Desiree DeCoste
Beaver Staff
For many, adopting an animal over the holidays holds a stigma around it; after Christmas the animal gets returned or brought to a shelter.
With the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) and the Humane Society hosting their iAdopt for the Holidays campaign until Dec. 31 at participating SPCAs, humane societies and rescue groups across Canada, the registered charity, established in 1873, last year adopted out 3,600 animals Province-wide.
Esther McCutcheon from the OSPCA Lennox & Addington wants to change the stigma around adopting over the holidays because just like the times, things have changed.
“There is a bit of a stigma around adopting over the holidays,” McCutcheon told the Beaver. “I understand the concerns people have when adopting near the holidays and thinking it might be an impulse decision, we, the OSPCA, have actually done some work with those statistics and we specifically don’t see an increase of returns in January, people are much more committed to their animals then they use to be when adopting over the holidays.”
Lennox and Addington OSPCA manager Esther McCutcheon with Amber. Photo by Desiree DeCoste.
The good thing about the holidays is everyone usually has some time off work which makes it a good time to bring home a new animal to get them acclimated to your home environment.
Fortunately the OSPCA doesn’t adopt out animals on Christmas Eve as presents as that usually is an impulse decision, but most people are much more intentional when it comes to adopting, at least in recent years, and if people are looking for a pet this season, the animal centre might have what you need.
“Right now we have six dogs and we have around 22 cats, that number fluctuates quite a bit,” expressed McCutcheon. “We do our best to make sure they go home to the right people, we do adoption counselling when people are here, we give people all the information about the animal and then if they think the animal is the right fit for them we finish the adoption process by doing paperwork and giving them all the vet information they need, and we’re always here to support people afterwards if they have questions or anything. I would say a majority of the time adoption is extremely successful for people.”
The shelter is an open admission animal centre, as space permits, so any animal the centre has space for can be surrendered to them.
Walter, a 12-year-old mix breed pup was surrendered to the centre a few weeks ago. Having lived a life on a chain and having a bit of arthritis, this loveable caring soul just wants a nice home to retire in.
Lennox and Addington OSPCA manager with Spoons. Photo by Desiree DeCoste.
“I like to be empty on Christmas, and last year we were so close,” said McCutcheon. “We didn’t have any dogs but we had some cats, and we did really well. So I’m hoping for that again, and hoping that someone can give Walter a nice retirement home.”
Other animals at the shelter needing forever home include these three cats, Spoons, Amber and Riggs.
Usually with adult cats they are surrendered to the shelter but in the case of Riggs, he was a stray. He was quite sick when brought into the animal centre a few weeks ago and he’s already doing better.
“Something about being in from the cold probably,” added McCutcheon. “But he has a bit of a skin condition around his eye but it doesn’t hurt or bother him but seems to flare up when he’s outside so now it’s clearing up quite quickly.”
Amber is a diabetic cat who needs special medication and Spoons, the queen of the castle, needs special dry cat food for kidney stone management.
“I would really love to see Spoons and Amber go home for the holidays,”stated McCutcheon. “So anyone who’s familiar with diabetic cats, she’s just so sweet, and as far as Spoons goes, she’s a year and a half old and just needs urinary care dry food versus regular food and she will be fine.”
Donations for the animal centre are always needed and always appreciated. If people want to donate items the centre takes any kind of cleaning supplies, garbage bags, laundry detergent, soap, surgical gloves, non-clumping cat little, clear garbage bags and Ziploc bags.
“We go through about two 18 kg bags of litter a week, at least, and a lot of people are generous over the holidays,” McCutcheon said. “A lot of the time we get quite a lot over the holidays which keeps us going for a lot of the year, but it always runs out at some point so it’s always good to have an over abundance of stuff we can use through out the year. We have a metal collection bin so any metal can be dropped off for us.”
The animal centre also has a clothing donation bin out front and they take towels and sheets and things like that for use at the shelter. They also collect liquor bottles year round.
If anyone is interested in doing a third party event like run an event on their own and have the proceeds come to the animal centre, McCutcheon is always open to ideas.
A lot of time the shelter doesn’t have the man power to run multiple events on their own, so if people want to take events on and need advice or information, McCutcheon is always happy to give it.
McCutcheon added “The more third party events the better. It’s a lot easier on us and if they need support in any way I’m there for them.”
One major event coming in 2020 is National Cupcake Day on Feb. 24.
“This is one of the smaller animal centres in the Ontario SPCA,” McCutcheon said. “We consistently have good adoption rates and that’s thanks to the people in the community, and the more support we receive, the more we can do.”
For more information please visit ontariospca.ca.