HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Huntsville Animal Services is filled to the brim with cats and kittens and needs your help to give these pets a new forever home. Through Dec. 5, there's no adoption fee for adult cats and kittens are only $35. The shelter has temporarily stopped accepting cats and kittens.
Animal Services says it's been overcrowded with cats and kittens since June, and the effects of long-term shelter life can be seen in the eyes of the kitties in their care. 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.
“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 (TNR) 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.
Located at 4950 Triana Blvd. SW, the shelter is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.