Animal shelters have joined forces to combat decreased adoption rates ahead of an already “demanding” cat and kitten season.
The state-wide, ‘Mission Adoptable’, is a three-day initiative from Friday 20 February until Sunday 22 February, where participating shelters will significantly drop adoption fees to just, $50 for a de-sexed, microchipped, fully vaccinated cat or kitten, saving upfront costs.
Participating groups include Animal Aide, Australian Animal Protection Society (AAPS), The Lost Dog’s Home and RSPCA alongside a number of metropolitan and regional rescues.
The CEO of AAPS, Megan Benton says, the combined efforts from 10 different groups saw a huge success last year, where maximum of 500 adoptions were made over just three days compared to a mere 100 adoption across all groups on a normal weekend.
“We are all at crisis point because we’re at capacity.
“It’s very powerful, we’re trying to build on that to get more attraction and attention on this.”
She says on average 200-300 cats are given up per day to shelters, with “not enough people to adopt them.”
Under normal operations, adoption fees are massive $250 for a kitten and $150 for a cat, additional de-sexing, microchip and other costs apply.
Keysborough’s animal shelter charge $160 for cat desexing with microchip as a shelter, however costs can vary and go up to $500.
Microchipping drastically increases the likelihood that lost cats are returned home, while desexing is the most effective way to prevent unplanned litters and reduce seasonal surges.
Warmer conditions are expected to extend the kitten season beyond its usual timeframe, as shelters prepare for hundreds of additional cats and kittens to enter their care.
While adoption provides immediate relief, shelters say long-term change depends on responsible pet ownership across the community.
Previously, AAPS long-term staff member have urged cat de-sexing prices to be made cheap to control the rowing overpopulation of cats in Greater Dandenong.
As of January 2021, there were about 3500 registered cats at Greater Dandenong Council – but that’s estimated to be only 15 per cent of the cat population in the area.
Council had passed a night time curfew for cats, from dusk till dawn from April 2024 to tackle cat overpopulation as a significant issues in the municipality.
For more information call 1300 501 420
