A Tsunami of Cats: The Crisis Facing Homeless to Home

At Homeless to Home Animal Rescue & Cat Sanctuary, we’ve seen busy summers before — but nothing like this. This year has brought an overwhelming wave of cats and kittens through our doors, a crisis unlike anything we’ve experienced in the past. Just last week alone, more than 60 cats arrived in a single day.

Families are driving hours, sometimes from across the state or even from neighboring states, after being turned away everywhere else. Shelters across Ohio — and beyond — are closing their intake doors, unable to handle the surge. Many are refusing cats entirely. And when desperate people run out of options, they come to us.

At HTH, we cannot bring ourselves to turn animals away. But this “tsunami of cats” has forced us to make difficult choices about how we allocate space and resources. Right now, the most vulnerable take priority:

🐾 Mothers with kittens who need safe shelter to raise their babies🐾 Orphaned kittens too young to survive on their own🐾 Sick, injured, or suffering animals requiring urgent care

Feral and adult cats are not forgotten — but they take longer to place and often require more time to socialize. For the moment, we are asking our community to help us bridge the gap. If you encounter strays in your area, the most impactful things you can do are:

🍽️ Provide food and water to keep them stable🏠 Offer temporary shelter if you are able🐈 Seek out spay/neuter or TNR (trap-neuter-return) services to prevent the cycle from continuing.

If a cat is especially friendly and suddenly shows up at your home, it may be a sign they’ve been abandoned. Please reach out — even if we cannot take them in immediately, we may be able to provide food or supplies to help you support them until space opens.

This crisis is not just about numbers. It is about lives — thousands of cats across Ohio and beyond who are allowed to breed unchecked, only to be turned away from shelter doors. It is about the heartbreaking decisions that rescues like ours face every day, balancing compassion with capacity.

What we can promise is this: HTH will always respond to sick, injured, and suffering animals to the very best of our ability. Those will always take priority. But to make it through this unprecedented flood of cats, we need your help.

💜 Foster if you can.

💜 Donate supplies if you’re able.

💜 Share food or water with the strays in your neighborhood.

💜 Spread the word about spaying and neutering.

Together, we can weather this storm. Together, we can make sure that every cat — from the tiniest orphaned kitten to the weary adult no one else will take — has a chance at life, love, and hope.