Toronto Cat Rescue receives many daily inquiries from owners asking us to take in their family pets, which for various reasons they no longer are able to keep. Because our foster homes are always full and we do not have a shelter, our solution is the Owner Surrender Program.
Toronto Cat Rescue receives many inquiries each week from caring individuals who are hoping to help the stray cats or kittens in their neighbourhood. We have created the Stray Rescue Program to help you find homes for healthy, social, adoptable stray cats and kittens. As part of this program, TCR volunteers will provide information and guidance on how you can trap and sterilize stray cats in your neighbourhood.
If you would like help with Wild/Feral Cats, please ask us for information and advice! Feeding feral cats is just one step, it is also important to spay/neuter the cats so that the population does not increase and the cats have the best life possible on the cold, lonely streets of Toronto.
Owner/Surrender Program / Stray Cat Rescue Program / Feral Cats – (TNR’M)
Just so that you know, you can go to Spay/Neuter services with Toronto Humane Society. They will vaccine and spay/neuter for $80, and it’s $90 with the tax. They will microchip for free, but you have to request this. I recommend microchipping. Also, you have to register the microchip online, but it is free.
Also, your best bet is to advertise in Pet Valu. Or you can take to Toronto Humane Society, if they have room. THS does not have license to take in strays, so keep your evidence that you are looking after them (receipts, vet bills). This is called a custodial surrender – they aren’t strays because you are looking after them. Also, you really should have taken the female cat to be spayed at Toronto Humane Society when she was pregnant (yes, you can spay pregnant females, it’s called animal abortion), but it’s too late now.
I would just recommend finding homes (via custodial surrender to THS or ads in Pet Valu) and keeping the mother. Don’t pay attention to Toronto Animal Services – they don’t have the authority to take the cats unless the situation is really bad.
Do not give the kittens back to Animal Control – they do not have the authority to take the kittens unless the situation is really bad, like abuse or torture of animals. In fact, I would just ignore them.
I wish I saw this before Animal Services was involved. All I know about Animal Services is NOTHING good. I found an abandoned dog on my street in Winter 2011 and we brought it in so they found look for the owner/bring it to health, then we wanted to adopt it, they said they’d call us and then when I called back a few days later that had given it to a random family for adoption.
They seem pretty corrupt to me. I hear more and more stories like yours and mine all the time. I digress..
If the momma cat was still pretty feral there’s just no way you could have taken her to get fixed. Many vets won’t even deal with that, though I know some vets who are okay with ferals/strays. One being Birch-Dan Animal Hospital. I’m not quite sure what to do. :S
I think you and I learned a very tough way NOT to deal with Animal Services ever again. I still think about filing a complaint against them, and maybe we should both be doing so. I don’t even know what help they’ve provided any of these animals.
I wish I could help you more. I feel as helpless for you as I did in my situation, when I had no way of getting this dog back. I adopted two strays from my front porch and because of Animal Services and my lack of trust in any of these places (Toronto Humane Society and other wonderful places excluded) I didn’t tell anyone like Animal Services and kept feeding them until one day when I literally just put one into a carrier and took it to a stray-friendly vet, paid for all of its medical treatment on my own, and then brought it into my house, only to repeat the same with his brother a week later.
Once again, I wish I could help! I hope everything works out somehow
I HATE Animal Services.
I had strays come to me in the fall. I immedietly spoke with Animal Services. I was willing to take care of the five while finding them homes. Animal Services dragged their feet on helping me. They said I had to make them friendly first..then because I made them friendly..they were my responsibility. While waiting for them to have time and room one got pregnant. Within two days of her giving birth..my own cat died..he was in a
fight with another persons cat who has been removed from the neighbourhood. Now
Animal Services wants to take this one I have been taking care of and the kittens. They said because I let her get pregnant I could not be trusted. They were refusing to give them back to me when I took them to be checked today. I insisted on having them returned…so now I am told I will recieve no help with fixing the mother and I have no right to find the kittens homes. I must surrender them in a month. She would not allow me to even have my cat back until I agreed to the conditions. I feel like the worse thing I could have done was go to them. Can anyone give me advise? I want them placed in good homes…I want to be able to give these strays a safe place where I can help get them fixed…but I did not like having no say in what happens.. or being railroaded.