PICTOU COUNTY KITTEN RESCUE STRIVES TO SAVE CATS AND HELP REDUCE OVER POPULATION
Source: Saltwire (Extract)
Posted: August 5, 2021
The Kitten Suites Kitten Rescue Society Pictou County wants to save and better the lives of cats here and far.
The non-profit is a foster-based kitten rescue for abandoned kittens, barn kittens, feral kittens and kittens surrendered by their owner. The society focuses on young cats, but on a situational basis they help out cats of any age.
“We will go get them, it doesn’t matter where they are, doesn’t matter what time,” says Lori Sutherland, the group founder and president.
They have a handful of people who foster the cats. This includes taking them to the vet, providing a safe environment and supporting their development until they are adopted.
Since the group was founded in 2018, Sutherland estimates they have adopted out around 300 cats.
When cats are taken in by The Kitten Suites they are tested for disease, treated for parasites, vaccinated, socialized and spayed/neutered.
Spaying and neutering help combat overpopulation, the spread of disease and suffering. From the Feral and Abandoned Cat Society, the reproductive abilities of cats exceed those of dogs.
In a seven-year span, a female and male dog can have around 2,000 puppies, while a female and male cat, with a lower survival rate, can have around 450,000 kittens.
The Kitten Suites wants people to know they are there to help and to think of them, or other cat/pet agencies in the area, before dumping cats.
One path to a cat being dumped is when cats are given away for free online. While some people take those cats and give them proper care, a free cat isn’t really free if you plan on taking them to the vet.
This is why when the group sees people giving away cats online they offer to take them in, to shoulder a portion of the vet fees before they are adopted and they will fix the mother cat as well.
The Kitten Suites has people fill out an application to adopt a cat. The group then takes the cats to their forever homes to confirm the person adopting the cat is who they say they are.
“We want to make sure they are safe and sound,” Gail Anderson.
The Kitten Suites rescue team includes Lori Sutherland as the president, Don Hall as the vice president, Gail Anderson as secretary, Toni LeBlanc Maclennan as treasurer and Lisa Potts as the communications co-ordinator.
Bernadette Burns and Kelly Bray round out the team.
“It is great because we all get along so well, we are like our own little family,” says Potts.
Each member has put their own money into the group, but donations and fundraisers keep the society going. The adoption fee only covers a portion of what they do to prepare the cat for adoption.