As Maritime animal shelters prepare for an influx of kittens following a mild winter, they are reminding pet owners to get their animals spayed or neutered.
The SPCA in Saint John isn’t at full capacity right now, but president Melody McElman expects that will change in a few weeks.
“As the tulips start to pop up we are getting our unit ready for our babies to come in. We expect to see some kittens within the next week or two,” says McElman.
“More cats are getting outside and those that are unsprayed and unaltered are having batches of kittens and, like any shelter, this is when we’re coming into our busiest season.”
As the SPCA prepares for a flurry of felines, McElman is reminding pet owners of the importance of spaying and neutering their animals.
“You can’t say it enough, but we continue to educate every day, and while we’re seeing that the populations are still very heavy and still coming in, people are actually listening now and those that are coming out of the shelters are all being adopted and they’re all being spayed and neutered before they go out,” she says.
Thankfully, McElman says adoption numbers have increased over the past few months, which is helping both the animals and the shelter.
“Just in the last few weeks we’ve had some of our highest adoption numbers ever. There was one day where nine cats were adopted,” she says.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Blackford
