UNITY ‑ KC Rescue, cat rescue shelter located in Unity, says there is no “kitten” around. They have had to put a pause on paws admissions as they are at maximum capacity.
Organization spokespersons say this is not a decision made lightly.
Like many shelters in the province, KC Rescue has had a massive influx of calls for help, with stray or feral cats, cats being dumped at farms or on grid roads as well as being left behind after an owner moves away. As the weather becomes colder, the calls for help have been increasing.
“While we do not accept owned cats, these cats are considered abandoned and are often in need of medical care,” says Shannon Heitt, KC Rescue volunteer
KC Rescue is a registered, non-profit charity that relies on fundraising to help control the cat population in Unity and surrounding areas.
Heitt says, “Our shelter has a maximum capacity of 15 cats. We are currently at that maximum with more in quarantine, foster care or on the waiting list.”
Being at maximum capacity while relying on donations to keep operations running makes it increasingly difficult to keep up with costs. Expenses like food, cat litter, veterinary care, as well as other supplies continue regardless of what funds are available. This feline rescue is run entirely by volunteers and a volunteer board.
In hopes of trying to get ahead with funding, the organization is currently running a raffle, with tickets being available on the website .
KC Rescue said they are grateful the Town of Unity allows them use of the old swimming pool facility as their shelter.
To help alleviate the population explosion at the centre, every cat adoption in November is eligible to win their adoption fee back. This is being done in hopes of some of these cats finding their fur-ever homes.
A KC Rescue spokesperson says, “Every cat that comes through KC Rescue undergoes a spay/neuter, infectious disease testing, vaccines, boosters, microchip, tattoo and parasite treatment. As mentioned earlier, they usually come to us with more pressing health concerns such as broken bones, paralyzed limbs, open wounds and frozen ears and tails. These health concerns are dealt with immediately. The costs of these procedures can well exceed our $130 adoption fee.”
All incoming cats undergo a 14-day quarantine period before being posted for adoption. Cats in quarantine cannot be placed with adoption room cats and have to be separated from each other as well. This means a separate kennel or room for each cat or litter of kittens.
While there may be room for one or two cats in the adoption room, the organization’s quarantine rooms are where the backup really starts to happen. Volunteers have even resorted to moving kennels into the laundry room area to try to move things along.
Because the adoption room cats are not kennelled and free running, this can be another bottleneck point, as there are only two large kennels in the adoption room for new cats to be climatized to other cats in the room.
With the two-week quarantine and another one-week transition into the adoption room, it can take three weeks to get a single cat integrated into this shelter.
“We continue to be thankful to the towns and municipalities that have worked with us to help control their feral/stray cat population by funding TNR (trap, neuter, return) programs. We are also thankful for farmers that opt to spay or neuter their farm cats, however, there are still many communities overrun and multiple cats still being dumped at farms,” says KC Rescue.
Mayor Sharon Del Frari adds, “The town appreciates their work. By controlling the cat population in Unity, KC Rescue saves the time of our employees and the taxpayers' money that it would take to deal with feral cats. We are grateful for their efforts.”
To be purr-fectly honest, this volunteer organization say they are doing their best to stay paw-sitive. However, any assistance they can receive from the public by way of donations and/or adoptions can purr-haps alleviate the current shut down.
