Montrose - Daily Press

Katharhynn Heidelberg

Daily Press News Editor

MONTROSE — Calling all cat lovers. This is the season for you to save a life.

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The Montrose Animal Shelter is beyond capacity for cats, in part due to an unexpected increase in birth rates for this time of year.

“We’re definitely over capacity on the cats,” Montrose Police Officer Mike Duncan said Thursday. “There are a lot of kittens, which is unusual for this time of year. Normally, by this time of year, we’re lucky to have one or two kittens. We usually have customers arm-wrestling over the last kitten.”

Thirty-eight of 40 available cat spaces are full, Duncan said.

By contrast, space for dogs is only about half filled, with 13 canines for the 23-kennel space. That’s thanks in part to the help of Grand Junction’s Roice-Hurst Humane Society, which transported two loads of Montrose shelter dogs to the Denver Dumb Friends League, which was low on dogs.

“We don’t really promote Christmas gifts of pets, but I’d sure rather find a home for these cats and kittens than have to put them down,” Duncan said. “We’ll keep them for as long as we have space for them.”

He said anyone considering giving an animal as a gift should keep it in the family and not make it a surprise. “It really needs to be a family decision. If it is a gift, it shouldn’t be a surprise gift.”

Duncan discouraged surprising friends with pets. No matter how well people know one another, they don’t necessarily know what a friend wants in a pet — or if one is wanted at all. “Most times, they just end up back here,” Duncan said.

Under a recent city council action, pets leaving the shelter are vaccinated as well as spayed or neutered. Adult cats are also tested for the feline leukemia virus.

Even if people cannot adopt a pet, they can still help out by fostering surplus cats or dogs until there is “bed space” available at the shelter. Anyone interested in fostering pets must first fill out an application.

Duncan said cooperation between various Western Slope animal shelters and rescue societies is making a difference for homeless pets. “We’ve actually formed a West Slope animal federation. Almost all (shelters) are participating.”

He credited Mesa County Animal Services Director Penny McCarty for pushing the alliance, which is called Western Colorado Animal Resources, or “WeCare.”

Participating agencies include shelters and rescue societies from Montrose, Delta, Grand Junction, Carbondale, Glenwood and Ridgway, to name a few. WeCare meets every month and shares information on available resources — as well as expertise.

“The neat thing is, it’s just a lot of good resources, especially for the animals,” Duncan said. For example, if one shelter is full, another area shelter might be able to house a few pets, such as the Montrose shelter cats currently living on borrowed time.

“The nice thing about this coalition is there are several cat rescue groups in the group,” Duncan said. “They have offered to help us out. The only thing is, they have to have room for them. They’ve been real full too, lately.”

The information sharing helps in several ways. For instance, Delta and Mesa Counties are both looking at building new shelters and Montrose, which opened an expanded shelter last year, has practical experience.

“It saves having to reinvent the wheel on a lot of issues,” Duncan said.

The agencies are also coming together to train for emergencies, such as massive snowstorms, fires and hazardous materials spills. Again, WeCare members are able to draw on the experiences of others, in this case, Aspen and Pitkin counties, which have dealt with forest fires that imperiled animals.

WeCare received a donated trailer that can be used to evacuate pets. Roice-Hurst donated extra cages for the trailer.

“It’s just really encouraging to have that many people together in the same region, with the same interests,” Duncan said.

The Montrose Animal Shelter is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is also open Sunday morning. Information on how to donate needed supplies, volunteer, or adopt is available at 240-1487.

Comments

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marqthompson
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