KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Whether you have two legs or four, inflation has impacted the lives of those in the Kansas City area.
KSHB 41 News is continuing to look into how members of the community are adapting to inflation, including nonprofits who rely on donations.
One local organization is now in search of a new home for 29 cats they can no longer house.
“We’ve been here seven years in this space and it’s been a great space for us. We have the rooms that we need and it’s worked out really well,” said Elaine Doran, Purrfect Pets founder and director.
Purrfects Pets and the more than two dozen cats they house, are running out of time to find a new home.
“We thought we had 'til the end of June, but we found out two weeks ago that we have to move by the end of May or vacate this. That has caused a big dilemma for us, because we do have 29 cats to place,” Doran said.
Purrfect Pets tells us this move was within their lease agreement with Oak Park Mall. The nonprofit also tells KSHB 41 News that Oak Park Mall has been helpful with the relocation process, including moving them to a new space inside the mall.
But with wheels turning fast and a new tenant preparing to move in soon, the cost of food and care is getting more expensive. Even as Purrfect Pets works to find these cats foster and forever homes.
“We are a very small nonprofit and we have to build out this space which is going to be expensive for us,” Doran said. “Adoptions numbers are down this year, about 36% from last year. We are a small organizations that takes our cats back, and we are getting some returns with financial situations with people.”
KC Pet Project says they too are feeling the financial impact with cats, dogs and others animals they take in.
“Including pet food and supplies, if you go to the stores right now, a lot of the shelves are bare because of supply chain issues, and we're having trouble getting simple things here like treats and food,” said Tori Fugate, communications officer for KC Pet Project.
Fugate says as costs of food and care continue to rise, owners are no longer able to care for their pets.
“There isn’t enough affordable housing for people that own pets, especially for large dogs, so whenever we have people coming in saying they have to relinquish their animal to the shelter, a lot of the reason is 40% of all the dogs coming in right now that are owner-surrendered are here because of housing or they cant afford housing."
Despite the setbacks, both KC Pet Project and Purrfect Pets are doing what they can to make sure these good boys and girls have a loving home.
“Frankly this is a crisis that we are experiencing here with all of these animals coming in. We just can’t at any point say that we are full, but we always need more foster home and more people coming in to adopt,” Fugate said.
