Canada’s Federation of Humane Societies has just released its annual report for 2014. It contains good news about dogs and very depressing news about cats.
It shows that 69 per cent of stray dogs taken in by humane societies or SPCA’s were reunited with their humans, up 13 percentage points from 2013.
For cats the report reveals another story: only five per cent of kitties got back home to loving humans.
Federation CEO Barbara Cartwright says that there are two primary reasons for the discrepancy.
First, many cat owners seem to believe, and falsely, that cats can take care of themselves outdoors and will return home if they get lost.
Second, more and more Canadians are making sure their dogs have collars, tags, tattoos and microchips, precautions most cat owners do not seem to take.
The report found that the number of cats euthanized in 2014 continued to be twice as high as the number of dogs that were put down, although the overall figures were lower for both species than the previous two years.
Nationally, 20 per cent less animals were taken in by shelters in 2014 compared to the year before.