551 cats came into the facility last month, with 2,567 since the beginning of the year. On Monday, about 15 more were admitted.
Phyllis Craft of Middlebury found a cat wandering around her house in Middlebury. She brought it to the Humane Society on Monday. She says cats around her property have become an increasing problem
"In the past, I'd say, four months, I've had 16 cats and that's not counting the babies," Craft said.
Taking care of the cats isn't cheap, either. The Elkhart County Humane Society reports going through 2000 pounds of kitty litter every two weeks, costing them $700 per month.
The litter is just a fraction of the cost. Reel says the cats cost the facility about $4,000 daily, plus $24,000 every month for testing and medication.
Even with all of their effort, the facility is just too small for all of the animals. Some have to be put down.
"The numbers are so huge," Reel said, "You're retaining dogs and cats from one month to the next and still getting over 700 to 800 animals in (so) you're going to have to euthanize."
In July, the humane society put 400 cats down, but adoptions are up.
"Our adoption for cats are actually up 40 percent, compared to where we were this time last year," Reel said, "None the less, when you're getting over 500 cats a month you can't adopt out that many animals."
Reel says the Humane Society always gets an influx of cats and kittens around this time every year because the cats are breeding. She says the best way to take care of the problem is to get your animals fixed.
The humane society is asking for people to adopt and to donate. It needs non-clumping clay kitty litter, dry cat food, kitten food and formula and monetary donations.
