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Huntsville Animal Services has stopped taking in cats until Dec. 5.

"I'd say the last 12 months are the worst I've seen it in 10 years," said Diana Crawford, president of Friends of Rescue.

Huntsville Animal Services and Friends of Rescue are overwhelmed with cats and dogs. Both are in need of people to foster. 

"We keep getting litter after litter. It's been very tiring this year," said Lauren Anders, program coordinator for Huntsville Animal Services.

Anders works at Huntsville Animal Services, but for the past 10 years, she's welcomed foster cats to her home.

"I have never had so many at one time," said Anders.

Most recently, she housed 14 cats.

"We had so many fosters this year that already had so many kittens and they couldn't take anymore, and so I started with one litter, and then we just got a couple here and a couple there, and no one could take additional ones," said Anders.

The norm for fosters is two to five cats at a time, but recently, that's been near impossible.

"I think a lot of it just has to do with people are being displaced from their homes right now, and they can't take their pets with them. We have a lot of owner surrenders," said Anders.

That's not the only problem. Right now, Huntsville Animal Services has stopped taking cats in due to respiratory illnesses.

"A lot of our stray cats have been coming in a little sick and congested, and because we have so many cats, it's getting passed between cat to cat," said Anders.

To slow down the overall volume of cats coming into shelters, the president of Friends of Rescue asks owners to do one thing: "Spay and neuter, spay and neuter, spay and neuter."

Crawford said every rescue organization is feeling like they're drowning and in need of help.

"We're reaching out to each other, 'Can you take this litter? Can you do this?'" said Crawford. "It's absolutely brutal."

Click to learn more about Friends of Rescue.

To become a foster parent, you can fill out an application in person at

Both organizations will supply fosters with the food and materials they need to care for the animals.

Right now, Huntsville Animal Services has changed its adoption fees in hopes of getting more people to adopt.

For adult cats, the fee is waived. Kittens are $35.