Overflowing shelters try to head off a cat-astrophe 
Brandy Baker / The Detroit News - A young calico peeks out from her cage at the Oakland Pet Adoption Center in Auburn Hills. The shelter is more than 100 cats over capacity.
Overflowing shelters try to head off a cat-astrophe
Delores Flynn / The Detroit News
AUBURN HILLS — Kim Hubley cradled her new 8-week-old calico kitten as she filled out paperwork at the Oakland Pet Adoption Center.
“I think I’m going to give her a name in Portuguese,” said the 22-year-old Troy resident, looking down at the kitten as it mewed and snuggled into her. “She’s so cute I had to get her. And it’s cool to be able to save an animal.”
Hubley’s kitten is one of the lucky ones. Shelters across Metro Detroit are overflowing with cats, and they’re having difficulty trying to find more people like Hubley to give the felines a permanent home.
The Oakland County center, which typically houses its capacity of about 200 cats in any given month, is more than 100 cats over capacity and the numbers are increasing daily. It’s a statistic that’s reflected at shelters across southeastern Michigan, including the Michigan Humane Society’s branches in Rochester, Westland and Detroit. Many shelters are offering incentives to potential cat owners, including lowering or waiving adoption fees for older cats and buy-one-get-one-free deals on kittens.
“More and more people are reporting stray cats and dropping off litters,” said Kara Beyerlein, spokeswoman for the Oakland Pet Adoption Center. “It’s not fair to keep them all here in such crowded quarters so we’re willing to make any deal possible to get them adopted.”
Mild winter, more births
In a typical year, shelters begin to see an influx of cats in the spring. But this year, a warm winter got unneutered cats started early. Instead of two breeding cycles — one in spring and one in summer — many cats are already working on their third litter of the year, Beyerlein said.
And it’s not just the weather, experts say.
“Pet owners really need to be responsible and get their cats spayed or neutered. These animals reproduce really well and we just don’t have enough space to provide consistent shelter,” said Tanya Hilgendorf, executive director of the Humane Society of Huron Valley, which has taken in 1,500 cats through June.
Others are left to wander the streets and become targets of larger animals, vehicle accidents and acts of animal cruelty.
About 76,000 cats and kittens were euthanized across Michigan last year, based on a survey of 140 shelters reported by the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
“It’s an absolute last resort,” said Stephanie Baron, spokeswoman for the Michigan Humane Society, the largest animal welfare organization in the state.
Animals are given health and temperament assessments when brought into a shelter to determine if they are adoptable. Euthanizing is done on a case-by-case basis if cats are too aggressive, have an incurable disease and sometimes for space constraints, Baron added.
To ease shelter overcrowding, the Michigan Humane Society created Cat Independence Days this spring, waiving adoption fees for cats age 6 months and older for as long as needed. Its goal is to help create awareness of the overpopulation problem and educate the public about and sterilizing pets.
The society cared for 20,000 homeless cats and kittens in 2006 at its three facilities. The latest intake number from June already shows an increase of 5 percent for cats and 6.5 percent for kittens compared to last June.
The Oakland Pet Adoption Center is also offering free monthly spay and neuter clinics by appointment to combat the problem. The next one is Aug. 12.
Last week the center housed about 199 cats in 3-foot-by-1 -foot cages, with another 81 kittens overflowing into cages in the halls. Another 100 are off-site in foster homes, cared for by volunteers because they are either too small or not well enough to be moved to the shelter.
Crowding adds health risks
The animals have a chance to run around and get exercise when cages are being cleaned. Volunteers play with the cats and brush them. But the attention doesn’t compare to a loving home, where health risks are much lower.
“As the number of cats increase there is a much higher stress load on the cats from being surrounded by so many animals,” said Dr. Brian Covert of the Pytel Veterinary Clinic in Genesee County. “There’s also higher (risk of) illness, which can put a strain on a shelters’ resources to medicate and quarantine animals. This can make it more difficult to adopt them and sometimes they may have to be euthanized.
“It’s a vicious numbers game. So getting them into new homes is the way to go.”
You can reach Delores Flynn at (248) 647-7225 or dflynn@detnews.com.
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