The Guelph Humane Society (GHS) is looking to help control the cat population in rural areas through a new pilot program.
Farm to Home is a new project that looks to rehome friendly barn cats from farms that may have too many cats or can’t take care of their needs.
Melissa Stolz, intake and behaviour coordinator for GHS, said there is a need to control the number of cats in rural areas.
“There are a lot of populations of cats in rural communities that tend to go unfixed because as we know it’s very costly to be spaying and neutering,” Stolz said.
“It’s hard to stay on top of it when litter after litter keeps adding to the cat population. It becomes a vicious cycle.”
Stolz said they have waived any intake fees to avoid deterring people from bringing in cats that could use this program.
GHS is focusing on taking in cats that are on the friendlier side, as Stolz said rural cats can vary in how social they are.
She said barn cats can range from friendly to somewhat skittish to wanting nothing to do with humans.
“With this particular program we do want to focus on those that can be successfully placed in homes – so the somewhat timid to the very social cats.”
Stolz said the timing of this project is perfect.
Kitten season is in the spring, so there are normally more spaces available to take cats in the winter.
GHS will also have even more capacity when they move to their new location–possibly as early as March.
“It’s really good timing because we are moving into our new building within the upcoming weeks where we are going to have about double the capacity to house cats,” Stolz said.
“So we thought this is a really good time and way to start a new adventure at our new building by helping some extra cats in need.”
This is a soft-launch of the program but Stolz said if there’s enough traction it could expand.
She encourages those who know somebody on a farm or if they have a farm themselves to call GHS at 519-824-3091 or by emailing [email protected]
