HUNTSVILLE – Huntsville Animal Services has too many cats and is taking measures to curb the flow of felines into the shelter, the agency said.
The shelter has temporarily stopped accepting cats and kittens, dropped adoption fees for adult cats and reduced the cost to adopt kittens through Dec. 5.
Animal Services has been overcrowded with cats and kittens since June, and the effects of long-term shelter life can be seen in their eyes. Specifically, a cold is going through the area of the shelter known as Cat World, causing cats to have weepy eyes, sneezing and runny noses.
The shelter needs to quickly adopt as many cats as possible so they can sanitize the cat room and break the cold’s cycle. Typically, animals recover much faster from illness when they are in a home rather than a shelter. Animal Services will also provide any medications necessary to treat adopted cats who still have cold symptoms.
All adoption fees for adult cats are waived and kittens are $35.
“We can and will still help sick, injured and ‘in need’ cats,” Director Karen Sheppard said. “But rather than provide a space for them here at the shelter, we will work to provide supplies, emergency foster homes and medicines for owners and caregivers to care for them offsite.”
The department’s Trap, Neuter, Release program will also be temporarily affected by these measures. The community is encouraged to hold off on trapping cats and bringing them to the shelter for spay/neuter surgery and adoption until after Dec. 5.
A decline in cat adoptions and rise in the number of surrendered cats has contributed to the current overcrowding, Sheppard said.
“Our plea is for people to come adopt a cat or kitten, and hold off on any cat trapping,” she said. “We never want to deny services if we can help it, but this break is absolutely necessary to get the shelter cat population back to a manageable capacity.”
Adoptable pets are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and come with a City license and free bag of pet food. Those unable to adopt are asked to consider fostering an animal through the shelter’s foster program.
Click here to see photos, ages and descriptions of available animals.
The shelter at 4950 Triana Boulevard is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For information, call 256-883-3783, visit HuntsvilleAL.gov/Animal or check them out on Facebook or Instagram to learn more.
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