Rance and Christina Castle, owners of the four dogs and five cats that got loose at ShopKo last week, said they love their pets and don’t want people to think they abandoned them.

As reported in the Sunday Inter Lake, the pets were found running loose in the store’s parking lot Thursday after clawing or chewing their way through the door of a travel trailer left in the lot.

An animal warden took the pets to the Flathead County Animal Shelter.

Christina Castle said she, her husband and six children had arrived in the Flathead Valley from Great Falls on Dec. 6, but had to wait for a check before they could pay rent on a space for their trailer. They stayed with a friend who could not have animals, so they parked the trailer and left the animals inside.

“We went over and fed and watered them every day,” Castle said. “We also took them down to the fishing access.”

She said they didn’t ask permission to park the trailer at ShopKo because a friend told her husband that truckers left their rigs there with no problem. Castle wasn’t sure why the dogs broke through the door, other than they had been cooped up so long.

“It took us four days to get here,” Castle said. “It was a rough four days. We broke down and were stranded by the side of the road.”

Strangers helped them get parts for their vehicle.

Their check, a refund from a deposit, finally arrived on Friday. The Castles then discovered a note from the animal shelter left on their trailer.

Castle said she got the three small dogs back and expects to pick up the other pets. She would like to find homes for the five cats and the other dog, a Labrador mix.

She said she tried unsuccessfully to find someone to adopt them before the family moved from Great Falls. Castle said she didn’t want to leave them at the animal shelter in Great Falls.

When Castle’s five cats were brought to the Flathead County shelter, the facility had only three spots left to house cats. The overcrowding forced the facility to stop accepting owner-surrendered cats until more were adopted.

Shelter Director Cliff Bennett said Monday the facility again could accept owner surrenders of cats when Castle picks up the cats or if other people come and adopt animals. The shelter currently has limited space to accept dogs.

Because of their hardship situation, Bennett said the shelter waived the daily care fee and charged just the impound fee for each animal.

The family has faced some challenges that caused them to leave Great Falls.

According to Castle, her son got in some trouble at age 12 and went to the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch. When he went through counseling, the family learned the boy and others in the family “had been through some bad stuff” at the hands of a person in Great Falls.

 She and her husband decided to move the family away from that influence by coming to the Flathead Valley.

“I wanted the kids to get a clean fresh start,” she said.

They left behind a six-bedroom house on 10 acres where they had lots of room for the dogs and cats. She said they signed the house over to her husband’s parents and left.

Her husband has worked construction jobs and as a mechanic while she holds a certified nursing assistant license. Both hope to find work here soon.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.