Death rate cat-astrophe

By Shaun Inguanzo
ANIMAL WELFARE officers in Keysborough have labelled the 30,000 cats that are put down each year in Victoria a ‘cat-astrophe’.
To counter the statewide death toll, the Australian Animal Protection Society in Keysborough is campaigning for locals to pick up a furry friend for as cheap as $40 from its animal shelter on Homeleigh Road.
The shelter held a Cat Day last Sunday, when more than 1000 people browsed the shelter’s large number of stranded cats, taking home 40 of them between 11am and 3pm.
The shelter’s cat liaison officer, Viv Williams, said the number of cats destroyed each year was unacceptable and that the protection society was calling for mandatory desexing of cats to counteract the large number of feline births each year.
But she said in the interim, there were many cats available for adoption that would make the perfect companion for people who wanted a low maintenance pet.
“With the modern lifestyle, people are living in small homes, flats, and apartments, and cats are ideal,” she said.
“You don’t have to have a yard for a cat, you don’t have to bath them, they groom themselves and entertain themselves.”
Ms Williams said the many cats left stranded were the result of families letting their cats breed and then having to find homes for kittens.
“We take 2000 dogs each year but we take 4000 cats,” she said. “We re-home about 90 percent of our dogs, whereas our cats we re-home at only 35 percent.”
Sadly, the percentage of cats left without a home are destroyed, Ms Williams said.
“Unfortunately with cats, we have to do it,” she said.
“There is a large number of cats born in Victoria, 30,000 are put down every year because there are no homes for them.”
To adopt a cat, call the shelter on 9798 8044, or visit at 10 Homeleigh Road, Keysborough.