Kindles of cats

It is an easy thing to get mad at animal shelters, especially the ones that take in cats. Even more, the ones that are mandated to take in cats and do not get to say “We’re full,” even when there is no more room for cats.

At Cat Adoption Trust Sudbury – and Small Things, where we show our cats – we have the luxury of being able to say, “So sorry, we’re full.”

But I hope we never have the hypocrisy to then say to desperate owners or finders of cats who must place them, “but don’t take them to the city pound – they may have to euthanize it.”

But I confess...I have, I do, and I will. And to compound matters more, I’m a volunteer for the local animal shelter and 99 per cent of the cats at Small Things/ Cat Adoption Trust Sudbury come from our city’s animal shelter.

We have an excellent working relationship with the shelter folks. Working together we spay/neuter, vaccinate, deworm and place well over a hundred cats yearly.

What you have to know about our municipal animal shelters in Ontario is that the mandatory minimum for holding a stray dog or cat is three full working days, during which time the owner may claim the animal.

After that, they become the responsibility of the municipality, which is free to euthanize them or place for adoption. Heaven bless any shelter (like ours) that puts kittens and cats up for adoption after their impoundment period, rather than just destroying them.

Unfortunately, unless the shelter holds weekly adoptathons –like ours just did – where they adopt the animal out for the cost of the license, (which gives the new owner access to a spay neuter coupon for $65 to $110 dollars,) they are chasing a dream that, while laudable, is very hard to catch...A no-kill facility for adult cats.

Blessed are the dream-chasers.

I am very grateful to Cassandra, who has been working at the Greater Sudbury Animal Shelter this summer, but who is – alas – returning to school this year.

Cassie is relentless, absolutely dogged, in her efforts to find loving, responsible homes for abandoned felines.

She is the one who pushed for the Adoptathon this summer, which was very successful – 24 cat adoptions in a single day is unheard of. She is always in touch with our local Pet Food Warehouses to see if they have room to display some kittens.

If there is an already fixed cat, a pregnant or nursing momma cat, or an unfixed cat who is ripping out the heartstrings of Cassie and her co-workers, she is on the phone to Small Things, to my friend Mary, and to me.

Today at the shelter my tendency to get crusty was punched down more than a few inches. Why? I noticed that while Cassie is doing data entry for the cats, I’m bringing to Pet Food Warehouse and the shop, directing a student worker on her next task, and being kind to a family who are bringing their old family dog out to be euthanized, she is also warming a bottle of milk on the desk.

Huh?!

Just to the left of the desk, from a box on the floor, covered in a blanket, I can hear some mewling and scratching.

Yep, Cassie is bottle feeding – around the clock – a litter of kittens that are each the size of a hamster. She’s been doing this for over a week and they are plumping out like the Pillsbury dough boy.

Aaaaahhhhh...

Ultimately, I believe the answer to the overpopulation and therefore euthanasia of friendly, healthy cats is a spay-neuter clinic – if not available to all, then at least for the folks on low, fixed incomes. This is a necessary facility that only the city and the OSPCA can implement and run.

But until such a time as this, thank a Crazy Cat Lady today that there isn’t a kindle of cats or kittens abandoned outside your door.

And thank the shelter workers for doing the job very few people have the heart and stomach to take on.

Visit the shelter’s Facebook page to check out the latest and the liveliest —
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rainbow-District-Animal-Shelter/192122797481360,

Jan Carrie Steven is a volunteer with Cat Adoption Trust Sudbury (CATS) and the co-ordinator of Small Things: Kitty Boutique and Cat Adoptions. For more information, go to www.smallthings.ca.