The Louisiana SPCA is entering kitten season — when the animal shelter takes in a high amount of young cats — with a reduced budget due to cuts from the New Orleans city government.
On Tuesday (March 10), the LASPCA kicked off the season with a visit from New Orleans Pelicans guard Jordan Poole, who has three cats at home.
At every step, shelter officials touted the space and facilities they had and how they strive to make adoption and veterinary care affordable across the parish. This was especially important heading into kitten season, a period from April to June when LASPCA officials say they expect to take in 400 kittens.
This kitten season falls four months into New Orleans’ 2026 fiscal year. The city is operating on a tight budget to address a $220 million deficit.
LASPCA is partly funded by the city government because it provides the city with services like animal control. Because of this, the organization was hit with the city’s 30% reduction of funding to all city departments. But CEO Anna Zorilla says their city funds were also further reduced.
“ Our funding for our cooperative endeavor agreement was reduced by 30%, but in addition, there was an additional 8% that wasn't included in the original number, so our reduction was actually 38%,” Zorilla said.
City officials had criticized the LASPCA for a slow response to city government communications on the budget and how to raise revenue. The LASCPA and the council have since gotten into contact, and are working on raising the rabies fees to bridge some of the funding gap.
In response to the reduced budget, the LASPCA has moved from being open Monday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; to Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m.to 5 p.m. This includes reduced adoption hours.
Zorilla stressed that the reduced budget didn’t mean less veterinary care, or that the quality of life for shelter animals was going to decrease.
“ We know that it's just a really tough time in the city, and so we are working really hard to make sure that critical safety services are still in place and that we maintain a very high standard of care for the animals that are in our custody,” she said.
