Critical overflow of cats at county animal shelter means you could have a new pet for 2022

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By HEATHER RUPPE

There is a critical overflow of animals inside the Colleton County Animal Control, creating an urgent need for the dogs and kittens to get into safe homes for the 2022 new year.

The more urgent need happening inside the shelter is to get kittens and cats adopted. As of press deadline, there were more than 170 kittens and cats in the county shelter. To put that in perspective, there are only 65 cat cages in the shelter.

There are also more than 60 dogs in the animal shelter.

There were even some kittens and cats adopted at recent, pre-Christmas adoption events hosted by the animal shelter; however, those animals have since been returned to the animal shelter for “reasons that were not their fault,” according to Laura Clark, animal shelter director.

“From Dec. 6 through yesterday, we have also taken in 11 new cats,” said Clark.

“We are full of dogs, too, and that is a also a large problem, but the problem with the overflow of kittens is that they usually come in very young. The average age of intake for a kitten is 5 weeks old,” said Clark. “So, they are just old enough for a vaccine, but not fully immune to the myriad of diseases they are exposed to in an animal shelter environment.”

Also, because of state laws, kittens and puppies must be spayed and neutered before they can be adopted out. Yet, animals must weigh at least two pounds before any surgery can safely be done, meaning pets cannot be spayed or neutered until the animals are around 8 weeks old. This leaves the animals with shelter officials for quite some time before they can even be considered for adoption.

According to Clark, there is a solution to the nearly constant critical overflow of animals in the local shelter: residents need to spay and neuter their cats.

“In 2021 we have taken in 622 kittens. We currently have requests since Sept to accept 30 more from residents who either helped a stray mother cat or their owned cat had kittens. Just imagine if we could even cut that by 50 percent!” she said.

Now is the time to adopt a kitten or cat and start the new year with a pet.

Colleton residents interested in adopting a pet from the shelter can preview many of the shelter’s animals at https://www.adoptapet.com/adoption_rescue/83899-colleton-county-animal-and-environmental-control-walterboro-south-carolina#featured

The Colleton County Animal Shelter is located at 33 Poor Farm Road in Walterboro. Anyone with questions about adopting a pet or helping with the county’s overflow of animals can contact Shelley Thomas at shelley.thomas@colletoncounty.org.