The City of Calgary has an urgent request for those who love felines: please adopt the city’s stray cats this weekend.
Spring is kitten season — when there is an overabundance of cats reproducing. Add that to the high number of stray cats in the city and it means the Animal Services shelter is at capacity.
“Our facility is full of cats and kittens, and what we’re hoping for is help from the public so we can get some cats adopted out and make some room for all the other strays coming into Animal Services,” said Patti Smadis, a customer service representative with the city.
“There are a lot of cats that are out and about right now and we just can’t keep them all here all at one time.”
As of Wednesday, there were about 100 cats housed in the city’s shelter — with more arriving daily.
“It’s stressful here at a shelter anyway — for most cats, just being at a shelter is stressful — so it makes it even more stressful when we are full. It’s hard on the resources and it’s a busy time for staff as well,” Smadis said.
“There’s only so much time that people can spend with the cats. We want to make sure that we keep all our standards on par: everything is cleaned properly, we’ve got disease control that we have to follow. We just want to stick to that.”
Smadis added that they do not euthanize animals for space.
Adopt-a-thon sale
To remedy the overcrowding, the city is holding a sale on adoptable kittens and cats from June 21 to 23, with adoption costs discounted by 50 per cent — that means $81.50 for a cat adoption including a one-year licence, a collar, a bag of food and a goodie bag with toys and treats.
Adoptable cats have been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, licensed and microchipped, the city said. Owners will also receive a six-week trial of pet insurance and a medical record that shows the vaccinations received and date a spay or neuter surgery was done.
Are you a cat person?
A potential owner will be asked about how the animal will fit their lifestyle.
“We’re looking for people who are aware of the financial responsibilities of owning a pet, that pets are a part of the family, that they look after them, they go to the vet with them — just the general public who want to have pets in their lives,” Smadis said.
“We don’t want it to be a spontaneous buy.”
Smadis hopes the turnout will be big.
“I just sat in a room full of five kittens and had them crawling all over me and playing with them,” Smadis said. “Cats are fun and we’re hoping that they go into some great homes.”
Like Bob Barker said at the end of every Price is Right episode, the city wants Calgarians to combat cat overpopulation by spaying and neutering their pets.