In the September 2nd issue of the Coast Reporter, reporter Christine Wood quotes Lorie Chortyk on wet food: "Chortyk said the reason to deny animals filtered water and wet food is that they may not receive the same type of food once adopted, and the change can cause intestinal distress."

On September 5th Ms Chortyk wrote Lyn MacDonald, "Of course the cats get canned food. The issue with the volunteers is that the cats currently get a mixture of both dry and canned food and they wanted them to have canned food only."

The second statement contradicts the first and also contradicts some of the testimony of the volunteers who quit.

We asked Ms Wood if she could explain the contradiction and she replied, "What I wrote is what she said, whether she meant something else or not I don't know. I can only report what I'm told."

It seems as though there may never be consensus on the wet food feeding issue at the Sechelt SPCA.

What we do though is that cats under stress can easily sicken of kennel diseases, and they can also stop eating which leads to deadly Feline Hepatic Lipidosis, where the liver shuts down and past a certain point, the cat won't eat anything and dies slowly. Real cat welfare shelters make sure that this doesn't happen by including tempting wet food in the cats' diets.

One reason that some facilities don't feed wet food is that it is more expensive, is smelly, attracts flies, creates bigger and smellier stools, requires more dish washing, uneaten food has to be thrown away, etc. In other words, feeding only dry food is all about money, not cats.

At the Capital Region District pound, cats are given wet food out of concern for their well-being. The irony is that the CRD pound has twice been "inspected" by BC SPCA Constables on the grounds that they are checking on complaints that the animals are not being handled humanely.

All the municipal pounds that have replaced the SPCA as the poundkeeper feed their cats wet food. Langley Animal Protection Society told us that they feed it as a treat, with meds, and to make sure that stressed cats eat properly. District of North Vancouver Animal Shelter gives every cat a bit of wet food everyday, especially kittens and male cats, and any very stressed cat. They even heat it in the microwave or add warm water. Delta Humane Society also feeds wet food. Coquitlam Animal Shelter feeds every cat a generous amount on top of the dry food. There wasn't any confusion about whether they do or don't feed wet food in these four municipal animal shelters, all of which replaced the SPCA as the pound in the last few years.