How do cats end up in shelters?
DEAR PET TALK: Are all cats in shelters stray cats? Or cats that people abandon in other ways? — CAT LOVER
DEAR CAT LOVER:
For the past three weeks, this column has covered the topic of cats without a home — whether feral, stray, or abandoned. We reached out to Wendy Hall of Second Chance Animal Services in E. Brookfield who explained that most cats in their shelter are owner surrenders.
Other volunteers at Lowell Humane Society and Ahimsa Haven have noted that pet ownership and pandemic lock-down protocols were on parallel tracks; when we were all at home, adoptions went sky-high; but when lockdown conditions eased (and the eviction moratorium ended), owner-surrendered animals increased by the hundreds.
What I’ve seen, authoring “Pet of the Week” every Sunday for the past 10 years, is that one- to two-year- old cats in shelters climbed in 2022 and 2023. Shelter volunteers told me that people were “desperate” to have animals during the pandemic. They were home, and wanted a companion. However, many were out of work, and then couldn’t afford to get these new pets fixed or vetted. And when inflation hit, a yearplus ago, the cost of neutering/spaying a cat or dog climbed from a couple of hundred dollars to nearly a thousand. That’s much more than what many people can afford.
Shelters also show another common population: older cats with medical conditions who get surrendered. Sometimes, an aging owner will transfer into an “assisted living” facility. And if a family member can’t take a pet, a longtime companion also becomes homeless, after years of care. Other times, a family adopted an animal — never got it vetted — and a medical condition begins which is left untreated. Recently, a darling little dog came to the attention of Leominster Fitchburg Animal Control. It had been abandoned and could barely stand up because of untreated arthritis.
Readers: your pets are members of your family. Every vet I’ve ever met wants everyone to be a good pet- owner. If you are reliable, I’ve known vets to set up payment plans with trusted customers. Your pet’s best home is your home — not a shelter.