You’ve heard of the dog days of summer. This is different.
The Guelph Humane Society has brought back its Cat Days of Summer adoption program, a way to more easily and affordably give citizens an opportunity to provide a good home to one of the agency’s many cats and kittens. It launched over the weekend and runs until Aug. 7.
The felines are kept at the main 500 Wellington Street shelter and at satellite locations.
Guelph is like a number of Ontario urban centres, it has an overpopulation of cats. Adrienne McBride, executive director of Guelph Humane Society, said there are roaming “colonies” of feral cats in the city. The summertime is when the population spikes, and when more stray cats are turned into the agency for care.
There is always an influx of cats and kittens of all ages, sizes and personality types coming into the GHS at this time of year, and the need for adoptive homes increases.
“Because of the nature of cats, this is the time of year when we get an influx of both adult cats and kittens,” McBride said. “Certainly there are more kittens, because they come in the spring. This time of year is about 10 weeks from when they were born, so we have a number of them available for adoption.”
Adult cats tend to go stray more readily this time of year, because the weather is conducive to them spending more time outside, often in search of food and water. Many are brought in to the shelter.
All Cat Days of Summer adoptions include spaying/neutering, up-to-date vaccinations, deworming, flea treatment, micro-chipping, and six weeks of complimentary pet insurance. Adoption fees are reduced by about half the normal fee.
“We certainly see quite a few adoptions,” McBride added. “We do quite well with adoptions here in Guelph. Our cats are desirable because they come fixed, dewormed, with vaccines and flea treatment.”
For more information on the cats available for adoption visit the Guelph Humane Society’s website at www.guelphhumane.ca or call 519-824-3091. Or drop by and visit the cats at 500 Wellington Street West during animal viewing hours – Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“There are pockets of the city that have colonies of cats,” McBride said, adding there are ongoing efforts to catch those cats, especially the kittens, which can be socialized and adopted. Feral cats tend to congregate and live together, particularly near a known and reliable food source.
Ensuring that pet cats are spayed or neutered, prevents contributing to the overpopulation problem. Cats should be kept indoors to prevent them going astray.
