Shelter advises plans for pets of the elderly

Angels also has a spay-neuter program for mother cats and their kittens.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- People need to make provision for the pets of the elderly in the event the elderly owners become ill or die, Angels for Animals' co-founder Diane Less Baird said.
Less Baird has been working with East Palestine police this week on just such a case. An elderly city woman had to be hospitalized and authorities discovered eight to 10 cats in the home in filthy conditions.
"This is an all-too-frequent occurrence," Less Baird said. "People need to think about the needs of elderly family members, and what to do with their pets if they can no longer care for them."
Less Baird said Angels removed the cats to a shelter and cleaned up the mess in the house.
"We'll do that because no one else wants to," she said. "It's another case of a house you could hardly go into, and most other agencies don't want to deal with that."
Ending up at a shelter
Less Baird said cats and other pets owned by the elderly can end up at a shelter or pound because there is no planning ahead to provide for them.
"If it's an emergency situation, there's so much to do to plan for the human in the equation, it's difficult to deal with the pets then," Less Baird said.
Because of the overpopulation of kittens and cats, many are euthanized, she said.
"There are just too many cats," Less Baird said. "Every day people drop of 10 to 15 kittens, and people need to realize that if they just leave the kittens or cats that way, they'll probably end up being euthanized. We have a sign at the drop-off to that effect, but people don't take time to read it."
Baird said most of the time when people drop off litters of kittens, they just bring the kittens.
"They leave us the kittens and that means that mother cat is just going to be out making more kittens," she said. "We are trying to encourage people to get kittens spayed or neutered. We suggest that and they say they aren't going to do that because they are 'going to find good homes for them.'"
Program
Less Baird said Angels has been offering a special program recently to spay a mother cat and spay or neuter the kittens. If people arrange to have a mother cat spayed, they can get the kittens sterilized for $10 each, she said.
"We call it 'Show us the Mommies,'" Less Baird said.