With the current national shortage of Feline vaccines due to post COVID-19 supply challenges, there are several ways that our community can help.
At GAWS, we have a limited supply of vaccines and we are working hard to ensure that cats and kittens in the shelter at greater risk are prioritised.
To assist us, we are asking our community to do the following:
If you have a cat:
- Please consider keeping your cat indoors to avoid interactions with unvaccinated cats. Learn more about the benefits of keeping your cat indoors here.
- Ensure that your cat is easily identifiable by:
- Checking that your cats microchip details are up-to-date
- Ensure that your cat has a ‘quick release’ collar and ID tag so that they can be reunited with you quickly if lost.
- If your cat is due for its annual vaccination, consider deferring this for three months until the vaccine shortage is resolved. While vaccines provide immunity for 12 months, this does not mean that your cat’s immunity will suddenly stop at the 12 month mark. Your cat’s immunity will remain and a short delay in vaccination is unlikely to pose a risk for your cat.
- Consider desexing your cat if not desexed already. Desexing your cat has so many benefits including (but not limited to) deterring roaming and helping to reduce the cat population.
If you find a cat or kitten:
- If the cat or kitten is uninjured, please contain the cat and check for any identification, check any local Facebook groups or any ‘missing’ posters in the local area. If they can be reunited with their human before taking to a local vet or pound, this will reduce the risk of disease exposure.
Become a temporary foster carer with GAWS:
- Foster caring is a great way to help and keep vulnerable cats and kittens safe in a home environment. Our supportive foster care team will provide any relevant training, vet care, pet food, bedding and equipment. If you’re interested in becoming a foster carer click here to apply.
Adopt a cat or kitten:
- If you have the capacity to adopt a cat or kitten, now is the time to do so. The more cats and kittens that we can adopt to their forever home the better! View our cats currently available for adoption here.
If you have a cat that you can no longer care for and need to consider surrendering them, please contact the Shelter on (03) 5248 2091 and speak to one of our friendly staff about how we may be able to assist.