Saskatoon SPCA office cat program changing cor-purr-ate culture one foster cat at a time
“It reduces stress and anxiety within the workplace,” said Madison Friesen, the volunteer and foster care co-ordinator with the SPCA.
‘It reduces stress and anxiety within the workplace’: SPCA volunteer
Is your office missing a certain something? Could it possibly be a cat?
If so, you might want to try the 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 organization came 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 there are three more cats scheduled to go out to businesses this week and more inquiries about the program coming in.
She said an 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 office to make sure the animal is a good fit for the culture.
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.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colleen Silverthorn is a journalist for CBC in Regina. Colleen comes from the newspaper world, where she primarily covered politics and business. She has worked in Saskatoon, Regina and London, England. Story ideas? Email colleen.silverthorn@cbc.ca
with files from Saskatoon Morning and Trevor Bothorel
