Shelter overloaded with kittens
Shelter manager Sean Baker holds up kittens. Even with more room at the new shelter, staff are having to use offices to house the amount of kittens being brouht in.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: July 21, 2009 1:26 PM
Monique Tamminga
Times Reporter
Staff at the Patti Dale animal shelter are up to their eyeballs in furry, friendly kittens.
Lots of black ones, tabbies, calicoes, short haired, long-haired, every kind. There are scaredy cats, lap cats and talkative cats, each one showing their own personality, hoping to find a forever home.
“We need help,” said shelter manager Sean Baker.
Currently, the shelter is using extra office space to house the excess kittens. The cat cottage and kitten area are both full.
There are 65 kittens and many on their way, he said.
“Currently, we are getting up to three litters per day,” he said. The cat population across the Lower Mainland continues to explode, with both the Vancouver and Surrey SPCA shelters also saying they have too many kittens. Richmond animal protection has 800 kittens, he said.
Sadly, the black kittens are always the ones that remain behind.
“I think people’s superstitions about black cats still play into their choices which is really sad, because these black kittens are just as sweet natured,” he said.
Baker said the people coming in with boxes of newborns say they find the litter under their shed or in the woodpile, behind a business, in dumpsters.
“We actually would be quite happy to have the mom too because it’s a real challenge for us when we have to bottle feed the kittens every two to three hours,” said Baker. “It’s a tall order but it gets done.”
Volunteer foster homes are being utilized more than ever before, having to take these tiny kittens and bottle feed them. Staff at Patti Dale are running out of names for the litters.
“We name them by the entire Hawaiian Islands and the African nations, but it’s getting tough,” he said.
There are still too many people allowing a cat to roam around unfixed, many parents allowing their cat to have one litter to show their children, he said.
“If we had a shelter the size of B.C. Place, we could fill it.
“We have to move beyond sheltering cats to a new solution,” he said. But Baker isn’t sure what that solution is.
Until then, the Patti Dale shelter offers vouchers that pay for cat owners to get their feline fixed.
Baker is hoping to find some more foster parents willing to try bottle feeding.
“It’s not for everyone. It is a lot like taking care of a baby, but it is rewarding,” he said. Each kitten that comes into the shelter is spayed or neutered at a weight of two pounds.
“Vets say it is the ideal weight for the operation,” he said. “We’ll usually send the whole litter.”
Every kitten or cat that is adopted out has their first set of vaccines, is de-flead and de-wormed as well as tattooed. Kitten adoptions are $175.
Baker invites anyone interested in adopting a kitten or cat to visit the shelter.
Many of the kittens are in foster homes too. If you are interested in fostering kittens, call foster care organizer Leila Kullar at the shelter at 604-857-5055 or email leila.kullar@laps.bc.ca.
v2
