All gentle, affectionate Nemo wants for Christmas is a home
No one seems to want Nemo the black and white cat, possibly because of age-old superstitions, but at the Kemps Creek shelter run by Animal Welfare League NSW, he’s bewitched the staff, who love him. He’s gentle and affectionate with his carers, and easily rehomable.
No one seems to want Nemo the black and white cat, possibly because of age-old superstitions, but at the Kemps Creek shelter run by Animal Welfare League NSW, he’s bewitched the staff, who love him.
He’s gentle and affectionate with his carers, and easily rehomable.
He is also a classic example of how animals can be held at shelters that are able to do so until they are found a forever home.
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The six-year-old “tuxedo” came into the care of the Sydney facility on October 4 last year and as of Wednesday, he had spent 441 days at the shelter and — unless he’s adopted within the next few days — will likely be spending his second Christmas there.
Nemo has a minor medical problem with his urinary tract that requires a special diet, and that has gone against him, although staff point out his food is readily available at pet stores.
However, there’s another problem that has stopped him finding a home: black and tuxedo cats tend to have far lower adoption rates than cats of other colours.
Perhaps surprisingly in 2018, that in part is an issue dating back to the middle-ages, early European settlement of America and the superstitions that linger around black cats.
However, Kemps Creek isn’t Salem, Massachusetts, or medieval England and Nemo appears to have brought more joy than toil and trouble to Kemps Creek.
“We love him,” says staff member Chloe Crass, who also acts as spokesperson for the centre. “But we do want him to find a home — he’s been here long enough; 441 days in a shelter is probably not ideal.
“We’ve been doing everything we can to find him a home, including dropping the adoption fee, so if he is adopted soon we’ll be happy (but) at the same time sad to see him go. There might be tears.”
Nemo was probably lucky that he found his way to the AWL.
The organisation only has the one shelter in NSW, supported by a network of 16 volunteer branches involved in programs such as desexing and fostering, and has a philosophy of going out of its way to hold animals assessed as rehomable for as long as long as need be.
Keeping them there is part of its “Getting to zero” initiative to reduce euthanasia rates.
Ms Crass, however, says the AWL, like most groups, acknowledges that not every animal can be saved.
In 2016-17, for instance, the group received 3632 animals into its care. Of those, 486 assessed as unsuitable to be rehomed were put to sleep: 166 for behavioural reasons and 320 for medical reasons. Of that number, 267 were cats or kittens.
Nevertheless, everything that can be is done is done to keep animals alive. That includes screening and intervention during surrenders.
“We’ll try to talk to people about why they’re surrendering an animal,” she says, and to see if that decision can be reversed.
Lately, one of the reasons staff are hearing when they are dealing with surrenders is rental accommodation issues.
Adds Crass: “People often seem not to be able to find rental properties where they can have an animal. It is an issue at the moment.”
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