For many years, my husband and I doted on our only fur baby, a gorgeous tortie we adopted from a shelter. She brought us lots of joy and we tried our best to keep her happy and healthy as a strictly indoor cat.
One day, a tiny kitten came into our lives. A kitten born to a stray mama, who sought refuge on our property and decided that the roof of our house was a good place to give birth to not one, but two litters of kittens.
We had a small problem
Leaving mama cat and the kittens alone wasn’t an option. As this infographic shows, the number of unwanted kittens produced from just one unspayed cat can multiply in a matter of months, adding to the overpopulation of cats in our urban and peri-urban environments.
Besides, I couldn’t simply leave them all to fend for themselves on the streets.
The bigger problem
In searching for information to determine what the best outcome was for mama cat and her kittens, I discovered that every year, an estimated 100,000 healthy unowned cats and dogs end up being killed in pounds and shelters across Australia.
It was sobering and confronting. Especially if you’re an animal lover.
Not only are companion animals being killed when they need our help and protection, the euthanasia of healthy cats and dogs exacts a high mental health toll on our veterinary and shelter workers.
What happens at the pounds
Put simply, cats and dogs are killed when pounds and shelters don’t have enough room to accommodate the animals – cats, dogs, kittens and puppies – that end up there.
These include unowned and semi-owned cats living in the community, owned but lost pets, abandoned or surrendered pets, and those rescued from hoarding or illegal breeding situations.
Regardless of where these animals come from or how they found themselves in a pound or shelter, if they are not reclaimed by owners or taken in by a rescue group by a certain time, euthanasia has become the way to deal with them. A dog rescue based in NSW explains how the pound system works for dogs.
Rescues to the rescue
Rescue groups and no-kill shelters save lives, without a doubt. As a result of their work, cats and dogs are saved from a terrible fate in pounds and shelters. When matched with the right adopters and rehomed successfully, the animals in turn enrich the lives of their humans as companion animals are meant to.
I dread to think of the fate that awaited the sweet neighbourhood mama cat and her kittens had I not managed to find a local rescue group which had the capacity to take them in, provide veterinary care, put them in foster homes and eventually find forever homes for them all.
Rescue groups, and the network of dedicated foster carers, are a key plank of Getting to Zero (G2Z), a strategy to get Australia to zero euthanasia of healthy and treatable cats and dogs. But many small rescues, run by volunteers, are often hampered by lack of capacity, funds and other resource constraints.
Supporting rescue
One of the reasons Sustainable Pet was founded is to support companion animal welfare and rescue. In 2023, we launched Pawsitive Impact, service to help small rescue groups leverage the web and digital technologies to increase their capacity and impact.
Do you work with or foster for a small rescue in Australia?
Tell us about your website needs and goals and get a small donation in exchange.
