HAYDEN — Debbie Jeffrey doesn’t cry easily, but lately, she finds herself fighting back tears.

“It just breaks your heart that people can be so cruel,” the executive director of Companions Animal Center said Thursday.

Abused and neglected animals are increasingly winding up at the shelter on Atlas Road, either through surrenders, being picked up by animal control or people finding them.

One case involved two emaciated dogs, one so thin and weak it had to be carried into the shelter. It is being nursed back to health.

In another, a cat was brought with a zip tie tightened around its private parts. It required surgery.

“How could anybody be so cruel or think it’s funny to do that to a cat?” Jeffries said Thursday.

The abuse tales go on.

Someone put a cat in a plastic bag and left it on Tubbs Hill. It was saved when hikers saw the bag move.

A declawed adult cat weighed a little over 4 pounds when it was found in a yard.

And there was an abandoned momma cat with kittens, found near a dumpsite, its face swollen and infected.

In another case, a woman dropped off eight kittens, each weighing less than a pound, and all with ringworm. They are being treated and in isolation.

“This is the cruelty you’re seeing,” Jeffrey said.

The nonprofit Companions Animal Center is facing more challenges. 

Many dogs brought in by animal control go unclaimed, and a growing population of large dogs fill its kennels.

It recently took in eight pit bulls when their owner was arrested. They had been reportedly living in a car.

It has about 40 dogs that weigh around 50 pounds or more, which take longer to adopt. Boxers, bulldogs, hounds, huskies, shepherds, pit bulls and retriever/lab mixes are among the breeds at CAC.

Vicky Nelson, development director, said the influx has the shelter utilizing every kennel.

“It’s just backing up,” she said.

Nelson also said they have seen a rising number of dogs brought in by animal control, and a decline in people claiming them.

In other words, people are often dumping their dogs or setting them free in a neighborhood, and driving away.

Even purebreds like Australian shepherds, Catahoulas and Labradoodles are going unclaimed.

Through October this year, Coeur d’Alene animal control impounded 233 dogs and 136 were claimed by their owners, 58%.

Last year, of the 164 dogs taken in by Coeur d’Alene animal control, 88 were claimed by owners, 60%.

“People used to pick up their dogs brought here by animal control. Now, they’re not being picked up,” Jeffrey said.

So far this year, 1,157 pets have been adopted at CAC, compared to 1,412 for all of 2022.

While it always has a waiting list of people wanting to surrender cats, it now has one for those wishing to give up dogs.

This year, 97 animals have been left at CAC, compared to 76 for all of 2022.

“In the past decade, I don’t think I have ever seen a waiting list for dogs,” Nelson said.

Costs are up, too. In one month, CAC spent $9,000 on medical supplies for pets. While that was budgeted, it’s a big chunk.

“Animals that come in often need medical care,” Nelson said. 

Fundraisers like Lights of Love and its thrift store help keep up with expenses for adoptions, vaccinations and spay and neuter clinics.

“What we charge for those services do not cover our costs,” Nelson said.

Jeffrey said she believes rising rents in Kootenai County and increased fees and deposits for animals are reasons people are surrendering or dumping pets.

It’s also growing more difficult to find landlords willing to allow tenants to have a large dog, and many are simply struggling financially.

“Discretionary income is not what it was a year ago,” Jeffrey said.

Both Nelson and Jeffrey believe education about responsibilities that come with pet ownership would help reduce homeless animals, but there is more at play, Jeffrey said.

“I think you're starting to see the desperation of people,” she said.

    Volunteer Christina Hull walks Nala at Companions Animal Center on Thursday.
  

    A kitten in a medical holding area at Companions Animal Center looks out from its kennel.
  

    Companions Animal Center Development Director Vicki Nelson checks on Hugo, a terrier/American pit bull mix, on Thursday.
  

    Bunko enjoys times out of his kennel on Thursday at CAC. He required surgery after he was abused.