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Victoria SPCA holds fire sale on cats and kittens

Adoption fees cut in half for cats and kittens until Dec. 9
Fall For Kittens SPCA 2
B.C. SPCA Victoria receptionist Amy McLaughlin plays with an orange tabby kitten at the Napier Lane office. All cat and kitten adoption fees are half price until Dec. 9.

SPCAs across the province are holding a half-price sale on cats and kittens, due to  unusually large numbers of animals at its shelters.

“Normally at this time of year, the number of abandoned and surrendered kittens lessens, but the kittens just keep coming and we are really overwhelmed,” said Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the B.C. SPCA.

The scene is a little different in Victoria.

“We’re not as bad as some of the other branches,” said Penny Stone, manager of the SPCA shelter on Napier Lane. “Victoria is such a great animal community.”

For this reason, the Victoria branch actually imports abandoned cats from other heavier-hit SPCA branches. For instance, Victoria has almost 60 kittens right now. About half are from the Port Alberni area, where there is not the same level of community support for spay and neuter programs, Stone said.

To help find homes for the felines, the $149 adoption fee for cats ($179 for kittens) will be cut in half now through Dec. 9.

Stone said she’s not worried the sale will induce people to buy a cat on impulse.

“We screen really well here… (and) there is such an arduous process for adopting them. You can’t just adopt if you have the money.”

The discounted fees are timed in fall to help find as many homes for cats as possible before the Christmas season begins.

“We don’t do adoptions as gifts,” Stone said, noting that Christmas isn’t a good time of year to bring a cat home.

Provincewide, there are 936 adult cats and 1,146 kittens in SPCA facilities that need homes.

rholmen@vicnews.com