Brandi Lazic comes to the Kelowna SPCA every Thursday to visit the cats.
(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
December 13, 2013 - 9:42 AM
KELOWNA - The Kelowna SPCA had an unprecedented number of cats brought to their shelter last month, leaving them far over capacity and unable to take in all but the most serious cases.
Animal care attendant Cam Buksa says that they are set up to house three or four dozen cats, but currently have close to 200.
“In the four years I’ve been here I have never seen this many cats come in at this time of year,” says Buksa. “I have no idea what’s different this year.”
“Typically, kitten season runs from March through the early fall,” says Kelowna SPCA manager Suzanne Pugh. “This year, kitten season just keeps coming.”
Buksa says that because overcrowding creates a significant risk to all the animals in their care, they are unable to accept healthy strays from the public for the time being.
“We like to help the public when we can with owner surrenders, maybe they’re moving or they have allergies, that kind of thing. Right now all we can do is put them on a waiting list,” Buksa says.
In an effort to encourage adoption, the SPCA has implemented a program to move as many cats and kittens from Kelowna to other SPCA shelters across the province as possible and is offering 50 per cent off cat adoption fees during the month of December.
“To adopt a kitten from us will cost around $80 with the half-price sale and it will be fixed, dewormed and had a full medical checkup,” Buksa says. “For a member of the public to pick up a free kitten from the classifieds will cost a lot more than that.”
For those who want to help but are unable to adopt a cat or kitten, SPCA volunteers will be holding a Christmas bake sale this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with proceeds going towards the Kelowna branch.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca, call (250) 718-0428 or tweet @AdamProskiw.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013