STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS COUTTS
The Oakville and Milton Humane Society is holding a half-price “adopt-a-thon” until the end of January for cats that are more than six months old.
The shelter has been so overrun with cats that they’ve had to rent a trailer to house them all after the Humane Society rescued 105 cats from a hoarder’s house in Halton Hills last September. After months of nursing the animals back to good health to receive the surgeries they needed, the Humane Society is now seeking responsible and caring owners for the animals. Brenda Dushko is hopeful they’ll be able to find homes for all of the cats before the spring.
Brenda Dushko cuddles with one of the many cats available for adoption
“One of the ways to do that is to lower the price,” said Dushko, fund development and communications manager for the Oakville and Milton Humane Society. She said the agency’s adoption procedures are unaffected by this sale and adopters must still apply for adoption as usual, which include multiple interviews and a background check.
However, Dushko points out that when you adopt from the shelter, a lot of the upfront costs and hassles of owning a new animal are already taken care of by the Humane Society. All adult cats are already spayed or neutered and have up-to-date vaccinations. Each animal comes with a GPS microchip, as well as six weeks of pet insurance. They even throw in a free bag cat food.
The Humane Society also pairs potential adopters with a cat matchmaker to ensure the cat you’re choosing is the right choice for your existing family or animal situation.
Fluffy reaches out and hopes to shake hands with his future adopter
“There’s a lot of things that go in [the adoption procedure] that make it a much better choice than, let’s say, the ‘free to good home’ kitten off Kijiji or something, where you’ll have to incur all of those costs,” said Dushko. She said the agency has so far adopted 62 cats this season, but stresses that the shelter has more than 100 left available for adoption.
“With the adopt-a-thon, it’s a nice time to think about getting two [cats] as opposed to one,” said Dushko. There are many already bonded pairs of animals available, and Dushko prefers not to split them up, but rather find a home for both of them.
“If you have a couple of cats, they’ll learn to rely on each other. You’ll see them sleeping together a lot, they keep each other busy when you’re not home,” said Dushko. She quickly adds, “and they’re really fun to watch.”
For more information, visit the Oakville and Milton Humane Society’s website at http://omhs.ca
