The Humane Society of Kathartha Lakes is looking for adopters, fosters and donors as 150 animals are currently housed at the shelter.
“It was probably about last week, we were at capacity — we just don’t have any empty cage space, we’re starting to use dog crates to put animals in and what happens when you get overfull? Disease starts to spread right, and you don’t want sick cats, so we had to make the call,” said Josh Vettor, an animal care attendant.
The shelter currently has 115 cats with kittens in the foster home, along with 20 dogs and a few other smaller animals. Vettor says the capacity problem is a repeat of last year since it’s now a peak time for stray cats.
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“Kawartha Lakes particularly has a really bad stray cat problem. There are cats all over and nowhere for them to go, some of them are abandoned and some of them were wild so we try to accommodate and take in as many as we can,” said Vettor.
Vettor advises pet owners to get their cats spayed or neutered instead of abandoning them.
“There are some options of low-cost spay-neuter clinics for people, and we used this service as well. We just did a big run — we took all our 35 kittens at one time in Newmarket and went to the low-cost clinic so the public is welcome to use that service as well,” said Vettor.
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If you find a stray cat, Vettor suggests calling the Humane Society or dropping by the McLaughlin Road shelter to pick up some food.
“Last month, we did about 40 adoptions, so as long as people keep coming in and adopting, we can try and help the problem,” said Vettor.
For more information on adopting a pet or donating to the shelter, visit the Humane Society of Kawartha Lakes website.