For animal lovers, one of the most notable impacts of covid-19 in Kingston is the increase in the number of street cats and dogs. While there have always been many dogs and cats living on Kingston's streets-and some do just fine there (mainly thanks to KCAW), the increase is striking, especially the number of recently dumped family pets (you can always tell the cats and dogs who are new to the street).
Some of the new additions to the Kingston Community Animal Welfare family (they get fed, vet care, including spay neuter, and are watched over to make sure they are safe and healthy) are............
Deborah heard this kitty crying when she walked out of a supermarket. Deborah said she cried so loud, she thought it was a phone's ringtone! No, it was the real thing......
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Deborah had bought cans of cat food to feed to the street cats on her feeding route. So she opened a can for the supermarket kitty, who was very hungry-she was probably a family cat, recently dumped. Deborah is looking for a home for her, but meanwhile drops by daily to feed her. Of course she'll be spayed soon.
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Deborah was driving by this shopping complex and saw a kitty in the trash can, looking for food-in this sadly empty trash can. She stopped and found a few more kitties living there. They're all fearful, so Deborah will trap them, get them s/n'd, release them back to this site-it's a safe place for kitties-and they'll be fed and watched over by the KCAW network.
Some of the dogs who have recently shown up on the streets of Kingston and are now under KCAW's care are these 2 male dogs:
And this female dog, who was dumped very near to Deborah's house (which also serves as the KCAW shelter). When Deborah 1st saw her, she looked so sad (picture below), like she gave up on life. At 1st glance, Deborah thought she was a young dog, but she's not, she's probably about 8 years old. Deborah brought her home, thinking she'd be safer there, but the dog ran out to the street at her 1st chance, back to this location just down the road from Deborah's, probably where she had been dumped. Was she waiting for her owner to come back and pick her up?
It's been a couple of weeks since Deborah 1st saw her, and she's been stopping by every day to feed her. She's become a much happier dog, knowing that Deborah is watching over her and bringing her a yummy meal every day. She has made friends with the other street dogs in the area, so she's not alone. She actually seems happy. Deborah said, "I just feed her and give her pats and hugs and off she goes with her new pals."
On her way to get her car fixed, Deborah stopped to feed a little guy she saw on the road really searching hard for food. As soon as she brought the food out, 8 of his pals came running out of a gate. They ate the entire box of food-as you can see in the video below. This was just a few days ago -- Deborah wrote the address down and will go back to the house to talk to the people about spay/neuter. In general, the dogs appeared to be in good shape......
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This is another dog who Deborah recently came across while driving around, bringing food to street dogs and cats and dropping off food to her KCAW network for them to feed the street animals in their area. This hungry mama dog obviously had pups somewhere, but Deborah has been unable to find them.
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Once in a while, Deborah would run into the man in the below video, but this time he had a dog with him and she had just had puppies. She was starving, so Deborah gave the dog and the man some food, and arranged with him to take the puppies off his hands and find homes for them. And he agreed to let Deborah take his dog to the vet to be spayed.
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Besides all the cats and dogs newly under KCAW's care, there are always the old favorites, like this girl, who Deborah has been feeding forever (video below). She's a savvy street dog, a real sweetheart, and as you can see, she certainly appreciates Deborah's visits!
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KCAW is the only organization taking care of Kingston's street animals and providing food and vet care, as needed, to Kingston's low/no income pet owners, so they can keep their pets and keep them healthy and happy. Thanks to AKI's donors, we're able to cover up to 95% of KCAW's expenses--but sadly their expenses are going up while donations are going down. If you are able to help, we are so thankful for your support.