20 barn cats still need homes after 131 rescued in Griffin Pond hoarding situation

CLARKS SUMMIT, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) — 131 barn cats were rescued from a hoarding situation at Griffin Pond Animal Shelter last February. While many have found new homes, 20 are still waiting for a barn to call their own.

With winter approaching, the shelter is reminding the community what it takes to care for barn cats and why now is the time to adopt.

Barn cats are working domestic cats that primarily live outdoors on farms or rural properties, helping control rodents and other pests.

Development Director at Griffin Pond Animal Shelter, Sherry Crolly, explained the role these cats can play on a property and what adopters need to know about their acclimation period.

“There is an acclimation period with barn cats, so it could be up to 30 days to 6 to 8 weeks. And basically, what you’re trying to do is just keep them kind of getting used to your barn area. Barn cats are great to kill rodents. They’re great little hunters, especially if you have grain and feed with livestock. They’ll keep those little rodents away from all of it,” said Crolly.

Crolly said this hoarding situation is not an isolated case. She said the shelter has seen an increase in hoarding situations, with more cases occurring recently.

“We’ve had a dog hoarding situation across two counties within the last 30 days, and we’re seeing tons of cat hoarding situations. We still have cats from another hoarding situation that came in late February, beginning of March. And most of those cats are blind because the person was feeding them raw rice, but they’re very friendly, very sweet, lovable lap cats,” said Crolly.

With winter approaching, Crolly said now is the ideal time to adopt a barn cat, giving them enough time to acclimate to their new surroundings before the colder months arrive. She also emphasized that while barn cats live primarily outdoors, they still need a warm, safe space inside the barn to protect them from the cold during winter.

“If you are going to take some barn cats, especially in the winter months, to have a heated house. You’ll have the barn, but maybe also like a little heated house outdoors or outside of the barn, just in case they get caught outside in the winter,” said Crolly.

The barn cats at Griffin Pond are available for adoption at no cost. All of the cats are spayed or neutered and up to date on their vaccinations.

Griffin Pond said they are still accepting applications for barn cat adoptions.

For those interested in adopting, click here.