SPCA kennel staff walk in with a holdall, containing a cat and five kittens, which was left outside the door. Nothing new! In fact, it is a daily occurrence and animals are often abandoned in worse conditions.
The green holdall is a luxury compared to the plastic bags, sacks and boxes they are sometimes dumped in, even deeply scarred around the neck, showing they have been tied up for a while. Some contain newborn kittens, which have no hope of survival.
The SPCA's dedicated kennel staff point out the cruelty of abandoning animals in that stage in life. Kittens should be kept until they are weaned. Otherwise, if there is no other mother cat they can adopt at the SPCA, they would have to be put down. Newborn kittens need their mother for five to six weeks to survive - or someone to bottle-feed them every three hours for around seven weeks, day and night.
But the SPCA's resources are stretched enough as it is and finances are not flowing in, despite the several fund-raising activities organised.
It is the animals that pour in, but the SPCA premises are not getting any larger and space is vital, said the new SPCA president, Barbara Cassar Torreggiani.
"Malta has to have one decent home," she said.
The public has to realise that these animals are their responsibility too, Ms Cassar Torreggiani pointed out. They cannot produce puppies and kittens and just dump them, expecting the SPCA to house the animals they do not have a home for.
The "myth" that a dog should have at least one litter for health purposes is still strong and only results in the fact that homes are not found for every puppy and that the rest are abandoned at the SPCA, which is being stretched beyond its means, said its manager Christel Selis.
The SPCA lives off money from fund-raising events, donations for adopted animals and memberships, which are not too high. These funds serve to pay the wages of the eight-strong, dedicated kennel staff, including every other expense.
It costs Lm3-Lm4 to put down an animal - for which the government allocates six cents for dogs and five cents for cats.
Nevertheless, the SPCA would never consider reverting back to the shooting of animals to put them down.
The SPCA cannot afford to vaccinate the animals and has only just started on the puppies. It cannot afford to neuter them either - it costs Lm15-Lm25.
The government provides 84 cents to keep a dog for the seven days it is legally entitled to for its owner to reclaim it. However, the running costs go way beyond 84 cents and, if owners do not reclaim their dogs and they are healthy, they are kept at the SPCA for well over a week.
The SPCA's most important need is new premises, ideally out in the countryside. The current building at St Francis Ravelin in Floriana is old, crammed and decrepit.
The dogs are kept in packs although, ideally, they should be paired - male and female, one being neutered - in a kennel, with an opening onto a courtyard where they could run around, enjoy the fresh air and even be trained.
The SPCA lacks and "desperately needs" a quarantine area, as is the case abroad, and in which every dog is left for 10 days as soon as it arrives to be assessed, Ms Cassar Torreggiani pointed out.
Eventually, the SPCA would have to give up its premises, and the committee is hoping that it would be sooner, rather than later. It has been asked to earmark a site itself, but its members would not know where to start from and were hoping that the Lands Department would inform them on what was available.
If it had the funds and the set-up, the SPCA would also have its own emergency and an after-care service, where animals that have been operated on, are in shock, or pregnant could be put. At the moment, the closest to a separate, sterile space in these cases is the manager's office. Unfortunately, sick, or severely injured dogs do not have a separate area in which to be treated.
The SPCA cannot afford to be on call 24 hours a day and does not even have a resident vet. Running an emergency service would require at least three employees and two vans. The SPCA has one, which barely starts.
It is currently home to about 130 adult dogs and puppies, and 10 kittens, but the number is always changing and, since it is "kitten time", it would be increasing.
The SPCA's main aim is to re-home the animals, and it is maintained that the more space, the less problems, the happier dogs and the easier their chances of finding an adoptive family.
Ms Cassar Torreggiani underlined the need to raise public awareness on animal welfare. People are becoming more conscious of animal cruelty, but not nearly enough.
The SPCA is, therefore, embarking on an educational campaign, going around schools to educate the children. It is currently seeking volunteer teachers to teach students about animal welfare as part of a Skola Sajf project.
But the situation for Malta's cats and dogs is not always only negative. The beds from the Golden Sands Hotel, which is being rebuilt by the Island Hotels Group, were recently donated by its director of operations Winston Zahra Jr, and have made a world of a difference, the dogs preferring to sleep off the floor for more warmth.
Cats and dogs do get dumped behind the SPCA door, but some are also fortunate enough to leave. A teenager was yesterday choosing a lucky puppy as a present for her boyfriend, while a seven-month-old Labrador, Nero, has also found a happy home. He has been donated to the Civil Protection Department to be trained for search and rescue operations.