Inside a former Victoria 7-Eleven – where coolers of beverages once stood – kittens play, sleep and keep a curious eye on visitors to Harbour Veterinary Clinic.
They’re the current residents of adoption alley in the Bay Street space, a low-cost clinic where a fully scheduled day means lower costs for customers.
On the opposite side of the space, pet products, food and fundraising items for sale fill shelves. In the space between, a door leads to the back room where pets of all kinds await surgery, and other care courtesy of the clinic run by the charity Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.
The site opened this summer and has been hopping since, the charity’s president says.
As a rescue, the committee saw a lack of resources for spaying and neutering pets. In the beginning, they issued vouchers, basically subsidizing surgeries.
“We were quickly overwhelmed by the need that there was,” she says. The charity opened a mobile clinic for cats only in August 2024
“That we thought was enough, but it wasn’t,” she says. The brick-and-mortar Harbour Vet opened this summer and takes in dogs and cats, with an eye to rabbits in the future.
Profits go back into the community-based programs for free or low-cost vet care. They’ve provided more than 3,000 surgeries.
While spaying and neutering were, and are, a primary goal, the surgeries go beyond, including euthanasia or amputation.
“As we get into this space, we realize people need other things.”
People drive from as far off as Vancouver or Port Alberni for the low-cost option, she says. Then there’s a low-income program, which does require means testing. The organization did just shy of 100 of those this year before funding ran out. No-cost options do come up, but only through other social agencies.
The clinic is also handy for its feral trap and return program, which covers the region as far as Sidney and Metchosin. Beyond that, and even within, other agencies are doing similar work, including Cowichan Cat Rescue, Foster Critters Feral Cat Rescue, Greater Victoria Animal Crusaders, Victoria Cat Rescue Corps and Broken Promises Rescue.
Itty Bitty Kitty Committee itself trapped and returned about 100 cats this year, with hopes to up that number next year – if funding allows.
“I don’t think people realize how many feral cats there are in Victoria,” Rubin says. It’s not unusual for her to get a call from a resident whose wild cats hid so well, they didn’t know it was an issue until a colony revealed itself – in the range of 50 cats.
“They breed obviously, and can breed four times a year,” Rubin says.
While not ideal, the organization traps, sterilizes and returns the cats. Kittens deemed young enough to adapt to a home life are adopted out. “But the older ones, at that point they’re just not adoptable. They don’t want to live in a home, they want to live outside,” Rubin says.
Trying to home those youngest feral kittens is a prime example of how volunteers get involved. The charity invites people to help by driving to pick up donations or move cats, fostering, or visiting the clinic where they clean pens and play and socialize the animals in adoption alley.
Visit harbourvet.ca to learn more.
