Donations for 65 cats in Penticton hoarding case pouring in

Many of the cats that were surrendered to the Penticton SPCA last week have now been transferred to other shelters in the Okanagan and around B.C.

“A bunch went to the Lower Mainland and there are two shelters on the island..they’re en route to them,” Penticton SPCA branch manager Carolyn Hawkins told Global News Monday morning.

Last week, the South Okanagan shelter was overwhelmed with 65 cats, mostly kittens and young adults, which were surrendered by their owner when a cruelty investigation was launched.

The BC SPCA said the cats were all living in one home.

READ MORE: Penticton SPCA branch flooded with 65 surrendered cats, kittens

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Many of the cats had been suffering from upper respiratory infections, some were on the thin side.

All of the cats are fearful due to being under-socialized.

Hawkins said after the plight of the cats was made public through the media, the public stepped up in a big way with donations including canned food.

“We got piles of it, piles of it,” Hawkins said.  “We had a stream of people with cat litter and canned food galore. One of the pet stores, Pet Pantry, donated a whole pallet of litter, it’s just been amazing.”

Hawkins said people have also donated hundreds of dollars as spaying and neutering the animals, as well as getting them vaccinated and treated for their upper respiratory infections, is very costly.

Hawkins said it costs about $600 for each cat to get all that done.

The shelter is hoping more cash donations come in.

About two-dozen cats remain at the Penticton shelter, a number that’s now a lot more manageable to get the animals adoption-ready.

“They are still pretty scared but I think now that we have less cats we will be able to do some one-on-one behavior modification and I think they will come around really well,” Hawkins said.

It’s not yet known when the cats will be ready for adoption.

“It’s hard to say but at the very least two weeks,” Hawkins said. “It would depend on how fast they come around.”