Whanganui SPCA under the pump with influx of animals for adoption, emergency calls

Whanganui SPCA centre manager Francie Flis with Boof who is up for adoption. Photo / Bevan Conley

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Whanganui SPCA is at capacity, with a campaign about to launch to help find homes for the animals.

“More animals are coming in daily,” centre manager Francie Flis said.

Flis said there were 160 animals in the Whanganui centre’s care and 4000 nationally. With an early-onset kitten season, they experienced a “high demand on our centre resources”.

“We are currently looking for additional foster families to assist with providing temporary homes until they are ready to find their forever homes,” she said.

From Saturday, January 27, until Sunday, February 4, the SPCA is offering half-price adoptions to ease centre capacity. Anyone looking to adopt could welcome their new companion for half the usual fee.

The SPCA hoped the incentive would encourage more adoptions as the charity faced a slowdown.

The cost of living crisis contributed greatly to the lack of adoptions. Flis said she was seeing an increase in the need for financial support “as everyone feels the pinch in the current economic climate”.

Some animals were staying with the SPCA for longer than expected, she said.

Almost 2-year-old cat Nutmeg was often overlooked due to the high number of kittens.

“She has been with us for 122 days and has seen all her kittens find new homes,” Fliss said.

Five-month-old puppy Mini had spent almost her entire life at the centre and had also “seen all her family go to their forever home”.

Lack of financial support has resulted in the abandonment of animals.

Three-year-old cat Mimz was found abandoned on a residential street, with a fish hook in her mouth after eating bait attached to the hook.

Following surgery to remove the hook and months of recovery, Mimz was put up for adoption last week at the Whanganui centre.

“Abandoned fish hooks, lines and bait is a serious risk to domestic animals and wildlife such as seabirds,” Flis said.

Three-year-old Mimz is available for adoption after recovering from surgery to remove a fish hook from her mouth.

The Whanganui SPCA also received numerous reports about dogs left in hot cars and animals without proper shelter.

This summer is expected to be extreme and Flis urged people to carefully consider the temperature before taking their dogs with them.

“On a warm day, the inside of your car heats up very quickly. A dark-colour car, parked in full sun on a day with an ambient temperature of 22C can reach an internal temperature of 40C after 10 minutes.

“Opening the windows slightly has very little effect.”

Dogs, with a normal body temperature of about 38.5C, rely on panting to cool down as they can only sweat a small amount through their paws. However, panting alone is insufficient to maintain a safe body temperature, and dogs can only endure high temperatures briefly.

“They will quickly suffer irreparable brain damage and even death,” Flis said.

Responding to these jobs was a “high priority” and people faced a $300 fine for leaving their dog in a hot car, she said.

“Think of how hot it has been for us lately and then consider these animals essentially wearing a fur coat.”

Fresh drinking water and shade were crucial for animals in hot weather and even sunscreen for light- or white-coloured pets.

Flis advised people to take care at the beach and choose the cooler parts of the day when exercising dogs.

“Whanganui ironsand is hot.”

If people see an animal displaying signs of heat exhaustion they should call SPCA or 111 immediately.

A dog suffering from heatstroke may display symptoms of restlessness, excessive panting, excessive drooling, unsteadiness, shade seeking - often in the footwell if they are in a car - abnormal gum and tongue colour, or collapse.