Spay Neuter Kingston Initiative

Cat City

These are the five cats from Bath Institution who are staying with us for the Easter weekend while they recover from their spay/neuter surgeries.

This is Lily, a 7-month-old female calico/tabby.  She’s shy, but if you’re gentle and quiet, she loves to have arms around her and a warm body to lean against — although she’s a bit nervous about being picked up and not having a solid surface under her.  With patience and love and understanding, Lily could grow into a loving and happy companion.

Lily

This is Rose, Lily’s sister.  She’s more frightened than Lily and not yet willing to be handled.

Rose

This is Chrys (for Chrysanthemum), brother to Rose and Lily.  He’s shy still, but like Lily, if you’re careful and gentle, he loves to cuddle close and be held.  Like her, with patience and love and understanding, he could become a wonderful and affectionate housecat.

Chrys

This is the feral female, the one we discovered was already pregnant when she was spayed.  She’s obviously frightened, but has tolerated a small amount of contact with great care, and hasn’t been aggressive.

Our feral girl

Last but certainly not least, our feral boy, also very frightened by all this, but also willing to tolerate limited contact without aggression.

Our feral boy

They would all love to be adopted to safe new homes — perhaps a snug barn for the ferals, an understanding family for the kittens.  Please share this with others, and if you’re interested in adopting, contact us!

Hello everyone

I just wanted to let you know about the success of our first spay/neuter venture with the Bath Corrections Feral Cat Colony.

Last Thursday, March 31, we arrived at Bath Institution with a rented panel truck and an assortment of medium to large carriers. After the obligatory sign-in and surrender of our valuables at the entry gate, we drove in and awaited the arrival of the cats. Two very feral individuals had been trapped the night before and were out of sight of the rest who were waiting for food to be presented. As one of the inmates laid out a bit of food on the pavement, a very pregnant orange female approached. The inmate was able to pick her up and bring her over to the truck. However, she panicked, and escaped. We thought this did not bode well for the rest of the day!

As it turned out, the inmate had very little trouble catching the Twins, two big orange tabby males who buddy up. He was also able to capture three of the fall litter mates, a grey tabby and white male, and two calico females. By that time, the rest of the cats were spooked enough that we did not feel it would be worthwhile to wait and see if they would settle. We trundled them off to the garage of a group member who generously offered the space to hold them overnight and for the post op recovery period. We settled them in with litter pans, water and a small amount of food, and left them for the night.

At four AM, we set off for Newmarket. The drive was relatively uneventful, and we were there by 8am check in at the Spay/Neuter clinic of the OSPCA. After filling out our documentation, we left the kitties in the care of the dedicated and competent staff and returned to the panel truck for a little nap. Incidentally, the female feral from the trap was heavily pregnant.

By 3pm we were all cleared for departure. After loading up, we headed back to Kingston and resettled the kitties in their carriers. The Twins were adopted and were dropped off on the way home. On the morning of April 2, we checked everyone over. Healing is proceeding nicely. Some of the cats had eaten. None had used the litter box. This gave us some concern, so our next plan was to allow them free run of the garage during their recovery period. All three kittens are touchable. The two ferals that came in traps even allowed our “cat whisperer” to touch them and view their incisions.

We are looking forward to increasing our time with the cats for the the next three days. Our adoption campaign continues. The cats remaining at the prison for the moment are three females, each with litters of unknown size, born this past week. There are three half grown kittens, perhaps three months of age. We believe there is at least two more littermates from last fall’s litter, and at least one huge dominant male, who may require trapping.

We have been very grateful for all the support we have received in keeping this colony from being exterminated. First of all, a hearty thank you to those of you who have donated money to help with bringing this about. Your support means a great deal, not only to us, but to the inmates who love these cats. Also, a hearty thanks to those who donated, blankets, food, litter, toys, bowls and carriers. Thank you to the gentle friend who is providing the garage where we have been keeping these cats. These donations have been invaluable in the effort to fix these cats and make it possible to find new homes. We will be posting pictures to our website as soon as they are available.

Please share this wonderful news with as many people as you can. The job is not done, even though we have made a good start. The 9 cats and assorted newborn kittens still need help over the next few months. We have collection jars around the city of Kingston at Pet Value Gardiners Road, Urban Paws, Cataraqui Animal Hospital, Birds and Paws, and Global Ryan Pet Food. No donation is too small!!! Local veterinarians have offered to help as well, and we will need money in order to bring this about, for food, antibiotics for runny eyes, gas, and for the veterinary costs. Please do consider what help you can give.

There is also a petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/restorativejustice/ and a physical petition at each of the locations mentioned above. Please add your voice to ours to support the return of of some of these cats to the institution where they provide opportunities for the inmates to demonstrate compassion, empathy, and understanding for those smaller than they are. If Restorative Justice is not to be thought of as a meaningless catchphrase, let us show Correctional Services Canada that they can do the right thing for the cats and the inmates by allowing cats to remain as a managed colony.

Your voice counts. Thank you for helping us help them.

This Wednesday, March 31, a cooperative effort between Spay Neuter Kingston Initiative and Lennox and Addington Feline Fixers will begin a T/N/V/R program for a colony of feral cats at Bath Correctional Institution. The cats have been befriended and cared for by the inmates of the medium security prison and provide companionship and the benefits of the human-animal bond to men who are paying a debt to society and turning their lives around.

There is no question that programs for inmates that foster this human-animal bond foster the rehabilitation that is expected from their incarceration. Statistics from all over North America where such programs exist demonstrate their success. Unfortunately, it seems the media seldom focus on the success stories of inmates who do their time and return to society. It is a better story, sells more papers, and attracts more viewers if we talk about the failures.

Nevertheless, the outpouring of support for this project has been overwhelming. Hundreds of well wishers are signing our petitions for the colony`s return to the prison grounds after surgery, and many of them are contributing money to help bring this about. The inmates themselves have collected $1,000 which the Inmate Committee will give towards this effort. It is the hope of all involved that this story will attract attention to the pet overpopulation crisis in Ontario and in other jurisdictions.

There are those who think that abandoning a cat or kittens is the solution to unwanted pets. Others adopt an animal only to realize that they really don`t want it and take it to a shelter to become someone else`s problem. The resources of municipalities and animal welfare groups are not great enough to handle the ever increasing numbers. Therefore, far too many of these animals linger while they wait for their forever homes, and become sick and/or are euthanized to make more room for the ones coming in. It costs money to euthanize animals. It also wastes the resources used to house and care for the animals, which, by law, must be kept four days by the shelter before slating them to move forward in the adoption process or selected for lethal injection.

You can help by supporting T/N/V/R in your community and contributing funds to your shelters and to organizations that will assist with spay/neuter programs to reduce the burden on our shelters and municipal resources.

http://felinefixers.yolasite.com/

http://www.snki.org

SNKI poster

Depending on your computer, if you click on the link it may open in your browser or offer to download it or open in another program. Right-clicking will generally give you the option of saving the file or saving the link location.

NY1 VIDEO: A Westerleigh resident is taking a humane approach to help control the cat population in her community, and she’s doing it on her down time.

Watch the video here

This is a very powerful video at It’s Meow or Never Animal Rescue and Sanctuary a no-kill shelter in Washington state.

“In Honour of All the Homeless Animals”

New “Currents” Documentary Cat City Tackles Canada’s Cat Overpopulation Crisis
Channel Canada

On any given night in Toronto it is estimated that over 100,000 lost, abandoned and feral cats roam the city streets. Never spayed or neutered, these cats produce thousands of offspring adding to the burgeoning number of homeless pets. In Canada, 400,000 unwanted animals are euthanized each year, at least two-thirds of them cats. Euthanizing unwanted animals has been seen as the only viable solution by animal control agencies to deal with cat overpopulation. Now cat rescue groups, shelter workers and humane societies alike are calling for a stop to the needless killing of healthy, adoptable animals and are demanding humane alternatives.

See the rest of the article at:
http://www.channelcanada.com/Article3619.html

Welcome to the new online home of the Spay Neuter Kingston Initiative!

Please bear with us while the website is developed, and come back regularly for updates and news on the progress of getting a low-cost, high-volume spay-neuter service up and running in Kingston!

To get involved, click on Contact Us.
To find out more, click on About Us!

Thanks for dropping by!