Moose Jaw Humane Society struggling to deal with influx of animals

Many people have been trying to help stray cats left out in the cold.

Moose Jaw Humane Society executive director Dana Haukaas says this has led to the shelter becoming full of cats.

“We are on our third intake freeze since the weather has gotten cold, so it’s just hard for us to create space,” Haukaas told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Wednesday. “This time of year, we have a lot of adult cats, so our numbers might seem lower.”

She said that’s due to the fact that at the moment, only one adult cat can be in a kennel and during kitten season, there can be a litter of six kittens.

The animal shelter is also having a hard time dealing with people wishing to surrender their dogs, Haukaas said.

“We do our very best to accommodate (them), but it is dependent on the space,” she said.

A lot of people found that dogs were great company while they were working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was really difficult for them to socialize their dogs, Haukaas said.

“Their dogs were used to having their person at home with them all the time,” she said. “We are getting a lot of people surrendering dogs who have separation anxiety and they have a hard time spending any time at home alone.”

Many things can be done to help dogs with their anxiety. Haukaas recommends people send their dog to “doggy daycare” for a couple of days a week.

“(That’s helpful) if (they) have a busy day, running kids to sports or what have you,” she said.

With the rising cost of groceries and inflation in general, many people are being forced to give up their pets.

“A lot of people have had to move from one apartment to another and the apartment they left allowed pets (and) the one that they could find doesn’t allow pets,” Haukaas said.

If a financial issue is driving people to consider letting go of their pets, she says the shelter has bags of donated food to give them to help them between paycheques.

Haukaas said anyone interested in supporting the Moose Jaw Humane Society can drop off recyclables instead of taking them to SARCAN, or buy items from their bookstore.