The number of cats is normal for this Sacramento shelter. Everything else is different

At the Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary, the only thing that is normal now is the number of cats. They have 40, about the average number.

The no-kill, cage-free shelter in Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento is operating with minimal staffing and extra cleaning precautions as a response to the coronavirus crisis. Adoptions have been stopped.

The number of dogs they handle – fostered outside the shelter for lack of space — has almost doubled. Some have come from the SPCA and other local shelters that have closed.

“The cats are not getting stimulation like they usually do because we are down to very just critical staff and volunteers,” said Patricia McConahay, Happy Tails adoption counselor.

The shelter, which is mainly run by volunteers, is seeking donations of food – which can be dropped into a bin outside to minimize social contact – and funds for spaying or neutering the dogs (procedures that would typically occur before they arrived at the shelter before the outbreak).

Visit the shelter’s website at happytails.org for more information.