Companions Animal Center faces kitten surge, empty shelves, rising costs

A kitten surge is pushing Companions Animal Center to the edge of its food budget, shelter space and staff time, with shelves described as nearly empty and nearly 200 young cats now split between foster homes and the Atlas Road facility in Hayden. The nonprofit has already spent about $4,000 on kitten food and formula in the past two months and has ordered hundreds of pounds of dry food and dozens of cases of wet food just to keep up.

Development director Vicky Nelson said the kitten population has doubled compared with the same period last year, a jump shelter manager Hillary Darty describes as unprecedented. The animals are coming in from all over Kootenai County, often after being found in sheds, behind woodpiles and even under boat covers, a sign that unmanaged litters are feeding a steady stream of intakes into the shelter system.

The burden does not end when a kitten reaches the building at 10275 N. Atlas Road. CAC says kittens cannot be adopted until they are at least eight weeks old, spayed or neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and weighing at least two pounds, which means the shelter has to feed and house them long before they are ready to leave. This year, CAC has already adopted out 119 kittens at $100 each, but adoption is first come, first served and public hours are limited to Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m., with Mondays closed.

Fostering is one of the fastest ways to relieve the pressure. CAC’s guidance says kittens should be kept in a room separate from other pets, in a space that can be easily disinfected, to reduce the risk of disease spread. That matters because every kitten placed in a foster home frees up room at the shelter and cuts the daily demand for feed, formula and staff care.

Companions Animal Center, formerly known as Kootenai Humane Society, opened its Atlas Road facility to the public in March 2023 after rebranding in 2022. The organization says it has been saving animals since 1979 and reported 12,280 spay/neuter, vaccination and microchip services in 2025, along with nearly 2,000 adoptions that year. In 2024, it found homes for 1,448 animals, a 12% increase over 2023.

The shelter is asking for Purina Kitten Chow, Fancy Feast canned kitten food, formula and cash donations. A similar shortage hit CAC’s pet food pantry in June 2025 before donations poured in, and the latest kitten wave is now testing whether that same response can arrive fast enough to keep the shelves stocked and the intake room from overflowing.