Cat glut in Altentreptow: Animal shelter rejects admission of 31 babies!

Cat glut in Altentreptow: Animal shelter rejects admission of 31 babies!

The animal shelter in Altentreptow is currently faced with a challenging situation: a total of 31 kittens, which come from nine different mothers, are urgently looking for a new home. There are currently twice as many cats living in the animal shelter than capacity allows. The legally specified maximum number of 28 animals was far exceeded with 56 cats placed. For this reason, an admission stop was imposed, which is mainly due to the surrender of five pregnant cats and the oversupply of animal shelter cats, as nordkurier.de reports.

The situation in the animal shelter is tense. Of particular concern are the five problem cases among the kittens who had to be placed in foster homes due to their underdevelopment. The remaining kittens will remain at the shelter for the next few months and will be vaccinated before being rehomed. Those interested can expect asking prices between 65 and 90 euros.

Neutering and health concerns

Another topic that is being discussed in connection with overpopulation is the castration of cats. This usually occurs from the ninth month onwards. However, due to the current situation, it is recommended that kittens weighing over 2.5 kilograms be neutered. Silke Greier, an animal shelter employee, expresses concerns about possible health and psychological damage if castrations are carried out too early. This leads to different opinions within the animal welfare community about the right time for castration, as the case in other animal shelters shows.

“The catastrophe that is taking place here is also a nature conservation problem,” said a spokeswoman for the Treptower Tollensewinkel district. There is an urgent need to promote the decline of street cats and to control the cat glut. The animal shelter is the first point of contact for animal protection in the region and is actively committed to responsible animal placement, in addition to the foster homes that offer the animals a homely environment. The animal shelter would also like to provide a new home for other animals, such as dogs or small animals, but the current overcrowding represents a major challenge, according to tierheim.com.

A call for support

The animal shelter in Altentreptow is not only responsible for rehoming animals, it also offers important rapid response for missing or found animals. It also relies on volunteers who can support animal welfare through donations or activities such as dog walking. Those interested can use the animal protection association's online presence to get an overview of the animals that can be adopted and use the contact channels that are accessible by telephone, email or social media.

The situation highlights the need for active and responsible animal husbandry as well as support from society. Only through community commitment can the overpopulation be brought under control and the animals can have a better life.