by Tiffany Pearson

Toronto has a cat problem. They are turning up everywhere - hurt, lost, unwanted and abused. Their owners rarely claim them.

Toronto Animal Services shelters receive 12,000 cats annually. Seven percent of them are claimed by their owners. This leaves more than 11,000 homeless cats in the GTA each year.

"Our difficulty is that we are looking at animal volume. Stray cats is the biggest issue these days. People aren't looking long enough and hard enough to find their stray cats," says Eletta Purdy, Manager of Toronto Animal Services.

Purdy says that often people assume that their cat has just wondered off for a while. In reality it may have been hit by a car, attacked, or snuggled up in a car engine to stay out of the cold. So they don't start looking right away.

If the cat is injured it may be euthanized if unclaimed. If it is healthy it may be put up for adoption.

"Our goal is to adopt animals out into permanent homes as companion animals where both the animal and the person can live out their life," says Purdy.

Frankie and Maya Baggetta are doing just that. Frankie is perched atop a bright green scratching post, eyes wide with fascination as his sister bats a tiny Christmas stocking full of catnip across the floor like a hockey puck.

They have been in their new home for three weeks and Darren Baggetta says that they already 'rule the roost'.

"I went to get the kittens at a veterinarian that my mother uses. I felt that that was the best place to go because of their reputation. I was never going to go to a pet store, I was either going to go to the vet or a pound," says Baggetta.

Frankie and Maya are from a litter of four whose mother was a stray found in Scarborough. The Lakeview Animal Hospital gave them booster and rabies shots, de-wormed them and spayed and neutered them before putting them up for adoption.

"The rescued cats had nowhere else to go. They were just basically sitting there until somebody came to get them, or there time was up. The vet couldn't hold them anymore," says Baggetta.

The Lakeview Animal Hospital found homes for the other two kittens in the litter shortly after Baggetta adopted Frankie and Maya. In this case the hospital had the room and resources to hold the kittens until they found homes for them, and euthanasia was not an option.

Some shelters implement no-kill policies where euthanasia is never practiced. Purdy says that the Toronto Animal Services doesn't have this option because of volume of animals.

"I think it's a bit of a misnomer. By calling a facility a no-kill shelter, everyone else in effect is being called a kill shelter," says Purdy. "What they essentially can do is choose what to take in and what not to, and volume as well."

The Toronto Animal Services does not discriminate. They receive all domesticated animals; dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents, birds and lizards.

Purdy says that animals impounded in their facilities under the by-law must be held for five days in order to give the owner time to search for them. If no owner comes forward the animal is assessed for its adoption potential.

Toronto Animal Services: Criteria For Assessing Adoption Potential

Health	Does the cat require more than minor medical care? Does it have any long-term expensive medical conditions?
Behavior	Is the cat aggressive or timid? Did it come from a good home? How is it behaving in the kennel?
Age	Do people want to adopt a cat of this age?

Purdy says that these factors determine whether a cat will be euthanized or put up for adoption. But with the rising numbers of strays, sometimes overcrowding is the reason for putting a cat down.

"That one reason for euthanasia is particularly onerous, simply because we don't have room," says Purdy.

At the Veterinary Emergency Clinic at Young and Shepperd the city's animal control unit often admits strays cats. Sheri, a worker at the 24-hour clinic, says that regular people rarely bring in strays because they would have to foot the medical bill, so animal control is called.

"Usually they are hit by cars. We had one last week that fell off of a balcony. We had a cat that was tied to a stop sign," says Sheri. "It was okay and someone from here adopted it."

Sheri says that the clinic also scans all cats for micro-chip insertion. "It's certainly something that can be done, more people are having it done as an identification purpose," says Sheri.

Why aren't the people of Toronto looking for their lost feline companions?

At Toronto Animal Services 65-percent of lost dogs are claimed by their owners. Only seven percent of cats are claimed.

Purdy says that the perception is that cats can live more easily in the environment than dogs. "In general there's a different attitude when it comes to dogs than cats," says Purdy.

"I think that generally people think that cat's are less of a companion than dogs. I don't see it because I've never had a dog," says Baggetta. "Cats need you, they always need to be fed, they always need to be loved."

With a black back and tail, Frankie looks like his belly were dipped in white paint. He has a black smudge on his nose, but otherwise his face is white. His motor is running and he is stretched out on the hardwood floor at Baggetta's feet. His sister Maya is swatting at his tail, jumping back every time it comes to life.

Suggestions For Cat Owners From Toronto Animal Services & Veterinary Emergency Clinic:

•Get a micro-chip injected under the cat's skin between the shoulder blades so it can be traced to you.
•If you can no longer care for your cat, try to find a suitable home before surrendering it to a shelter.
•Register your cat with the city.
•Get your cat spayed or neutered.
•Keep your cat indoors.
•Look for your lost cat immediately and call the shelters.

This article copyright TheSheridanReporter.com