a passion for cats
What is Winnipeg Lost Cat Assistance (WLCA)?
Winnipeg Lost Cat Assistance is a small, independent, volunteer-run, non-profit organization, focused on the welfare of cats in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Our Purpose
We exist to speak for lost, homeless, vulnerable and feral cats in our province.
Our Mission
To educate the public on how they can help cats live a safe, fulfilling, and humane, existence.
Our Vision
To see all cats treated humanely – ensuring the five freedoms – with love, care and respect.
Our Values
Compassion, empathy, integrity and courage guides WLCA’s work.
Our Beginnings
In 2011, Tracy McGregor created Winnipeg Lost Cat Alert on Facebook. She saw how successful Winnipeg Lost Dog Alert was, and wanted to address lost and found cats. Tracy reposted lost and found Kijiji ads to notify people on Facebook. She hoped more people would see the ads and take action to get them home.
At the same time, Meownty Hunters was winding down their North-America-wide searches for missing air cargo cats. With numerous, successful, remotely-coordinated rescues under their belt, the focus turned to cats in Winnipeg. Helping local cats, rather than continuing to do monumental searches from afar, was going to be much less challenging and equally rewarding.
Not wanting to duplicate efforts, Winnipeg Lost Cat Alert requested Tracy’s Facebook page. She kindly turned it over, and a team of volunteers was assembled to help Winnipeggers get cats home. Sadly, return-to-owner rates for cats in shelters was a dismal 7 per cent. In addition, the principals of lost cat behaviour were in their infancy, as was social media. However, with experience, and success doing remote searches, WLCA started distributing information on how to find missing cats. By 2015, WLCA’s return-to-owner rate soared to 37 per cent. Thanks to social media, word spread quickly, and more people learned what to do when a cat went missing, or when one was found outside.
2012-2020
In 2012, WLCA started rescuing cats who were in danger of losing their lives. Every cat saw a vet for treatment and went on to approved foster homes. There, they lived happily until they found their perfect family. Every cat in care was grateful to have a new lease on life.
In 2015, the organization partnered with the Winnipeg Humane Society (WHS)and in 2017, WLCA became the lead in the TNR of industrial colonies under WHS’s “We are here for the animals, we are here for you” program. This project, funded by they city’s FIXIT grant, WHS and the Winnipeg Foundation, lead to the TNR of five, large feral cat colonies.
In 2018, WLCA created the Scaredy Cat Academy program for shy and feral cats/kittens. WLCA developed this program to prove that feral kittens and shy adults were adoptable and worth socializing. Kittens, and young cats, trapped at industrial colonies would go to special foster homes for socialization and subsequent adoption to hand-selected families via the WHS adoption department. This successful program saw nearly 200 cats and kittens come through the program, with over 150 adoptions. Others found barn homes, working placement in warehouses or became foster fails.
2020-present
In 2020, we experienced our first pandemic. People’s attitudes became edgy, and shifted from collaborative, to abusive. For that reason, WLCA stopped providing one-on-one counseling. Volunteers burned out from the constant struggle with the public/ In 2022, we made the difficult decision to stop posting for the public. The Facebook page is now a self-serve repository of resources for people who need information on lost and found cats, feral cats, orphaned kittens and health and safety issues . By then, many other pages, and groups, were also helping lost pets get home, so we didn’t leave people without a social media service. The same year, we changed Winnipeg Lost Cat Alert to Winnipeg Lost Cat Assistance and continued to provide counseling for exceptional, and unusual, situations, as well as rescue.
Today, WLCA rescues and adopts out cats as resources allow. The organization added their voice to the lobby for civic bylaw amendments. Those efforts resulted in the enshrining of community cat management and TNR within Winnipeg. WLCA continues to be a voice for cats on the street and in cases of animal cruelty. The organization continues to advocate for low-cost, early spay and neuter, accessible vaccination and parasite treatment and regular vet care. We are also a proponent of strictly indoor living environments for socialized cats, humane outdoor living for feral cats, and continued education on the needs of cats.
This website aims to make cats’ lives better. Moreover, cats did not ask for their lot in life. It is incumbent upon us to be their stewards. We socialized them and we need to take care of them.