North Ga. Animal Alliance: Kitten season, COVID-19, spay/neuter
The calls, Facebook messages and emails are arriving daily — many times daily: motherless kittens, dog with 10 puppies, owner needs new home for dog or cat.
This is what North Georgia Animal Alliance and other animal rescues are facing right now. “It’s kitten season,” says NGAA president Valerie Hayes. “That’s intense enough, but there are many other situations out there, too — some due to COVID-19 and the hardships a lot of people are facing because of it.”
On the plus side, says Hayes, NGAA is getting a lot of new volunteers — people who find themselves with a little more time on their hands because they’re out of work or working from home. On the down side, some people are having to give up their pets because of financial challenges.
Hayes says NGAA has had two people return cats they adopted a year or more ago because of the tornadoes that hit in April. “When people adopt from us, we ask them to return their pet to us if they are ever unable to care for it or just no longer want it.”
NGAA volunteer and founding member Sara Deberry says NGAA has had an influx of dozens of mother cats with kittens, motherless kittens and some dogs just in the past month. “We partner with other local rescues and rescues as far away as Atlanta, Nashville and Pennsylvania,” she says, “but our own foster homes are still bursting at the seams with kittens and cats.”
Just a few weeks ago, says Deberry, someone called about eight young kittens found under
a lawn mower, covered in grease. A lady called about a kitten she found in the middle of a field, apparently dropped by a bird that had captured it. Another cat and three kittens were living behind a restaurant.
Dave Mayo, NGAA’S dog coordinator, says he’s been dealing with dogs with large litters of puppies and with some situations where people’s living circumstances have changed and they can no longer keep their pets.
COVID-19 has impacted NGAA’S ability to raise funds, says Hayes. “We had to cancel our biggest fundraiser of the year — our annual yard sale. We had to cancel or postpone other events.”
Some of that shortfall has been made up for by grants the group has received — $3,000 from Petco Foundation, $2,000 from Bissell Pet Foundation, a $1,000 Rachael Ray Save Them All COVID Relief Grant. Petmate donated three carriers to the group.
NGAA has regular donors, including a couple of businesses, says Hayes, and the group avails itself of every form of fundraising it can. “We have people who donate and their workplaces match their donations. A lot of people have designated us as their charity on Amazonsmile. Some local schools collect donations for us every year. People often donate when they surrender animals to us.”
But, Hayes says, vet bills alone can run in the thousands each month. “There’s regular vet care that all animals get – rabies shots, tests for basic diseases, spay or neuter. Then there are special situations. Many animals come to us sick or develop problems due to stress or poor care in the past. Sometimes, like people, they develop other problems.”
Other expenses, Hayes says, include kitten formula, feeding supplies, worm and flea medicines, prescriptions, storage facility rent, telephone help line, licensing fees, and cleaning supplies.
NGAA also provides assistance with necessary vet bills to qualifying applicants so they can keep their pets in their homes. They provide spay-neuter certificates that cover most of the cost of the procedure at low-cost clinics.
Hayes says one reason NGAA has so many cats — well over 100 — in their system right now is because finding adopters has been harder during the COVID-19 crisis. “We usually have cats for adoption at Petsense in Fort Oglethorpe, but we haven’t been able to do that for the past couple of months.”
For all the challenges they face, Hayes says the group has “awesome volunteers, people who are unbelievably dedicated, and leadership that works well together. We are an all-volunteer organization. All the people working with us are doing it out of love.”
“We have one great need right now,” says Hayes, “and that is more financial support. We would love to have some of the businesses in the area as sponsors and we would love to see more support from local citizens.”
Hayes says the group also has one long-term dream. “The problem with abandoned animals is solvable and it can be done relatively cheaply. All we need to do is get animals spayed and neutered. Our dream is to work more closely with the community and local government on prevention of the problem. As our dog guy Dave says, we need to turn off the spigot. It’s one of the more fixable problems we have in our area.”