The transfer of seven cats from Oakville’s humane society to the one in Guelph earlier last month has ruffled the feathers of some local residents.
Several people contacted the Oakville Beaver concerned over the felines’ move on Jan. 17 from the Oakville and Milton Humane Society (OMHS) to the Guelph Humane Society (GHS).
The residents, who wished to remain anonymous, cited concerns about the necessity of the cats being moved at all; that they were moved from a low-euthanasia shelter (OMHS has a euthanasia rate of less than five per cent); and the possibility of cats who had bonded potentially being separated.
Neither of the humane societies involved believe there’s any reason for the concern.
Upon contacting the humane societies, the Beaver was told transferring animals was not a new practice, and one that assists in exposing rescued or hard-to-adopt pets to a larger demographic — thereby increasing their chances of adoption.
According to the OMHS and GHS, the transfer has been a success story for five of the seven cats that have already been adopted with two still waiting for their forever homes, as of Wednesday.
“Five have gone to loving homes, and the two bonded pairs we had were adopted together. When we transferred them, we insisted Guelph Humane Society do that; it was one of the conditions of the transfer,” said Kim Millan, OMHS executive director, who noted she gets weekly updates from GHS on the status of the transferred felines.
“... For us, the objective is to get the animals adopted and find loving homes.”
Caroline Dunmore, GHS adoption counsellor and intake co-ordinator, said two of the kittens (sisters), that came from OMHS, were adopted by Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie.
“We were low on cats. Our adoptions were higher than our intake, which is a very good sign.... We found extra space in our shelter, so we reached out to other shelters who weren’t as fortunate to be in that same position at that moment,” Dunmore said of why GHS contacted OMHS.
“We reached out to Oakville, Cambridge, Kitchener, and then the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA), in general, so we had cats come in from the Midland Humane Society and also took some from Lincoln County Humane Society (St. Catharines).”
Two still to be adopted
Of the remaining two, one cat is still at GHS, while the other is at the humane society’s satellite site, Campus Estates Animal Hospital.
GHS, like most humane societies, utilizes foster homes and satellite sites to help care for a larger number of animals than their physical shelter allows and increase the rates of adoption, according to officials.
In addition, GHS has a barn cat program for felines not suitable for the home environment.
“They’re semi-feral, or they don’t want to use a litter box, and we have a number of families that have barns, willing to take cats that are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and micro-chipped, to live in their barns,” said Adrienne McBride, GHS executive director, who noted the barn is a great option for hard-to-adopt cats.
“Some are just miserable in the shelter environment, so we try to work with those cats as much as possible.”
McBride said GHS was part of a pilot project called Capacity for Care, a program based in California that specializes in helping cats move in and out of a shelter quickly.
The program found length-of-stay is the No. 1 contributing factor to an animal’s well-being and the critter is more likely to get sick if they spent more time at a shelter.
“We had a huge success in length-of-stay for our animals, especially for our adult cats,” McBride said, as a result of the program.
“But this means, oftentimes, we have empty space and instead of just letting it sit empty, we reach out to other shelters to offer support.”
All animals that enter the care of GHS are treated by a veterinarian, receiving vaccinations, a spay or neuter procedure, and then a general checkup and blood work to ensure they’re healthy and “there are no underlying health issues to address,” said McBride.
“We get a sense of their personality — are they social? Shy? Aggressive? And then we use that to make a decision as to what stream they go to: the barn program, adoption, a rescue (satellite site), foster home,” she said.
“Generally, our shelter practices avoid euthanasia at all costs,” McBride continued. “We don’t advertise ourselves as a ‘no-kill’ shelter... but our policy is that we would look for every other avenue before considering euthanasia, unless (it) was the most humane option.”
Both McBride and Dunmore confirmed GHS no longer euthanizes for space.
OMHS follows strict criteria
Millan said OMHS has strict regimes in place when considering the transfer of its critters.
“We don’t just get a call saying, ‘Do you have any animals?’ And away they go. We don’t do that at all,” she explained.
“In fact, sometimes, when we receive calls, we’ll refuse them automatically. Because the organization has to meet our criteria, approved by us; and they go through an evaluation process.
“(There’s) a detailed questionnaire before they’re even considered as an approved organization.”
Millan said OMHS looks at an organization’s reputation, the length of time they have been in business, what other groups they are affiliated with, and their policies and adoption criteria.
OMHS will conduct facility visits, as well, if it feels it is warranted, she said.
“We want to make sure they meet the same philosophy we do,” said Millan, noting GHS met their criteria.
She explained the seven cats transferred were chosen because there was nothing wrong with them medically or behaviourally, which meant they should be an “easy adoption.”
Animals can be overlooked
Unfortunately, Millan said, for one reason or another, some cats get overlooked.
“Each of those seven cats would have been up for adoption for different lengths of time with some of them, including the bonded pair, up for almost a year,” said the OMHS executive director.
There is a return policy, noted Millan, in the transfer contract signed by GHS that dictates if either humane society felt the cats remained up for adoption — they had been there too long or their stay with GHS wasn’t working out — they would be sent back to OMHS where they would be reassessed before being put back up for adoption in Oakville.
“For us, it was never an issue of space (the transferring of the animals). It’s more, what are the chances of these guys getting a better home and getting adopted quickly,” she said. “So, we’ve been thrilled (with the adoptions in Guelph), especially with the bonded pairs.”
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