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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — Over 2.8 million cats and dogs have entered shelters and rescues across the U.S. in the first six months of 2025.
This comes as Siouxland animal rescue associations are packed full, calling it a ‘constant revolving door.’
Having a full house is not new to places like Wet Nose Rescue and Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue. However, officials say this year has been extremely busy.
“I’ve been here 40 years and I have never seen it so full,” said Cindy Rarrat, the president of Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue.
Rarrat believes there are a couple of reasons why Sioux City Animal Adoption is packed.
“We feel it’s because of the economy, but also this time of year, when the children go back to school, we typically see a big influx anyway. But right now, because of the economy, because the shelters are backed up, it’s hard to take in,” said Rarrat.
Over in Plymouth County, Wet Nose Rescue is experiencing a similar problem with officials having their crates full of dogs and having more cats than they know what to do with.
“Kitten season is longer this year than it’s ever been before, for us anyway. Usually, we are out of kittens by now. And we are we have plentiful kittens,” said Angel Anderson, the executive director with Wet Nose Rescue.
Many of the animals brought into Animal Adoption and Wet Nose were either found on the streets, surrendered, or walked into these adoption centers.
Wet Nose has to turn away people daily.
“There are dogs and cats every day that need homes that we have to turn away because we’re full and there’s no way we can recommend another shelter to network to because they’re all full also,” said Anderson.
While Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue can’t turn any away, taking in more animals multiple times a day.
“We have to have room for all the animals that are coming off the streets, so it’s very important that we find new homes for these animals after they’ve been here the seven days so that we can open up that kennel for another animal that might be coming in. It seems like as soon as we get a bunch that go home, a bunch more come in,” said Rarrat.
Thankfully, though, both Wet Nose and Animal Adoption still see some animals getting adopted.
“It was like a shepherd, a little shepherd mix. It was just a mixed breed. His name was Barclay, and he’d been found on the interstate, and he’d been here for about three to four months, and just happened to be a customer that came through on vacation and happened to see him and couldn’t live without him. So she flew him to and we accommodated, got him to the airport and got him on that plane,” said Rarrat.
While adopting a cat or dog, like Twix, can help, officials say volunteering helps just as much.