Community Comes To SCRAPS Aid

For the Stray Cat Rescue And Protection Society (SCRAPS) the anthem for the group this winter is likely Joe Cocker’s 1969 cover of “With a Little Help From My Friends”.

A major contributor of food was no longer in existence leaving the cat rescue scrambling for food for their feral cat colonies.

The call went out to the community for people and groups to help if they were able to.

And as in the Joe Cocker song “All I need is my buddies” paid off as organizations, businesses and individuals came forward to help out SCRAPS just before the conditions grew critical.

A large food donation from the Saskatchewan SPCA came in time to help SCRAPS out. It is just some of the help that SCRAPS received - submitted photo

“We use to work with the Pact Project which was a non-profit organization in Regina that use to access a lot of food they passed on to rescues. They are no longer running…we were able to access a lot of food from them and then it stopped,” SCRAPS president Anne Marsychyn said.

The loss of the food source had SCRAPS scrambling to look for other sources in order to continue their feral colony projects in Moose Jaw and other communities.

“All of our major food sourcing was gone,” Marsychyn said, adding “we use to get tons, carloads of food.”

The food is a major necessity for the organization especially in the cold winter months. During the winter the feral colony cats eat more food as they burn more to stay warm.

“We have so many colonies it doesn’t last that long,” SCRAPS board member Susan Neal said.

So SCRAPS put out the call to the community and were fortunate enough to have a great response.

The call for help to the community had a strong response and was key to helping get enough food, Marsychyn said.

Organizations and businesses also helped SCRAPS right when they needed it.

“I ended up calling the SPCA who have donated to us in the past. We were referred to them from Animal Protection here in Moose Jaw. So we were welcome to reach out whenever we needed food so I did,” Marsychyn said.

Reaching out to the Saskatchewan SPCA ended up securing SCRAPS a much needed truck load of food.

SCRAPS received a truck load of food from the Saskatchewan SPCA - submitted photo

A local piercing shop - With Intent - heard about the food shortage and during the Christmas season ran a food drive.

The business also offered a discount on services for those who brought in a food donation for SCRAPS.

“That was really nice and we got quite a bit,” she said.

SCRAPS also set up a Christmas tree and invited the community to help out with the food which had a good response.

Excallipurr (cat cafe) in Regina helped out.

Both of the two local pet stores - DDK Pets and Pet Valu - helped out.

PetSmart in Regina assisted with food.

At the present time SCRAPS might have sufficient food but they are always needing to restock their supplies.

“It’s like buying groceries. You can fill it up your fridge but when you eat it you need to buy more. You have to keep asking (for help),” Marsychyn said.

SCRAPS has 16 feeding stations for feral cats in Moose Jaw but they also share food with area communities where there are colonies.

The number of cats vary over the year with a feeding station having as few as one cat or up to 15 - 20 cats.

“They seem to disappear in the winter maybe to barns or something but they seem to come back in the summer,” she said.

SCRAPS also tries to remove cats which are not feral and find them homes or foster them out.

“If we do get tame cats in our colonies we start looking for owners.”

Although they are dedicated to assisting the city’s feral or community cats the group is often approached about cats in the community.

Moose Jaw’s Smallest Tourist

Despite not being from one of their colonies SCRAPS was asked what to do about a “stray” cat that had been hanging around the Moose Jaw Tourism Centre.

The cat was tame and staff at Moose Jaw Tourism had been feeding it. They assumed, because the cat was so tame, it lived near by.

When winter approached the cat tried to get into the Tourism Centre to stay warm. SCRAPS was asked what to do.

They advised to take it to the Moose Jaw Humane Society.

The Humane Society found out the cat had a microchip and the cat belonged to a family from BC who had been looking for their pet for months.

“The family from BC drove to Moose Jaw to pick up they’re cat. They got reunited.”

The smallest tourist to Moose Jaw in 2023 made it home safe and sound due to the efforts of the Moose Jaw Humane Society.