Fort Bend animal shelter needs public's help to save pets

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Fort Bend Animal Services is sending out a plea right now to find good homes for an overabundance of dogs in their shelter. But leave it to some newborn kittens to steal away some hearts first.

Four tiny, barely mobile, kittens were brought in by a resident who said they were discovered in a barbecue pit.

"You can tell they are just baby newborns," said shelter director Rene Vasquez, gently picking up one of the fragile kittens. "What we'll have to do is reach out to a bottle feeder right now, keep them warm, and do our best to keep them up."

Vasquez had actually welcomed Fox26 to the shelter on this day because of a bigger problem.

"We have great dogs. We have a variety of dogs. But as you can see they're all big dogs right now."

The shelter also has too many dogs. They're caring for about 65 more than the shelter is built to hold.

Vasquez says they have been placing more than 100 dogs per month, but the past 3 weeks has been unusual.

"We've just been overwhelmed," he said. "The more they adopt, the more they come in."

Fort Bend's normal adoption fee is $100 dollars for a fully vetted animal. That includes spaying or neutering, getting all the shots, and being micro-chipped and heart worm tested.

But the shelter just started a special. It's $25 for most of the animals, and $10 for some of the residents that have been there the the longest. One of the first dogs we saw was a very friendly pit bull mix that Vasquez says is great with kids.

"She's fully vetted and sweet as can be," Vasquez says as the dog licked and licked my outstretched hand. "That's what she does. She's a dang licker!" he said laughing.

Vasquez says the shelter does its best to test the temperament of the dogs that come in and match families up with the right pet.

"We don't know where they came from if we picked them up from the street," Vasquez says, "But we do know how they act when they're here at the shelter."

If you're interested in adopting an animal you're urged to bring your kids there, even bring other household pets in, to see how they get along.

The shelter is simply trying hard not to have to resort to euthanizing.

"It's something that we haven't had to do in a while. because when this happens, the public reaches out and they really come forward."

Vasquez says the tiny kittens have to get a bit older before they'll be available, but the dogs are ready to go to a new loving family right now. For more information go to www.fortbendcountypets.com.