Cass County Animal Control Officer Ron Butts said following the annual Christmas open house, 52 pets were adopted. (Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK)

Starting with its annual holiday open house, Cass County Animal Control has had a rush of adoptions, which have left the shelter with a shortage of pets available to be adopted.

“I have been going over some numbers and for the last month and a half. We have had 52 adoptions from the shelter here,” Ron Butts, animal control officer said. “Some of them we think are related to the holidays, which we try to discourage during the Christmas season. We try to encourage you to come before or after the Christmas season.

“We had our Christmas open house the first Saturday in December and we had close to 300 people attend in our four-hour time frame.”

The open house also serves a the shelter’s primary fundraiser.

“It is also a thank you back to the community for the support they provide to us,” Butts said. “They donated over 3,500 pounds of dog food and over 1,100 pounds of cat food, over 2,000 pounds of litter and 143 gallons of bleach, along with a variety of cleaning supplies, toys, snacks and treats. It was a fantastic turnout.”

Because they do not process adoptions during the Christmas open house, the following Monday the rush began.

“Our parking lot was completely full Monday morning at 8 a.m.,” Butts said. “We had quite a few adoptions during that first hour.”

While dogs and cats were leaving the shelter at a brisk pace, animal control officers have not been taking in a lot of animals so far this winter.

“I don’t know if people are being more responsible or it is just the winter time and people are keeping their pets closer,” Butts said. “They are not out running as much. This is a unique situation for us. We are kind of scratching our heads wondering or maybe we are getting through to the people and they are taking care of their pets properly.

“The quality of the pets we are taking in or the officers find are not your average junkyard dogs anymore like in year’s past. That has also helped us get the pets placed easier.”

Anyone interested in adopting a pet should visit the shelter at 323 M-62 North in Cassopolis. For more information, call 445-3701.