Seven-year-old Kaya, a subdued lab/beagle mix, was surrendered to Companions Animal Center earlier this month. 

The reason? 

“Cannot take care of any longer,” read the note on the paper attached to Kaya’s kennel. 

CAC Development Director Vicky Nelson was not surprised. 

“It’s a very common thing these days,” she said Monday as a seemingly depressed Kaya looked on from behind a glass door.

The nonprofit shelter has had a good year finding homes for dogs like Kaya. So far in 2025, it has had 1,963 adoptions, with nearly 60% felines and 40% canines, and just short of the all-time high of 2,209 in 2018. 

“As far as adoptions are concerned, it was a great year,” Nelson said. 

As if to prove it, signs on two kennel doors proclaim, “I have been adopted! I’m currently waiting to be picked up by my new parents.” One is a timid black mastiff. 

But the shelter remains crowded. Monday, it had about 50 large dogs filling kennels, including in the new wing that opened this year, and there is still a four-month waiting list with names of about 80 animals that people are looking to surrender. That sounds like a lot, but it’s an improvement. 

“It was hundreds,” Nelson said. 

Zena, a 2-year-old mostly terrier/pit bull mix, is the shelter’s longest resident at 14 months. A sign on her kennel dog declares she is “one exceptional dog.” 

“She really is,” Nelson said, adding she is hopeful Zena will be adopted soon.

Young animals are also filling the kennel. As of May 1, 180 kittens and 106 puppies have been brought in or surrendered. One, an Alaskan husky, arrived about a week ago, left in a box at a grocery store. Two Great Pyrenees, about 2 months old, were recently found homeless. 

“Puppies are being abandoned,” said Mikayla Freeman, dog technician. “It's the highest rate we’ve had in the shelter in a long time.” 

She believes one reason for the influx is that breeders are having difficulty selling the puppies, and because it’s too expensive to care for them, they dump them. 

She described the new arrivals as “sweet as could be.” 

On the good news front, Nelson said CAC has made progress toward paying off its capital campaign to fund its new home that opened last year, and is about $1.4 million shy of the $8 million goal. 

The Lights of Love fundraiser at the Silver Lake Mall brought in nearly $40,000 over the holidays. 

The shelter also still has plenty of pet food remaining from donations of tens of thousands of pounds in June after The Press published a story about a dog food shortage. 

“That brought a lot of attention to what we were doing,” Nelson said. “People didn’t just deliver the food but also came to see the animals.” 

    Mikayla Freeman, Companions Animal Center dog technician, gets a kiss from a puppy at the shelter on Monday.

    A sign says this dog has been adopted at Companions Animal Center.