Photo Courtesy Ross Lavigne

By Darren Rathwell

Growing number of ‘pandemic pets’ returned to local shelter

Apr 27, 2022 | 5:31 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The love affair with so-called “pandemic pets,” animals taken home during the pandemic, may be waning somewhat in Medicine Hat.

Officials with animal shelter APARC say there’s a rising number of recently adopted cats that have been returned to their system.

They’ve seen eight such cases in the last couple of months, up from zero or one in previous months.

APARC animal health manager Christina Young says as people get back to work, some are finding they can no longer make time for their feline friends.

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It’s an added burden on the system, during a time of year the shelter calls “kitten season.”

“The weather starts to get nicer, and people let their animals out to roam, which of course is against the bylaws, and then they’re breeding,” Young says, “So we do have a high population in medicine hat of stray cats and they breed. So every spring when the weather gets warm and animals roam around we always get the influx of kittens.”

APARC is now using its overflow spaces to house cats.

They recently put out a call for donations for kitten food.

And while donations did come in, Young says kitten season should continue into fall, so more kitten food would be happily accepted.