Summer’s finally here and it seems like everyone is excited about holiday road trips, swimming in the lake, or catching up with family and friends. At the Kingston Humane Society, we don’t get excited at this time of year, we get anxious. “Kitten season,” which begins in the spring and grows in size and intensity as the weather gets warmer, is the first of many factors to increase our anxiety.
“Kitten season,” it sounds lovely, doesn’t it? How could that possibly be stressful? It must be a time full of cute faces and cuddly bundles. Sadly, it’s not. All those kittens need speciality food, two sets of core vaccines and spay/neuter surgery, and that’s if they arrive healthy. More often they come into our care without a nursing mother, malnourished, and weakened by flea infestation. Kittens are also much more susceptible to airborne illnesses like upper respiratory infection or ringworm. We do a phenomenal job preventing the spread of ailments like these but they are much more prevalent in a shelter environment. The resulting increased cost of care for kittens – nearly $6,000 for an average litter of five – puts significant pressure on our day-to-day financial situation. When you add in the physical and mental stress on our animal care attendants of looking after a vulnerable population, we’re already at a heightened state of tension well before summer’s official arrival on June 21st.
Next comes June 30th, universally acknowledged as the busiest moving day of the year. That means more animals being abandoned or left behind by careless owners who can’t or won’t consider their animals in relocation plans. Instead of properly relinquishing their pets, or better yet, including them in the move to a new life, these faithful and dependent creatures are left to fend for themselves. In the last week we’ve had multiple intakes from landlords whose tenants have left behind dogs and cats. We’ve also taken in “strays” that were clearly cared for and looked after until they suddenly became expendable. Ultimately, they all wind up on our doorstep, pushing our outdated, undersized facility to the brink. As of June 30, 2025, we have 221 animals in care; 146 cats, 72 dogs and 3 rabbits. Our building capacity is 144 animals. Our kennels and cat rooms are almost full and our foster coordinator is working hard every day to line-up more foster volunteers.
We go through this same cycle of activity every summer and based on previous experience, we could be moving toward 300 animals by September. Despite the stress and the pressure created by caring for more than double the number of animals our small building can accommodate, the unwavering dedication of our staff never fails to amaze me. They just keep moving forward; caring for and treating animals, preparing them for adoption and getting them into forever homes.
The other significant burden we face every summer but this summer even more, is financial. Our cost of care has risen significantly from an average of $11 per animal/per day in 2023, to $16 per animal/per day in 2025. That’s a potential annual increase of nearly a quarter million dollars.
The community of Kingston and the surrounding area has been so supportive when we’ve asked for help, and we need your help again. We’ve added a mid-summer fundraising campaign to help us cover the increased costs of animal care. This year’s campaign features the amazing illustrations of local artist Tracy Johns, depicting actual animals who’ve had long stays and lots of medical care. Cara the hound who stayed with us for nearly a year, needed eye removal surgery and other medical treatments. At the time we launched the campaign, her stay had cost the KHS $9,730. Simba the cat was in our care for 334 days before being adopted. He had some pretty significant skin issues that took a long time to get under control. The total cost for his care was $5,591. Both of these animals have since found their forever homes. They are great examples of the lengths we’re willing to go to for animals that others deemed disposable.
So, while we definitely understand the happiness that comes with the better weather and longer days of summer, we’re hoping you’ll understand our anxiety and our summertime call for help to find homes for the growing number of unwanted, abandoned, abused and neglected pets.
