Overflowing animal shelters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City seek adopters, volunteers

Animal shelters around the country have been overwhelmed this year with more animals than they have the resources to care for -- and Iowa shelters are no exception.

“We’re open admission, so we can’t shut our doors like rescue organizations or humane societies. They can certainly turn away animals. We cannot, but we’re trying to do everything that we can — because of the national pet crisis and the influx of animals coming in — to help out,” said Connie Schierholz, the interim program manager for Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control.

The Cedar Rapids shelter currently has just under 200 animals, which is about as many as it can handle without overexerting resources, Schierholz said.

The Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center is similarly overwhelmed, with 79 cats in a building can hold up to 85, plus 79 more cats that are being fostered by volunteers. The shelter also had 23 dogs as of Aug. 30, and can hold up to 25. There are also two dogs being fostered, according to Devon Strief, the Iowa City Animal Services coordinator.

“We are at capacity and we’re really stretched thin,” Strief said. “If there’s a stray, we have to take it in. We make room. For a couple of weeks, we had kennels set up in our hallway, just the pop-up crates for smaller dogs or dogs that are house-trained.”

It’s not unusual to see an increase in animals at the shelters during the summer months, since animals tend to breed more in the spring resulting in more strays, but this year has been worse than most, according to Strief and Schierholz.

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Both shelters have seen fewer people adopting animals, and more animals being surrendered. The numbers have been rising for a couple of years, as some animals that were adopted or purchased in the COVID-19 pandemic have been surrendered after people returned to working in their offices.

Strief said pandemic surrenders have slowed down, and most of the people surrendering animals now are doing so because of financial difficulties.

“With the rising costs of veterinary care and the rising costs of food, I think people are just having to budget a little bit differently in their homes, so they don’t have the room to bring an animal in,” Strief said.

While the municipal shelters aren’t able to turn away strays or surrendered animals, the Iowa City shelter has had to say no to some temporary emergency housing requests, Strief said.

When people are dealing with homelessness or domestic violence and need somewhere for their pets to stay while they work to get back into a safe living situation, the shelter normally would be able to offer accommodation for those animals -- but Strief said recently she’s had to turn people away.

Effect on the animals

A crowded shelter can mean more stress and anxiety for the animals staying there, but some of that can be relieved by rotating animals through foster homes that are able to host them, and by using volunteers to help with walking dogs and providing other enrichment, Schierholz said.

Crowding also can result in animals getting sick more often. Several of the cats at the Iowa City shelter had upper respiratory infections, Strief said.

The Cedar Rapids shelter hasn’t seen any major illnesses break out yet this year, but Schierholz said it is something she’s always worried about.

“There is that uncertainty when you go over capacity for care, that there's a potential for those outbreaks, but thankfully we've had fosters and volunteers to get them out and keep helping us on space. We haven't had to deal with that yet, but it's definitely a possibility you worry about,” Schierholz said.

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Strategies to reduce overflow

The shelters are utilizing various strategies to help relieve the pressure on the animals and the shelter staff, including offering help to pet owners who are struggling financially, working with other pet rescue agencies, and reaching out to community members on social media to attract more adopters and volunteers.

The Cedar Rapids shelter this year opened a pet food pantry that’s open to anyone who is a resident of the city.

“The last thing we want is for them to surrender to us if there’s a means where they just need some extra resources to keep them there. We’ve got leashes, collars, harnesses, bowls, you name it,” Schierholz said.

Strief said that when someone surrenders an animal for financial reasons, she’ll check into the resources the shelter can offer to help the individual keep the animal, even if it’s just for a few more weeks.

The shelters also work with other agencies to house animals. Some of the adoptable dogs in Iowa City currently are being housed at a pet sitting company near the shelter, and about 25 cats recently were removed from the Cedar Rapids shelter by a few rescue organizations.

“We have increased our rescue outreach pretty significantly this year. With the sheer volume coming in, we found that it was really important for us to continue to reach out and build more connections with others inside our Eastern Iowa area, but also outside, in other states,” Schierholz said. “If they've got their 501(c)(3), and they want to help us, and they're able to, we’ve found that really beneficial to keep our doors open and not overwhelm staff.”

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