Kitten and puppy season: Local shelters doing their best to handle yearly influx of animals

Jun. 20—SUPERIOR — Abandoned in a cardboard box, only a chance discovery and an act of kindness kept seven new puppies from dying. They are among the new litters reminding local animal shelters that puppy and kitten season is here.

A home health care worker found seven mixed breed puppies left in a box along Carswell Hollow Road and brought them to the McDowell County Humane Society Shelter. Director Sharon Sagety said they wouldn't have survived long if somebody had not found them.

"They were only 3-weeks old," she recalled. "They weren't even eating, so it's been a big job to take care of them. It takes a lot of care to feed them. They came in very poor condition, but they've turned around and they're doing excellent now."

This abandoned litter isn't the shelter's first one this year.

"And then there was a stray dog in Welch that had been around town for while and she had puppies," Sagety said. "The owner of the Riverside Service Station followed her and found the puppies, and crawled up under an abandoned house and got the puppies."

Puppy and kitten keeps animal shelters busy as more litters are found.

"We're getting so many calls and we have only so much space, and we have so many (dogs and cats) already," Sagety said. "Actually, our shelter is overfilled right now. We hope to do a transport the (June) 24th. We take in as many as we can and help as many as we can, but when completely filled we can't accept anymore until we move them out."

The puppies found in the Carswell area were about 4 weeks old, and puppies are not available for adoption until they reach 8 weeks, Sagety said. More litters could arrive as the summer continues.

"Usually this time of year there's a puppy and kitten explosion. We keep emphasizing spaying and neutering," she stated.

The pandemic has added to the pressure as families struggling with job losses and trying to find new employment had to move away; they often can't take their pets with them. Sometimes these dogs and cats are simply abandoned.

"The poor animals suffer because of that," Sagety said. "That's the sad thing."

Sagety added that if the Humane Society's shelter couldn't take the abandoned puppies, she would have referred them to another no-kill rescue or shelter.

"If owners were more responsible, we wouldn't have unwanted puppies and kittens," she said.

The Tazewell County Animal Shelter was seeing more new kittens than new puppies, according to Director Jenny Dawson.

"Well, during the spring and early summer, we always see an influx of kittens more than anything," she said. "Yes, we are definitely already seeing that. We're getting calls several times a day from people who found kittens or found pregnant cats. We try to take in as many as we possibly can and get as many to rescues as we possibly can."

This year, the Tazewell County shelter has seen a decrease in the numbers of puppies being brought in. Spaying and neutering seems to be decreasing the county's homeless dog population, Dawson said.

"We don't adopt out as may cats as we do dogs. Gradually, we're seeing a decrease in the number of puppies and we see that as the value of spaying and neutering," she stated. "I think cats are still a big challenge for everyone."

More stray cats are being seen in Tazewell County and neighboring Mercer County than dogs, and both counties have feral cat colonies.

"It's a problem everywhere," Dawson said. "A lot of shelters in Virginia don't take cats and more people are dealing with strays. They're harder to find homes for because they reproduce so quickly."

The Tazewell County Animal Shelter currently has about 60 cats, and many of them are kittens.

"And June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month," Dawson said. "And right now the Tazewell County Animal Shelter has $30 adoption for cats and kittens, and that covers spay and neuter and rabies vaccinations. The best way to deal with the overpopulation in both dogs and cats is spay and neuter."

Representatives of the Mercer County Animal Shelter were unavailable for comment.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com