Cat conundrum at shelters to get worse

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The Fourth of July celebrations mean major overcrowding at an Albuquerque animal shelter will only get worse.

In the past few weeks, the number of cats and kittens brought into Animal Humane New Mexico has left the shelter over capacity and forced workers to scramble and find places to put the felines.

Marketing Director Dawn Glass said the shelter is at 127 percent of capacity for kittens and 106 percent when it comes to cats. She said many are being surrendered by owners.

“We had one owner surrender six kittens and three cats,” Glass said,.

Glass said after July 4 the number of felines brought in to the shelter will go up.

On Wednesday night people will flock to firework shows and even pop some pyrotechnics of their own. The loud noise is known to scare pets and drive some, espeically cats, from their homes.

“They can easily scale a wall and squeeze through a window, so cats are able to get away,” Glass said.

Glass said most will end up at shelters. So as much of the city was enjoying the Independence Day holiday, Animal Humane was getting ready for another wave of felines to flood the shelter.

“In 2010 we saw a 70 percent increase in the average amount of stray pets we received,” Glass  continued.

She said that translates to nearly 140 cats and dogs taken to the shelter just days following the Fourth in 2010. She knows that could happen again this year.

So, the shelter was considering all it options. They even looked hard a the option of cats becoming office buddies with workers.

“It's definitely an option we're considering,” Glass said.  "If we cant' get cats adopted fast enough we're going to have to find places to put them."

Since, the shelter needs to get cats adopted fast they are having a name-your-price special.

They are also asking if any current pet owners are thinking of surrendering their pets to please wait or try to find a new home for the felines on their own.