Davenport animal shelters at full capacity, looking for adoptions

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – Davenport Animal Shelters are at full capacity and looking for people who want to adopt.

“We’re at full capacity,” said Gabrielle Weeks, veterinary technician at King’s Harvest Pet Rescue. Weeks said that at this time of year shelters like theirs are used to an influx of animals because it’s kitten season right now, however, they weren’t expecting so much.

“We have kittens coming out of our ears right now. We have so many. We’re so overdue on appointments to make everyone else happy, ”Weeks said,“ We’re still expecting kitten season, but we didn’t expect that we wouldn’t be able to take as many as we would like. This is the difficult part. We have people calling every day, saying they have kittens born outside and want us to take them, and we don’t have the room to do that.

Weeks said that if the dogs are adopted at a brisk pace, the cats will spend more time at the shelter. The normal limit for cats would be 100 and they currently have 126, not counting foster families. Current adoption rates contrast sharply with those of last year.

“We get maybe one or two adoptions a day for cats of which we see maybe four or five. We have cats that spend a lot more time here, where they would be adopted a lot faster. Mostly kittens. The kittens would go crazy and now they spend weeks here, ”she said. “

“The problem is … right now … the lack of space, and no one is adopting, so we’re kind of at a standstill trying to save them.”

The Humane Society of Scott County is also at full capacity with animals.

“In the facility here we currently have 80 dogs and 155 cats. Some are obviously up for adoption and some are on hold, but the problem we’re having is… all of the adoption areas are pretty full, ”said Bob Citrullo, the Acting Executive Director. “When we get this close and at full capacity, it makes our mission even more difficult to be able to help the public and that’s really what we’re here for. Obviously we help animals, but we can never forget the human part of it. “

If you are thinking about adopting or welcoming a pet, both shelters are accepting requests.

“Now is the perfect time to do it. Obviously it’s great for them, it’s great for us, you know, so it’s also great for pets, ”said Citrullo.

“You would save two lives because each adopted animal creates space for an animal to enter,” Weeks said, “because we can’t take any until we move some.”

In addition to adoption, foster care is also an option and opens up space in shelters for animals ready to return home. To learn more about the adoption and placement process, visit: The Scott County Humane Society and King’s Harvest Pet Rescue.

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