Cat-astrophe in the animal shelters

Some paradigms are so simple and so obvious, that it is truly inexplicable why a shift in thinking can’t be made over to them.

Years and years of education have still failed to turn people into responsible cat owners. The news from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies that there’s a cat overpopulation crisis across the country is truly disheartening. The simple message of spay and neuter, and keep cats indoors, is just not getting through.

The Calgary Humane Society has 335 cats available for adoption just now, and things will only get worse in the spring when litters of kittens are born and abandoned, often along with their mothers.

The CFHS’s new report, Cats in Canada, paints a dis- mal picture: “Less than half of cats admitted to shelters are adopted. The majority are euthanized. Many never make it to a shelter, and die painful deaths outside.” Some 60,000 cats were euthanized across Canada in 2011, and 20 per cent of those were kittens.

This is unacceptable. Letting cats roam and breed freely is tantamount to cruelty. Outdoor cats can meet any of a variety of horrible fates: struck by cars, mutilated by car engines when they crawl under the hood for warmth, or eaten by coyotes, to name just a few. Their kittens may be born, only to be euthanized within months at a shelter.

Spaying and neutering, licensing, micro-chipping and keeping cats indoors represent responsible pet ownership at its best.