Do you love cats and want to help? Do you hate cats and want to help curb the over-population of feral, homeless, and abandoned cats? Are you relatively neutral in your opinion about cats, but want to help relieve the suffering of any animal?
You need to get to know Spencerville TNR!
But this is a North Dundas paper you say? Well, Spencerville TNR has rescued feral, homeless, abandoned, and sick cats from far and wide, including many in North Dundas. Cindy Cere, the founder, initially started with the stray cats in Spencerville, but the need is so great, that the rescue was soon taking in cats from all over.
TNR stands for Trap, Neuter, and Return/Rehome. The mandate of Spencerville TNR is to fund and promote sterilization of stray and barn cats, as a means to humanely reduce the overpopulation of cats. An unsterilised cat can have three litters a year, four or five kittens a litter, and can start reproducing by five months of age. Cats can live for 15 years, but stray cats don’t. Stray cats suffer. They get sick, die from cold or human cruelty, are preyed upon by wildlife, and fight for food, shelter, and mates. They also become a nuisance.
Volunteers live-trap stray and abandoned cats. They are spayed or neutered, vetted, vaccinated, and nursed back to health. The cats are then adopted to loving homes, if possible, placed in approved barns, or released back into the community, but only with support such as feeding and insulated houses. In their three years in operation, Spencerville TNR has sterilised nearly a thousand cats per year, with about a third of those being adopted as pets into loving homes. Spencerville TNR is a non-profit rescue that relies on volunteers, foster homes, and donations. If you have some time to help live-trap cats and kittens, or drive cats to vets, or a spare room to foster some cats or kittens, they could really use your help!
Are you looking for a Christmas or holiday gift, and want to make a difference in the life of a cat? Give a cat-lover a Spencerville TNR Dayplanner. Contact Valerie Andruszkiewicz at [email protected].
Spencerville TNR holds fundraisers throughout the year, from bottle drives to bake sales. They always welcome fresh ideas and passion, new volunteers, and financial donations. You can purchase food for their cats and kittens through Pet Value in Kemptville. Pet Value also hosts Spencerville TNR cats up for adoption.
When you and your family choose which charities to support this holiday season, please include Spencerville TNR. Give a donation in the name of a friend or family member. Make Spencerville TNR the recipient of your Birthday Fundraiser. Do you or a neighbour have a barn or business that needs a cat? There are healthy, sterilised, vaccinated cats that need jobs!
Donations can be made to [email protected] via e-transfer or PayPal.
Daytimers can be obtained from Valerie Andruszkiewicz at [email protected], or check out Spencerville TNR at www.spencervilletnr.ca, as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
In 2017, the number of cats taken in by the SPCA of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry represented one third of all cats that ended up in all Ontario SPCAs. Cornwall’s stray cat crisis is featured in a documentary entitled “Running Wild, The Cats of Cornwall”. Written and directed by Aaron Hancox, and produced by Markham Street Films, the documentary will air on TVO on November 29 at 10:30 pm. You can also stream it at TVO.org. In 2019, Cornwall passed a bylaw requiring all cats be spayed or neutered, and registered. The city also began a subsidized sterilisation program. Covid-19 has made implementation a challenge, but rescue groups point out that it is a step towards acknowledging that the stray cat problem is a community problem in need of attention, and draws attention to the high cost of sterilising cats.