Animal rescue group overwhelmed with senior cat surrenders

Buddy is a 10-year-old tabby that was previously on a farm in Forestburg, Atla, and now needs a forever home. (ARTS Senior Animal Rescue)

An animal rescue group in Calgary has stopped accepting surrendered cats due to overwhelming numbers.

ARTS Senior Animal Rescue made the announcement on social media, saying they are taking in more cats than they are adopting out, creating too big of a backlog.

There are currently about a dozen cats needing homes at the organization, said Blair Douglas.

"We're not a massive rescue but we're the only one that handles senior cats, so we get jammed pretty quick," he said.

Urinating outside the litter box is the most common reason people give for wanting to surrender their senior felines.

“There are many reasons that this can happen: medical issue, litter box bullying, not enough litter boxes, diet, stress, anxiety etc.,” read a Facebook post from the group.

“When your cat starts to urinate outside the litter box your first step should be visiting your vet. This is your cat’s way of saying ‘something is wrong.’”

If no medical issue is identified, the group offered some ways to address the issue, including using a different litter, using an additive, diffusers and calming collars.

“These products in combination with your vet or a behaviourist can more often than not solve the problem,” read the post.

The group says they are also looking for donations to help continue operations.

Anyone wanting to adopt a senior cat can contact fill out an application online.