PussN Boots Kitty Rescue has been inundated with kittens and need to raise funds to keep providing a much-needed service for the community.
PussN Boots founder and owner Salena Hodgson said todate the charity has helped over 600 cats and kittens which involves having them spayed, neutered, micro chipped, vaccinated and rehomed.
‘‘We adopt them out for $200 and we probably spend up to $600 for one kitten, we’re running at a deficit all the time,’’ she said.
The charity cover a large area, having foster families from North Otago through to Kaikoura.
PussN boots started three years ago when Selena was living in Temuka and someone had dumped kittens in various locations in the town.
‘‘I was really mad, and I said if you’re going to do things like that, it’s pretty gutless, I’ll put a crate at my gate no questions asked, and within an hour I had cats on my doorstep,’’ she said.
The kittens and cats are all homed with foster families around the region, ‘‘we ensure they are ok, then we send them out.’’
‘‘We supply everything for the foster families,’’ Salena said, ‘‘litter, food, medical supplies and bedding.’’
She is noticing more kittens being dumped and said it could be because people can’t afford to get their cats fixed, and some general education could help the situation.
‘‘People used to think that cats couldn’t breed until six months old, it’s not like that, it’s four months, at 16 weeks they can be breeding and having babies themselves.’’
Salena said they plan to approach schools to help educate people about cats.
She thought Mid Canterbury is one of the worse areas for cat dumping.
‘‘It’s shocking… there are certain areas where we might need to do a flyer drop and say give us a call.’’
Salena is always looking for new foster families, ‘‘we love people who have dogs and other animals, because we love them to be socialised with everybody.’’
She said the charity is growing very fast, ‘‘not as fast as the bank account, so when people say let’s do something, we run with it because anything is better than nothing.’’
Garage sale organiser and PussN Boots supporter Tania Houston said she got involved in the charity after her husband found a new born kitten.
The kitten was taken in by Salena, but was sick and died a few weeks later.
Tania was going to take the kitten home if it survived.
‘‘But we got another one of the fosters, named Bear,’’ she said.
‘‘Then my husband found another three dumped kittens.’’
Dumped is used to described domestic kittens that have been abandoned and Salena said you can tell the difference. ‘‘A dumped kitten will meow at you, where as a wild cat won’t meow at you, they can hiss.’’
Tania said the charity is wonderful, ‘‘if people need help they are there to help, I wish more people would go to them instead of dumping.
‘‘Take the mothers and babies to them, then they can be looked after, and get the mother back, fixed.’’
The garage sale is one way to raise some much needed funds but Salena is hoping for a more permanent solution.
‘‘We’re always juggling something but its never enough, we haven’t found a major sponsor that actually says hey we’ll get you a pallet of food or litter.’’
Tania said as well as plenty of treasures on sale there will be a BBQ and kittens up for adoption.
‘‘We’ve got face painting, bake sale, plants and bulbs, clothes and raffles, something for everyone.’’
The PussN Boots garage sale is on this Saturday at St David’s Church at Allenton from 8am.
