Reducing the Euthanasia Rate

How Cat Haven Has Reduced Rate of Cats Put to Sleep

Cat Haven Saves Thousands of Cats’ Lives Due To Our Commitment to the G2Z Euthanasia Program, an initiative to reduce the rate of cats put to sleep in shelters across Australia.

For the last three years, Cat Haven has implemented a number of programs to help work towards getting to zero euthanasia in shelter cats and in 2015 for the first time in history, they hit a record low rate of only 11% of cats put to sleep and now range between 7% and 12.5% annually: Ten years ago, this rate was at a high 50%.

Cat Haven is WA’s only open admission shelter and we never turn away a cat, no matter how sick, old or feral. We are a charity run primarily on donations with very little funding with a core team of essential staff and a large team of dedicated volunteers.

In 2022 we accepted 7062 cats and rehomed 5911, with a large number of the ones who weren't rehomed placed in foster care to treat medical conditions and improve behaviour. We no longer put healthy cats to sleep!


This is achieved by:

  • Our dedicated Foster Carer program to help ease the strain on a full shelter, with up to 700 cats in foster care at any one time.
  • Our commitment to rehoming older cats and cats with conditions such as FIV, Cat Flu, Ringworm, Heart Murmurs and other injuries. This is only possible by the generous donations of supporters and continually working to gain sponsorship and corporate support.
  • Continuous public education about the benefits of cat sterilisation through media networks and social media.
  • Successful lobbying to change the law in Western Australia for compulsory cat sterilisation.
  • Working closely with partners such as other animal rescue groups who have taken difficult, unsocialised cats to rehabilitate and vet clinics who have assisted by offering discounted desexing and other veterinary work.

 

If you want to know more about the GTZ initiative please click here

For more details about Cat Haven's intake and rehoming/euthanasia statistics please see our statistics page