ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Hoof & Paw humane organization is asking for assist in its mission to take care of homeless animals, significantly cats.
Julie Larish, humane officer, mentioned the group is overwhelmed. She referred to a latest animal hoarding case through which a person dwelling on Indian Run Highway, Bellaire was conserving quite a few animals together with 35 cats.
“Currently, we still have cats left from the Indian Run case, and we also have been trapping cats in Shadyside at a house that’s abandoned, so roughly we have probably close to 40 cats,” she mentioned. They’re all housed at our cat sanctuary.”
Larish mentioned the sanctuary is positioned on Belmont County Highway 56 in Jacobsburg.
“We are in dire need of cat litter and cat food,” she mentioned, including the cats are sometimes affected by a number of points associated to their conditions. “We had one cat that had to have its foot operated on and the foot removed. We have one cat that’s had its eye removed. We also need to have all the cats fixed so that they can be adopted out. We’ve had to doctor a lot of them for respiratory infections and other issues that they’re having.”
Larish mentioned the group expects a larger demand for providers and care within the coming months.
“We will be getting more cats in, only because it’s breeding season right now, so that’s kitten season. A lot of times we’re trapping, we end up getting pregnant moms,” she mentioned. “It’s going to get pretty busy here very soon. We’re still trapping some locations we normally don’t trap. We normally send other agencies out, but all the agencies are also full.”
She added that the breeding season is March to April. Larish mentioned there are organizations that entice cats, spay and neuter and launch them.
“That is still going on. The problem is they’re also full,” she mentioned. “Most of our agencies right now, our cat population is huge. … It’s getting in dire straits for cats.”
Larish mentioned the group depends closely on volunteers, and help is at all times welcome.
“We are always in need of volunteers. We love having volunteers come in — dog walkers, feeders, things like that. I do have a couple of crew members who were with us all last year who are coming back this year,” she mentioned. “We need volunteers for fundraising, volunteers for the dogs, volunteers for the cats. We do have horses that we deal with.”
Larish mentioned there are numerous choices for individuals who want to donate, together with a want checklist at Walmart. The organization may be reached at bchp911@gmail.com or by calling 610-314-5203.
Anybody wishing to make financial donations can drop funds off at any Huntington financial institution within the title of Belmont County Hoof and Paw. Residents can even drop donations of all kinds off at 49586 Jacobsburg Key Highway, Jacobsburg.
“Or if they want to just give us a call, we can arrange to meet to pick things up,” she mentioned.
