Before thinking about adding a furry family member, consider adopting from the Mower County Humane Society.

Within the last year, MCHS had seen quite a year in the number of cats and dogs that are at the shelter. In 2018, MCHS accepted 231 new cats, out of which 138 were cats and kittens taken from the Austin City Pound, according to Kelly Rush, cat side manager at MCHS.

There 227 adoptions total, however, the biggest thing that the humane society saw within the last few years were more kittens as a result from owners not spaying or neutering their felines.

“It’s a combination of not spaying or neutering them, or more people turning them in  or finding them,” Rush said. “We’ve definitely seen more kittens this year, which is the one reason we’re really pushing for spaying and neutering clinics. We can spay 200 cats, then it’s a thousand less kittens. That’s what I’m pushing for.”

MCHS received 129 dogs, and had 142 adoptions. There was a higher increase of 52 owner surrenders, which remains the largest source of dogs ending up in the shelter, when previously the other source was the city pound, where 30 dogs were rescued in 2018.

“It’s kind of been a new trend within the few years,” said Carey Sharp, dog side manager at the MCHS. “We still are seeing a lot more owner surrenders than we are seeing from strays or from the pound. I think people are choosing to do something a little more secure and safe than just letting dogs go, or turning them into the pound.”

Currently, MCHS is over capacity for the number of cats they are able to take. The current facility was designed to house 100 cats. They currently have between 125 to 130 after several adoptions within recent weeks.

“If people are moving, and give us their cats, we aren’t accepting those at all,” Rush said. “We just don’t have the room. More adoptions are up this year and last year, but more cats come in this year than last year. That’s kind of how things work. We definitely have an issue with spaying and neutering cats. Dogs, we’re a little bit better. We’re definitely seeing fewer cats at the city pound, but we haven’t eliminated the problem. It’s still an issue.”

Dogs on the other hand have up to 26 full-size kennels, and the shelter could house about 30 on average. Some breeds are smaller and can stay in different pop-up pens, but other kennels are sometimes occupied by older dogs that aren’t adoptedand could stay there permanently if they don’t find a home.

“I’d love to get some of our old-timers that have been with us for six months or even 18 months,” Sharp said. “They’re not easy dogs, and need a lot of patience, but they get kind of overlooked. I want to be able to find some homes for some of them.”

However, the increase in the number of owner surrenders may mean that pet owners are finding less scrutiny of trying to find a safer way of having their pets cared for by someone who can provide for them. On the dog side of things, Sharp said it was important not to just owners who make the decision to surrender their loved one.

“I think people’s first instinct is to chastise them,” Sharp said. “I try to treat owners with dignity. It’s a tough decision for anyone. My goal is to just make it a positive experience, and that’s part of the experience in being more secure of bringing a dog to us, instead of dumping a dog some place. It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s the hardest thing I personally have to take care of when I’m at the shelter.”

Why it matters, it’s all on them

Dumping an animal or abandoning them outside in Mower County is against the law, Rush said, and by simply putting a cat with other felines at a farm or hoping they’d get along with other feral cats is not a guarantee. Plus, if a cat is deposited outside when “in heat” and aren’t spayed or neutered, this could produce a litter of about five kittens, and those five kittens could eventually reproduce another five cats, and the cycle would continue.

“It could be another cat’s turf, and some form colonies that don’t willingly accept newbies in there,” she said. “Just because you dump someone’s cat into someone’s farm, they may not want that cat and won’t accept it either. If you drop off a house cat or kitten that’s never been taught by a mom to hunt, they can’t survive in the wild.”

So, the MCHS does six spay and neuter clinics annually, one for just cats is done in partnership with Austin Vet Clinic, which reduces the prices on their services. Fundraisers also help lower the fee even more, such as $50 for spaying and $40 for neutering. There’s also an availability of shots at $10 if the animal is fixed while at the clinic.

Next month, MCHS will also be hosting a pasta dinner at the Holiday Inn in Austin from 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24,  along with a live auction with 100 percent of the money going back to the animals.

There is a certain timeframe for dogs and cats staying in the Austin City Pound. If they aren’t claimed by an owner, then they would get euthanized. MCHS looks to prevent additional deaths by providing their shelter for pets that are in need of a second chance.

“I always tell people when they adopt from our humane society, they’re saving two lives,” Rush said. “They save the one they adopt, and the one that we can take in. We work with the Austin City Pound, and if we didn’t take those animals, they’d be euthanized. We work with them closely to prevent that.”

MCHS takes on 100 percent of the cost of caring for the animal once they take an animal from the pound. The expenses of taking care of the vet bill are funded through fundraisers and volunteer work. There’s no reimbursement for volunteers when they take animals for care to specialty clinics, and much of the costs fall on their shoulders.

One such case is for an 18-month-old dog that needs special surgery for his heart, according to Sharp, and rarely do they ask for financial assistance in this manner, but they felt compelled to have the puppy adopted to live out his full life by donations.

“He was born with a large, very damaged heart from a genetic defect,” Sharp said. “He’s in congestive heart failure. We just wanted to give him the best chance at a good life, and eventually we’ll be able to find a home for him after these procedures. That’s what we do. We go the extra mile to do what we need to do. We don’t get paid or reimbursed. It’s little things like that people don’t realize what we do.”

While adoptions are going well for MCHS, there’s still the push for more adoptions from shelters and not from “backyard breeders,” according to Sharp. She stated that while there are more people not spaying or neutering their animals intentionally, it means another animal at the shelter not finding a home.

“That’s another dog waiting,” she said. “I’m going to keep lecturing people the importance of spaying and neutering and how it’s the only surefire way to control overpopulation …Requests come in all the time and it’s getting to the point where we can’t take anymore animals and that hurts us. We worry about what’s out there, and the ones we can’t help.”