Saskatoon SPCA office cat program changing cor-purr-ate culture one foster cat at a time

Is your office missing a certain something? Could it possibly be a cat?

If so, you might want to trythe Saskatoon SPCA's new office foster cat program.

Last week Century 21 Fusion in Saskatoon became the first business to take in an SPCA cat through the program.

Jaimie Svennes, Century 21 office administrator, said foster cat Misty is a great addition to the business and immediately resulted in less office stress.

"It is calming when you see the cat. 'Cause right away you're,'here, kitty kitty,'and you wanna pet it," Svennes said.

"It takes your mind off of maybe something you're stuck on. Then you can refocus instead of being frustrated."

Madison Friesen, the volunteer and foster care co-ordinator with the SPCA, said the organizationcame up with the idea as a way to relieve pressure on the shelter and also give the cats a better chance at adoption.

She said the shelter is nearly always full of cats waiting to be adopted.This new program takes the animals out of cramped kennels.

"It's also an in-house pest control without having to use poisons or pesticides," she said.

Friesen said thereare three more cats scheduled to go out to businesses this week and more inquiries about the program coming in.

She saidan office cat is good for both employee and feline morale.

"It reduces stress and anxiety within the workplace," Friesen told Saskatoon Morning.

SPCA screens potential foster offices, provides medical support

The SPCA provides all supplies and medical care for fostered cats, and will work with an officeto make sure the animal is a good fitfor theculture.

Friesen said placing cats into offices exposes the animals to a much larger potential pool of pet owners.

"All the customers, staff, family, friends, all those people are seeing this cat and know about the personality, so they're potential adopters."

The SPCA asks that all people working in the office are informed about the decision to foster a cat. The application also requires foster offices to detail how they plan to care for the animal, including weekends.

"For weekends we do highly, highly recommend either having someone come in on a regular basis to meet all the cat's needs, or if somebody is willing, they can take the cat home with them."