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An animal welfare investigation in Houston has led to the B.C. SPCA taking in more than 200 cats and kittens from a single home, putting an extreme strain on the agency’s resources.
“Despite the society’s extensive experience and unique position within the province to be able to support large animal intakes, one of this size and nature is exceptional and will draw extensively on all the organization’s resources to care for these animals in need,” said Eileen Drever, the SPCA’s senior officer of protection and stakeholder relations, in a news release.
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“There is so much co-ordination and resource allocation that goes into caring for a number of cats this significant, especially given that many of them are very young kittens.”
Drever said the last time she can recall a single intake of kittens this big was in the late 1990s.
Animal protection officers are still working on the full scope of the investigation, which was sparked by a call from the felines’ current guardian to the SPCA animal help line.
“What we understand right now from the owner is that people started dumping ‘stray’ cats in his yard several years ago, but he has since become completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, especially considering most of the kittens and their moms are living inside the home.”
The SPCA brought food, supplies and litter to help with the cats’ needs, while arranging to eventually bring all of them into care.
“When we initially attended, our teams were quite surprised to see how well the animals have been taken care of, all things considered, but without a quick intervention the chance of their welfare suffering is very high,” said Drever. “The cats mostly appear to be in good shape and seem quite social.”
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Despite being largely healthy, the cats will need extensive veterinary care including assessments, vaccinations, spay and neuter surgeries and various medical treatments. That’s on top of supplies, transportation for the animals and enough staff to oversee the huge intake and care until they can be adopted.
The SPCA might rent a large indoor space temporarily to house the animals until they can be transferred to animal centres across B.C.
Anyone who can help with the cost of care for these and other pets is asked to donate at spca.bc.ca. And if you know of pets or livestock in distress, the B.C. SPCA animal help line is 1-855-622-7722.
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