LOOKING FOR A HOME
Grant Moody cuddles a furry friend at the Saskatoon SPCA, which is over-capacity with cats. The agency is running a promotion to find families for 70 by month’s end.
The Saskatoon SPCA is running a special cat adoption promotion for the rest of September because the shelter is full from this year’s “kitten season.”
The Adoption by Donation promotion will be running at the SPCA shelter and select Petland and Petsmart locations around the city, according to a news release.
Saskatoon SPCA executive director Patricia Cameron said they’re hoping to adopt out about 70 cats by the end of this month.
“We’re over-capacity at the shelter,” she said. “We really need to get these animals into loving homes.”
Until Sept. 30, all cats that have already been spayed or neutered can be adopted by donation instead of the usual fee.
The news release from the SPCA says Saskatoon experiences a “kitten season” every year — a time when large numbers of kittens are dropped off by cat owners or people who find abandoned litters.
The release also said the regular “kitten season” is a result of too many cats not spayed or neutered in the community.
And at the SPCA, every available room is filled to capacity with cats and kittens that have been brought in. The temporary holding area, the cat maternity room, and even one of the old kennel rooms that has been mostly phased out of use are all full of cats.
“What we’re seeing now is that there are more and more animals in the city that are homeless,” Cameron said. “If you’re bringing a cat into your home in Saskatoon, spay and neuter it and make sure it stays an indoor cat.”
Cameron said the “kitten season” is fairly predictable every year, occurring at the end of a hot summer and before the fall and winter get too cold. When weather has been good, she said, animal control and the public bring in more unclaimed kittens since cats breed “like rabbits.”
The SPCA will hold animals for a few days before putting them up for adoption to see if the original owner will come to claim them, but Cameron said the reclamation rate for a litter of kittens brought in to the shelter is “zero per cent.”