PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — It’s a capacity “cat-astrophe” at the Portsmouth Humane Society.

“We are full on just about every animal that we take,” said Executive Director Alison Fechino.

The animal shelter is out of cages and out of workers to keep up with the number of cats, dogs and other small animals in the shelter.

“We’ve had more animals coming in than leaving over the last several months and eventually that builds to a point where we don’t have any more open cages,” Fechino said.

She can’t say for sure why this is happening.

“If I had to take a guess I would have to say life is really hard right now for everybody and the stressors that lead to people relinquishing their pets are exacerbated,” she said.

In an effort to help get more cats and dogs out the door and into new homes, the Portsmouth Humane Society is reducing adoption fees by $25 a pet and cats, as always, are adopt one get one free.

“We do that because a lot of times, cats are happier when they are placed in pairs,” Fechino explained.

The shelter is also encouraging those who can’t adopt to foster an animal. And if you’ve lost a pet, Fechino encourages you to come in and take a look around.

“Many of our animals here are found pets from the community that have homes and maybe people just don’t know where to look for them,” she said.

At the very least, she is asking the community to help spread the word and share their social media posts to help save lives.