It appears one Toronto residents’ love of cats got out of hand after more than 300 felines were discovered in their North York apartment.
Toronto Animal Services was contacted about the “perilous hoarding situation” on Saturday. They were only expecting to find 70 cats in the home, but discovered over 300 when they arrived. Toronto Cat Rescue (TCR) was then called in for assistance.
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The cat rescue group removed 70 cats from the apartment on Saturday and returned for the remaining felines on Sunday. “The cats and kittens are doing well in their foster homes,” TCR noted on their Facebook page.
The felines will be vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and monitored for behaviour and health concerns in their foster homes before they are put up for adoption.
Cats only have a nine-week gestation period, which means they can “breed prolifically” if they have not been spayed or neutered, TCR warned. “Things get out of control VERY quickly,” they noted. “It’s very important that this NOT continue. It's a terrible way for cats to live.”
This isn’t the first time TCR has been called to rescue cats from a hoarding situation. Back in March, more than 100 cats were found in a Toronto home. The cats had to be treated for fleas, worms, and fur loss, and were then placed in foster homes and shelters, CP24 reported.
“Most of the time hoarders, or people who have too many animals, don’t recognize that they have too many animals until it’s kind of too late and they feel like this is the only option for these cats,” TCR executive director Belinda Vandersluis previously said.
So how many pets can you legally have in Toronto? According to the city, residents can only have a maximum of three dogs and six cats in “any dwelling unit.” The city also encourages people to report anyone who exceeds this limit.
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Of course, if you’re a renter, your landlord might place different restrictions on the number of pets you can have. While it is illegal for landlords to ban pets, condos are exempt, CBC reports.
“Because condo residents own their property, they're allowed to make up some of the rules for the building,” Marie-Josée Houle, executive director of Action Logement, told CBC. “So if a condo board bans pets, that's OK.”
