Four adorable furry bundles of joy and their mom will not have to fend for themselves anymore.
A Penticton woman who has seen the yet to be named mother cat for the past year wander around her rural property giving birth to three litters of cats finally got the opportunity to rescue her.
“Her story is absolutely amazing,” said Cheryl Hubbard vice president of AlleyCats Alliance who are fostering the animals, of the mother cat. “The lady who rescued them has seen the cat on and off for a year and put food out when she came around. Now that the cat gave birth to her third litter that the lady knew of, she decided she had to do something.”
Because the mom is quite friendly, AlleyCats Alliance believes someone abandoned her in the wilderness in the Carmi area. The four tortoise coloured kittens are believed to be about nine to 10 weeks old while the mother is believed to be fairly young and is short-haired. AlleyCats is now working with Dr. Marlis Anderson in Summerland to get the feline family get checked, they have an appointment later in the month to get them spayed and neutered thanks to a financial donor who came forward to help.
“We think the mom was dumped in the wild by her family because she is so friendly with people. Now we hopefully will get the little guys domesticated and into loving homes,” said Teresa Nolet, who also sits on the board for AlleyCats Alliance. “This is becoming a common occurrence where people either can’t afford or for whatever reason don’t want their cats but the shelters are full. So they decide they want to give their cat a chance at life and dump them in the wild. These cats then get pregnant, are malnourished and their coats might get thin and now it is getting colder out.”
AlleyCats Alliance is a non-profit organization that runs a variety of fundraising events throughout the year to help with the plight of cats and kittens in the region. They also accept donations, bottle and can pick ups and accept miscellaneous items including blankets, cat crates, food, toys and scratching posts.
“We made a conscience decision not to operate a shelter. We work strictly with foster homes,” said Hubbard. “Quite often people are lucky if the SPCA has room and usually by the time they call us, they have already tried all the shelters and nobody has room.”
It is why the group is asking anyone interested in becoming a foster family to contact them. AlleyCats Alliance helps pay al the vet bills and supplies all the food and litter. Foster families are asked to take the animal to and from vet appointments and to the adoption centres when necessary, as well as giving all your love and affection to the cat. In the case of the rescued kittens, Hubbard said they will need some extra attention to socialize them, which AlleyCats will teach the individual or family how to do. They are also asking for donations to help them with veterinary costs for the four kittens and their mother.
Hubbard said it is the group’s mission to help spread awareness on the importance of spaying and neutering your animals. This recent rescue is a prime example of why.
“It is the root base of the problem. If you have your pet spayed or neutered they aren’t able to perpetuate this by having more kittens. That is so much of our philosophy, to stop the problem of overpopulation,” said Hubbard.
Contact AlleyCats Alliance to donate or to apply to be a foster family at 250-488-2223 or at www.AlleyCatsAlliance.org.