Cat numbers climb to crisis point with more arriving every day

As an open-intake shelter, The Lost Dogs’ Home will never turn away a pet in need. However, with close to 800 cats and kittens currently in our care and more arriving every day, we’re fast facing crisis point and our shelters are at capacity.

To help our felines find new homes and create critical space at our shelters we’re urging Melburnians to adopt or spread the word and help us Clear the Cat Shelter.

Spokesperson Suzana Talevski said the shelter’s adoption centre would be expanding its days of operation from Monday January 18 to cope with incoming felines and would be reducing adoption fees for adult cats and pairs of kittens at the North Melbourne and Cranbourne shelters.

“Kitten season has always been a challenge but since COVID lockdowns and restrictions it has become worse.

Nearly all councils suspended their cat trapping programs for most of the lockdowns. This has made the stray cat problem even more problematic,” Ms Talevski said.

“Those cats that would normally have been trapped have been breeding, which of course has only added to the already overpopulated problem is some areas, and those litters were also mating as they had time to mature and mate.

“During Clear the Cat Shelter, our thorough adoption process still applies to ensure all pets are matched with committed families who are able to offer a suitable home and lifetime of care. Cats and kittens will stay in our adoptions centre for as long as it takes to find them a home, but we would love for this to happen as soon as possible.

“Managing the population of homeless cats is a constant challenge for shelters and rescue groups across Australia. The Lost Dogs’ Home takes in more than 10,000 abandoned and stray cats and kittens every year.

Cats are prolific breeders – research has shown that just one pair of entire cats and their offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.”

If they cannot adopt a cat, pet owners can also play a big role in this campaign by making sure their cats and kittens are microchipped and desexed.

For more on the Clear the Cat Shelter campaign go to: https://dogshome.com/cleartheshelter

Case study:

At just 18-months old, mumma cat Sarina and her litter of six kittens aged just seven weeks were abandoned on the side of a busy road in Melbourne’s west, and left to fend for themselves a few days before Christmas.  Sadly, Sarina’s story in not unique and we are currently experiencing an extremely high volume of mumma cats and their babies dumped on our doorstep.

For further information or to organise interviews please contact:

Suzana Talevski
T: 03 9321 8719
M: 0436 836 836
E: suzana.talevski@dogshome.com