Alberta Animal Services has had a very successful year due to their recent partnership with Petland Canada.

Erica Coomber, shelter administrator with Alberta Animal Services, said the adoptions have gone up to the point where no adoptable animals need to be euthanized. Coomber said this will never change because of the partnership.

“Our partnership is one of a kind in Canada. Our goal is to save as many lives as we possibly can. We will continue to find homes for every adoptable animal no matter what.”

In August alone Animal Services adopted out 22 cats and 22 dogs. This year they have adopted out 132 cats and 101 dogs.

She added that the partnership with Petland provides them with 12 dog runs and 12 cat enclosures to display the animals, which are available for adoption.

Since the partnership began in May 2011 they have re-homed 379 cats and 286 dogs.

“Working with Petland Canada has changed our organization in so many ways for the good. Words can’t explain how grateful we truly are to have such an amazing partnership with such an amazing organization.”

Coomber also pointed out their very special cat resident, which came in with a broken foot. Eugene, a male tortoiseshell cat, is a rare genetic anomaly. Tortoiseshell cats are typically only female, and it is an extremely rare occurrence that a male is born.

She added that along with Eugene, Animal Services in Red Deer currently has a number of very young kittens including a group of four that are about 10 days old.

“They were found by a dumpster with their mom in the little kitty house they came in.”

Another pair of kittens came in to Animal Services and Coomber said they had to be bottle fed for a number of days before a lucky solution came into play.

“It just happened perfectly that we had a mom cat come in and her kittens were old enough to go into a foster home, so we gave her the two orphan kittens and she took to them. They are now thriving.”

Coomber added that it is extremely important for people to fix their cats. She said a lot of people don’t bother to fix their male cats because they don’t have to deal with the kittens.

“With the over population crisis with cats it’s important people get their cats fixed because if you just let your male cat outside to go out and breed with the feral females in the alley, they have kittens and it’s just a vicious cycle.”

She said that an approximate cost to fix a female cat is around $300 and a male in the $200 range.

“Cats can become a nuisance if they’re not fixed whether that’s going on to neighbours property and spraying or using the flowerbeds as a bathroom. It’s very important to keep your cat on your own property.”

She said even though a cat owner may not think their cat is a nuisance, they might be.

kpalardy@reddeerexpress.com