The call went out Tuesday evening to all staff at the Guelph Humane Society (GHS) — can you come in tomorrow?

Wednesday was shaping up to be an all-hands-on-deck kind of day, with a much larger than usual delivery set to arrive at GHS’ headquarters on Wellington Street West — about 80 cats.

“So we became aware of a situation where an owner reached out to us that they had 80 cats in their care and were no longer able to provide care to them,” Lisa Veit, associate director of GHS, tells the Mercury Tribune.

After reporting the incident to provincial authorities, Veit says the situation came back to GHS.

“So we stepped up to help in this situation. We want to make sure the vulnerable animals in our community are protected, and now some cats are going to be coming into our care,” she says, adding all of the cats came from a single residence in Guelph.

Veit says it is too early to say what kind of shape the cats are in — they were still arriving at the Humane Society when the Mercury Tribune was there Wednesday afternoon — but that each of them would be examined by a veterinarian.

“(They will) be given wellness checks, receive their vaccinations, their parasite medication, and then we'll be addressing any other health issues that the cats may have,” she says.

The plan is to have all of the cats examined by the end of the day on Wednesday, at which point GHS can determine what, if any, additional care their new guests may need.

As for where all of the cats will be staying, Veit says that while the GHS can handle some of them, there is simply not enough room at the Wellington Street location for all of them.

“We have a fantastic foster network who are really stepping up and helping out in this particular case,” she says.