With the orange-brown leaves and cooling weather of the fall season has come an influx of cats and kittens at the Whitman County Humane Society animal shelter. To find homes and gather resources for these cats, WCHS has started the MEOW-LOWEEN social media campaign on their Facebook and Instagram.
The shelter does not have enough resources or spaces for all of these cats, WCHS staff member Alexandra said. Since Whitman County Humane Society is a no-kill shelter, they rely on donations from the local community for the well-being of this group of kittens.
“We want to ask the community for help to make sure that we’re maintaining the longevity of the shelter, and help to provide for the cats and kittens,” Alexandra said.
WCHS currently has about 55 cats, WCHS staff member Kiley Holeman said.
The cats are surrendered by community members for a variety of reasons, Holeman said. Some of the cats this season have been found, surrendered from homes or sometimes from animal control.
Usually, the shelter gets more cats in the spring, so this influx of cats is strange for the shelter, Alexandra said.
“When that happens, it depletes our resources significantly. So we go through things like dry food, whether it’s cat, or kitten, we go through wet cat food, dog food, litter, all that kind of stuff rapidly, especially in these seasons,” Alexandra said. “The kittens have not died down whatsoever.”
The push is not just for the kittens that are currently up for adoption, Holeman said. There have also been adult cats recently surrendered that WCHS hopes to provide for and also help find their forever homes.
The cats put up for adoption each week find their forever homes quickly, Alexandra and Holeman said. Due to the large influx of adoptions, however, they hope to focus MEOW-LOWEEN on donations for the upcoming weeks.
Donations go a long way because WCHS has not received as much of them, Alexandra said.
Alexandra and Holeman said this MEOW-LOWEEN is one WCHS hopes will end with many cats and kittens finding their forever homes, while also receiving plenty of donations for future cats and kittens the shelter will have to care for.