeleton that barely weighed anything at all, had burns on its body and no teeth. The third was also very young, very sick and weak. All three would, without a doubt, have died within a month (the second within a day probably) if we hadn’t taken them in.
I don’t understand the logic behind some people here. Some (actually, most chareidim) argue that it’s completely fine to just kill street cats – but oy vey, if you would neuter them it’s a horrible thing that must be protested against. But killing them is fine. Sorry, but I just fail to understand the reasoning behind it. Luckily, so does Rav Amar and a few other dati leumi (Religious Zionist / Modern Orthodox) rabbonim, and that is who we relied on when we took them to the vet. I usually wouldn’t rely on their psak but in this case, I saw no other choice.