The McKean County SPCA is asking the community to help welcome the new generation of cats when it hosts its sixth annual Kitten Shower this Saturday.
The premise, explained Executive Director Christine Taylor, is similar to a baby shower, but instead of new parents receiving gifts for their newborns, the SPCA receives gifts for kittens.
“This time of year we always have a big influx of kittens,” Taylor noted.
To prepare, the organization is asking for donations of supplies. This is one of two big annual fundraisers for the SPCA, the other being Barktoberfest in the fall.
When people stop by the event, to be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at the shelter, there will be several activities to keep shower guests occupied.
Activities include games with prizes, basket raffles and a bake sale. The baked goods display will include treats such as homemade cream pies. Also this year, there will be rip tickets with which people can win money.
For community members who want to help prepare for the event, the SPCA is inviting people to donate a basket for the basket raffle or homemade goodies for the baked goods sale. People can drop items off at the shelter through Friday.
No doubt one of the most popular features of the event will be the honorees: the cats. Attendees will have a chance to visit with the shelter’s felines, as well as the dogs.
Taylor is hopeful the weather will be nice Saturday so they can put cats in the catio. When the weather’s mild, the felines get to spend time outside in the catio in shifts.
“It’s been a really nice added feature,” said Taylor. The catio is a relatively new feature of the shelter, being built within the past few years.
Right now, the National Weather Service is predicting Saturday to be mostly cloudy with a high temperature of 62 degrees.
“We encourage people to come down and visit (the cats) when they’re outside,” Taylor added.
Dog people will be happy to know they can stop by and see their pet of choice, too, that day.
“We will still be walking the dogs that day and feeding them,” said Taylor.
On the SPCA’s wishlist are supplies they go through quickly. This includes laundry soap, paper towels, kitten formula and non-clumping clay litter.
Cat food is an important item, too. As they try to keep the animals on the same chow, the SPCA asks that donations of cat food be Purina, either kitten chow or complete cat chow for the moms.
While the cats are the event’s namesake, “We don’t want to forget the dogs,” she noted. She said the canines eat Purina dog chow or puppy chow.
Also on Saturday, anyone who has received pre-approval will be able to adopt a cat for half price — $25 instead of $50.
Most of the adult cats currently at the shelter are already fixed, Taylor said.
“We try to get most of our cats altered before they are adopted out,” she added, though she noted that sometimes the timing doesn’t work out when they are adopted right away. In those instances, part of the normal adoption fee will go toward having the new pet owner get the procedure done.
According to Taylor, there is an “ongoing explosion of cats and kittens in McKean County.
“We’re always scrambling to get those guys into good homes,” she said.
The growing cat population is a problem the organization is working hard to lessen.
Since January, the SPCA has helped more than 120 cats get spayed or neutered. In 2018, organization helped with 287 cats, either by taking the cats themselves or helping people get their own cats spayed or neutered.
In fact, the local shelter is housing about 92 cats and 34 dogs going into the event. Last year, the cat population at the SPCA reached as high as 160 in the summer.
Many have come in the last few weeks, and Taylor is hopeful to match some pets with people this weekend to make room for the influx that happens in the warmer months.
Taylor said the event provides a good opportunity for the SPCA to showcase the facility and let people meet the cats and dogs. She hopes the day will bring awareness to the public of the shelter and its furry residents.
“And it’s a lot of fun, too,” she said.
