Caught in cat crunch, SPCA seeking adopters

Sep 04 2005

BRIAN JONSON
News Staff Reporter
The hundreds of cats crammed into the South Okanagan SPCA is not an unprecedented situation, but it does highlight the need for people to keep their cats from reproducing.
There are just over 200 cats at the SPCA right now, nearly double the number the society cares for through most of the year.
"We're pretty much topped out," said Tracy Westmorland, an animal care attendant with the SPCA.
Summer often sees the number of cats in care spike as people dump pets when they realize they interfere with vacation plans.
"It's pretty typical that sort of mid-June time people go on holiday and they start dumping their animals," she said. "It's a common time for people to move, it's hard to find accommodation to rent in Penticton where you are allowed to have animals."
Cat owners can be in a particularly difficult situation because they often own more than one animal, but landlords usually only allow a maximum of one.
"It's pretty hard in Penticton to deal with that situation," she said.
To deal with the high number of cats it receives, the SPCA sets up communal outdoor kennels that can hold up to 20 cats each during good weather.
"That sort of sees us through," she said.
The other problem is that while more cats are coming in, the holidays also mean that few people are adopting animals out, she said.
"Once everyone settles back into their routine in September, surrenders ease off and adoptions pick up, so it balances out and usually by October time we're stabilized at 100," she said.
Westmorland asks owners to spay or neuter their pets.
The shelter is not able to spay or neuter the animals it receives before they adopt them out as pets, although that may change when it moves into its new building, she said.
People adopting pets sign a contract to have them spayed our neutered by six months old for a kitten or within a month for older animals, but the SPCA does not have the resources to follow up, she said.
"There's a lot of things that could come together to improve the situation, but people need to spay and neuter for sure."