Shelter works to take in around 50 cats from home
Cleveland County Animal Services welcomed a new vet and vet tech to its staff just in time to assist with an influx of cats.
Brad Gates, shelter director, said late Friday afternoon the shelter was contacted by a cat owner who was in the process of being evicted. The owners had dozens of cats in their home and were seeking help.
“The animal owners reached out to us for help,” Gates said. “On their first morning, we have sent our new veterinary team out with our resources coordinator and officers to evaluate the situation and the animals. We don’t have a total number involved, except an estimate of 50 cats living in a manufactured home.”
He said the shelter is prepared to take in the cats in the greatest need and work through the coming days to move them into the shelter.
“Their health is the first concern,” he said. “Once their immediate health needs are met, we will make them ready for adoption and rescue.”
Gates said the staff took cat carriers with them and are triaging the animals, but it’s unclear just how many will be taken in to the shelter. He said all the cats were indoor cats, and a couple are currently pregnant.
“The vets out there now doing an evaluation of them currently,” he said. “When they get here, they’ll get all their intake vaccines.”
The shelter has room for around 28 more cats, and Gates said they could move things around to make room for more.
“It’s going to be a challenge because we do have a lot of nursing mothers currently in the shelter,” he said. “But we’ll make it work.”
Once they have been evaluated, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, they will be available for adoption. Gates said they are also hoping to work with some rescues and adoption centers, such as Petsmart and other organizations to have offsite adoptions.
“We appreciate everybody’s help, and we’ll definitely have a cat adoption special very soon,” he said.
Gates said the shelter has just started its volunteer program back up and will be holding off-site rabies clinics at some point.
He said the veterinarian Dr. Erika Mastalerz, who has previously worked at Cleveland County Animal Services, and vet tech Chaya Parker, will be working to spay and neuter animals, work on daily health care, disease prevention and conduct minor surgeries
Gates said it will be particularly helpful to be able to spay and neuter on-site.
“We’ve been outsourcing that. It’s been difficult to get the correct number of appointments we need. Now we can have animals as soon as their available have surgery and make them adoptable as soon as their stray hold is up,” he said. “This time of year… we already have a lot of cats and kittens in the shelter and most kittens are not old enough to adopt out yet. The timing couldn't be better.”
Rebecca Sitzes can be reached at rsitzes@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Shelter works to take in around 50 cats from home
