KCAC - Kern County Animal Control

CATS:  The Mandatory 4 Day Hold

The following analysis was produced using animal records requested from Kern County Animal Control.
These numbers reflect animal impounds for each month and final outcomes for each.

KCAC's reaction to the November 10th court order was to refuse accepting OTI (Owner Turn In) animals.

Unlike with dogs, the number of cats surrendered to KCAC has had little or no real impact on total cat impounds as shown in the graph above.

Cat euthanasia at KCAC is on a slight downward trend (below graph) but the profile (the ups and downs) looks almost identical to cat impounds (above). This similarity may indicate KCAC is still vulnerable to seasonal spikes in cat populations. Any increase in Kern County cat populations resulting in impounds could easily disrupt this downward trend.

Prior to November 2004, a large number of cats were euthanized before the 4 day hold period was up.

Prior to November 2004 and currently it appears a large number of Feral, Nursing and Sick cats are euthanized on the day of impound.

Several cats were deemed sick on the day of impound but after November 2004 not nearly as many cats came into the shelter sick as seen in the graph above. There has been little change in the total number of cats impounded and in fact, there's been a slight increase.

The number of cats sick on the day of impound that Kern County euthanized also dropped after November 2004.