Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 23, 1995                   TAG: 9506230052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SHEBA WHEELER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CATS MAY LOSE 9 LIVES IF NOT ADOPTED

Animal shelter director Al Alexander continues to be haunted by a real-life nightmare.

He remembers the day a young woman drove her car to the animal shelter, popped open her trunk, removed a box filled with eight kittens and tossed the box over the fence. He tried to get a license number, but before he could get out of his office, the woman sped away.

``It blew my mind when it happened,'' Alexander said. ``She just threw the box over the fence, and kittens flew everywhere. That's something that I'll never forget.''

Now, almost a year and a half later, another box of eight kittens has been left at the shelter run by the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They were the newest additions to the Cat Room, where more than 70 cats - including 50 kittens - await adoption.

Although the shelter has a 70 percent adoption rate, the seasonal surplus of cats has prompted the animal shelter to offer a discount so more homeless cats and kittens can be adopted, Alexander said.

The normal fee of $50 will be reduced to $35 throughout the summer. The fee covers the animal's first set of shots, worming and a discount on spaying and neutering. The shelter will house the animals as long as space is available. But space is severely limited, and Alexander said he may be left with no other option than to destroy the animals.

``I won't lie to people, but when I'm out of room, I'm out of room,'' Alexander said. ``As long as I've got the space, I'll keep them. But when we are full, I've got no other choice but to do what I have to do. I need a new shelter, but more than that, I need people who are educated enough to have their animals spayed and neutered.''

In the winter, the shelter may have only a few cats per week to care for, he said. But during the summer, when breeding season is at its peak, the shelter may handle more than 40 cats a week. If left unspayed, females can breed six times a year, resulting in an estimated 20,000 unwanted offspring in five generations, Alexander said.

Overcrowding in the shelter provides a nesting ground for communicable illnesses, such as upper respiratory disease, he said. In the past 10 days, more than 70 cats were destroyed when the disease spread throughout the cat holding room.

Lives could be spared and the problem prevented if more owners had their animals spayed or neutered, said Lenn Thurston, a receptionist at the shelter.

``It would be a lot simpler if they didn't have to go through with this if people would only spay or neuter their animals,'' Thurston said. ``It hurts me to know that they are out here like this, because we can't keep them,'' Thurston said.