64 cats, kittens surrendered to SPCA in hoarding case

OKANAGAN (NEWS 1130) – An Okanagan SPCA had to temporarily close its doors to visitors yesterday after receiving an influx of 64 cats and kittens in what appears to be a bad case of animal hoarding.

Twenty-two of the animals were surrendered to the South Okanagan-Similkameen branch on Monday from a home in the Penticton area, while another 42 were voluntarily handed over yesterday.

RELATED: Finders not always keepers: BC SPCA justifies adoption policy

“An individual has just become just overwhelmed with a great number of cats in her home,” Lorie Chortyk with the BCSPCA said. “They seem to be eating well and doing well, but certainly they’ll need some work around getting used to people and they are being treated for upper respiratory and general medical issues that they have.”

Cats who exhibited signs of the respiratory disease, similar to a cold, have been isolated to keep them from spreading the illness to the others. Their physical health is still being monitored.

Like many cases of hoarding, many of the animals are wary of humans, since they have not been socialized, according to Chortyk. She says the animals will likely have to go through behavioural modification before they’re put up for adoption.

RELATED: BC SPCA applauds Surrey’s move to ban sale of dogs, cats, rabbits at pet stores

“Unfortunately it’s fairly common for us to deal with hoarding cases. It’s not unusual to have an individual with 30 to 70 animals even in a small apartment or trailer,” she said. “It certainly is an illness and we’re very aware of that and wanting to be empathetic to the people, but our role is really to make sure the animals are removed from that situation.”

Some of the cats will be moved to other shelters so they receive more one-on-one time with humans.

The BC SPCA Special Constable is still investigating and it’s unclear if the owner will face any consequences.

“With hoarding cases, sometimes we will proceed just to try and get a ban on owning animals so that we can stop that individual from just getting a lot more animals in the future, but that’s still being decided,” Chortyk said.

The SPCA is asking for food, toys and monetary donations to cover care for the pets and to cover any medical bills, including the spay and neutering procedures.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today