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Sumner, Washington – This week, officers with Metro Animal Shelter rescued 44 unaltered cats from a Sumner apartment following the death of their owner. According to the agency, the local police reached out for help after observing a large number of cats inside the apartment unit.
In a social media post, the shelter said:
We learned of the situation when the cats’ owner passed away earlier this week; officers from the Sumner Police Department referred the incident to us out of concern for the large number of cats observed in her residence. Her family members accepted our help in removing the cats and provided valuable assistance in helping to contain the cats to help expedite getting them out of the apartment.
Via Metro Animal Shelter
The rescued cats are between the ages of one month, and three years and all appear to be friendly and in good health. Metro Animal Shelter said, “All of the cats will need to be spayed or neutered before we can make them available for adoption from our shelter.”
Adding, “This is not a cruelty or neglect investigation, as the owner is deceased and her family accepted our help while grieving the loss of their loved one.”
The huge influx of cats has put a burden on the small Puyallup animal shelter, which outlined various ways area residents can assist:
– Adopt one of our other cats or kittens that are ready to go home today! Every adoption gives us one more kennel to help these new cats decompress, receive some TLC from our staff and volunteers, and get adoption-ready. Our biggest adoption event of the year is this Saturday, so it is a perfect time to adopt a cat from our shelter.
– Donate bags of non-clumping kitty litter to the shelter! With 44 more cats now in our care, we are going to go through kitty litter very, very quickly. This critical care item is a cheap and easy way for you to help us through this very challenging situation.
– Donate toward spay/neuter services, vaccinations, microchips, and any needed medical care for these cats! Our shelter is dependent on outside veterinary care — including spay/neuter service providers – and donations toward the cost of these services will help to keep the adoption fees as low as possible so these cats can quickly find new homes, while also receiving the very best care in getting ready for their adoption day.
– Please do not bring any cats to the shelter that are not in their own emergency situation! We do not have room for any more cats or kittens until we have successfully completed a significant number of cat adoptions. So we need people to please take a pause on owner surrenders and cat trapping for a few days while we deal with this incident.
