BC SPCA working on healing 200 cats and kittens rescued from one home

The BC SPCA said they have begun the first phase of their intake of more than 200 cats and kittens from a single home in Houston.

The society started their work by visiting the property with food, supplies, and litter to help support the animals’ needs before building coordination efforts to bring the cats and kittens into the society’s care.

Since the first group of cats came into BC SPCA care, two have given birth to new litters.

As of Thursday, more than 150 cats including moms and their kittens identified as needing urgent medical care have been removed from the home, assessed, examined for identification and brought to foster homes or BC SPCA animal centres.

The BC SPCA said they have provided food, supplies, and litter to help support the remaining animals’ needs.

“The intake of this large number of cats requires a multi-phase approach,” Eileen Drever, senior officer, protection and stakeholder relations for the BC SPCA said in the news release.

“We will begin bringing in the remaining cats to the triage centre for assessment beginning sometime next week once we have all of the necessary supplies in place.”

Kim Monteith, the BC SPCA’s manager of animal welfare, is overseeing the care of the cats and assessing them for any behavioural issues.

“The socialization window for cats is three to seven weeks,” Monteith added. “It is so important to provide kittens with good experiences during this time and to introduce them to handling, different people, as well as other animals and objects.”

Many of the older cats missed that socialization period and may be more skittish.

“Strangers are scary, living indoors with sounds like the TV, vacuum, and other things will also be scary for them. This is where our work begins. We get them physically healthy and at the same time help them to learn to trust people.”

Costs for the care of the cats are still being assessed. The cats are expected to be in the BC SPCA’s care for a minimum of 30 days and longer for new-born kittens.

“We really want to thank the volunteer fosters who stepped up to help us care for these cats and kittens,” Drever said. “Not to mention the many businesses in Prince George who have offered their assistance.”

The agency has launched a fundraising campaign to support caring for the cats.