Regina organization donates cat food, cat litter to pet owners in need

On a cloudy Sunday afternoon, dozens lined up in front of the mâmawêyatitân centre as volunteers handed out boxes of cat litter and food.

The event, dubbed “Keeping Felines with Families,” was organized by Regina Cat Rescue in partnership with the North Central Community Association, which provided the location, and funding from a grant provided by Humane Canada’s pet food bank program.

Scratching posts, litter boxes, blankets and toys received by donation were also handed out.

“It was amazing … We had so many people come out,” said Sarah Ritchie, operations manager at Regina Cat Rescue.

“In the half hour that we were cleaning up, we had several people come up and ask if we were still handing stuff out. We helped 405 cats.”

Sassafras rests on the oven at Regina Cat Rescue’s headquarters. The organization is a volunteer-run non-profit that helps abandoned cats and kittens and educates people about the humane treatment of pets. (Giancarlo Cininni/980 CJME)

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Struggles for pet ownership

Throughout Canada, the cost of keeping a pet has gone up. Multiple reports have noted a sharp rise in pet food prices. That means more pet owners need help if they want to keep their furry companions.

“North Central is really the area that we want to support due to that financial strain,” Ritchie said. “I can only just imagine how these people are feeling when they are unsure about how they are going to feed them and take care of them.”

Ritchie said many pet owners in Regina have to choose between housing they can afford and keeping their pets.

“Unfortunately the reality in this city is that they have to choose the former,” she said. “That means leaving their animals behind.”

Ritchie said there are thousands of stray and feral cats on Regina’s streets. She noted there’s an important difference between the two types of houseless felines.

“A stray cat is one that is left behind … or it just escaped and they never found their way back home,” Ritchie said. “A feral cat is one that grew up on the street.”

And the feral cats are proliferating. One mother can produce thousands of kittens in her lifetime.

“Our hopes are to eventually have the resources to be able to host spay and neuter clinics, as that will help decrease the number of cats we see on the street,” Ritchie said.

Regina Cat Rescue to the rescue

Regina Cat Rescue is a volunteer-run organization founded after People for Animals of Saskatchewan noticed there were a lot of stray cats in the city.

It’s like outreach support but for cats. Volunteers tend to feed stations for feral cat colonies and try to trap strays.

“The main people, they are the ones on the ground, (are) spending seven hours to trap a cat four, five days in a row,” Ritchie said.

Oftentimes volunteers will go into abandoned homes to rescue a cat. Ritchie said that type of work can be stressful.

“They see some stuff on the front line … you know, injuries (to cats that) were done by humans,” Ritchie said.

If rescued cats appear comfortable with humans, they’re put up for foster and adoption. Regina Cat Rescue regularly posts on Facebook and Instagram with orphaned cats available that people can take home.

The organization also takes in animals of people facing emergencies, including situations that might render an owner unable to take care of their pets anymore such as fleeing domestic violence, personal injury or death.

Ritchie said the organization is still recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Recruiting and retaining volunteers has been more difficult, and the demand for their services is increasing.

“The number of requests that we get are really high … I think I receive on average three requests, and that is the minimum per day,” Ritchie said. “Our social media team, we have stopped answering Facebook messages when it comes to intake.”

Still, Regina Cat Rescue remains ambitious. Ritchie said that now with things opened up, the organization hopes to acquire more volunteers, sponsorships and donors. With that, there could come more outreach events.

“I think it would be great if we can run them a couple of times a year,” she said. “The need for people with pets is so high.”