«This year we are facing an unprecedented litter emergency. From all the Municipalities under our jurisdiction we continually receive calls following the discovery of mostly unweaned kittens with all the consequences of the case: they must be fed and therefore must be entrusted to wet nurses, cats with other kittens or to expert volunteers who unfortunately are a very rare commodity ».
Talking is Pierangela Ferrari, president of the Carpi Gattile, who reports a real litter emergency. The numbers from January 2024 to today tell of 140 cats entered into catteries, of which 29 were puppies, 35 to be breastfed or weaned and therefore to be entrusted to wet nurses, 10 with accidents, 9 due to owners giving up, 57 found mostly following abandonments.
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«Often these are abandonments or puppies given birth to cats without owners – underlines the President of the municipal cattery – who were fed by those who did not think to promptly notify the associations, like ours, to arrange for them to be sterilized before pregnancy . It is a carelessness of those who unfortunately do not evaluate the consequences. Sterilization is not an unnatural practice but a way to avoid having uncontrolled litters which then end up in a cattery, in the best case scenario, with the mother cat. Another case that unfortunately occurs frequently is that of litters that are left without their mother because while walking around she gets hit and dies and this is where the trouble begins. Our intervention is requested but obviously the collaboration of a nurse who takes care of them day and night is necessary with high costs to bear. I warmly invite those who have cats with litters to keep them at home to prevent them from becoming victims of similar accidents, leaving the kittens without a mother.”
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«It often happens that we recover accidented kittens that have fallen from car engines: sometimes the puppies play by climbing onto the wheels and going inside the bonnet, so when the car brakes, the kitten falls onto the road, often being hit. In just two days we recovered three of them, at as many roundabouts. For this reason we recommend that people who have small cats and park their car in the courtyard always check carefully before starting the car. To give just one example of recent episodes: on June 5th on Carpi-Ravarino, on the side of the road, inside a supermarket shopping bag, we found 5 puppies; on June 13th two adult cats closed in a box were abandoned in front of the association’s headquarters, both with terrified eyes, one was foaming at the mouth due to the heat and stress, and three kittens were left in front of the house of a private individual. Then on Sunday 16 June, on the Provincial Motta, in Cortile, we found a lifeless cat, the victim of an accident, with the typical breasts of those who are breastfeeding, so we immediately started looking for the kittens, in serious danger without their mom. In short – concludes Ferrari – every day there is at least one emergency and we are truly exhausted from a human and economic point of view and in terms of space in our structure”.
For info or adoptions: Pierangela Ferrari telephone 360.425403 or 320.4620803
