Three recent litters of puppies and an influx of kittens has prompted the Hinton and District SPCA to put out a special call for animal adoptions.

Eight new pups were born on Nov. 9, bringing the total number of animals at the regional shelter higher than it’s ever been.

“We have 29 dogs and puppies on site,” Hinton and District SPCA vice-president Cathy Thomas said, noting that the usual dog population hovers between eight and 14.

“We’re cat-crazy down here at the moment,” she added. “We have about 55 cats and kittens on site.”

Despite the record numbers of animals, Thomas said the relatively new SPCA facility, which opened its doors in December 2009, can handle the population it currently has, but has little room for any additional incoming cats or dogs.

“It would be a real tight fit, but we’d make it happen,” she said.

The SPCA is hoping to find new homes for the animals already housed at the shelter in short order. Thomas said the most recent litter of pups – which she guessed are a lab/collie mix of some type – won’t be ready to go until they are eight weeks old, but prospective owners can reserve an animal now for future adoption.

The same goes for a litter of pups born two weeks earlier. Those have a lot of miniature American Eskimo and likely some lab in them, Thomas said.

There’s also an “all-Canadian mixed-breed” litter of pups that are now ready to go, she said. That’s a catch-all term, she added, for when “only their mother knows for sure” what kind of puppies they are.

Thomas said the best place for information about animals available for adoption is the Hinton and District SPCA blog – hintonspca.blogspot.com – as it is updated often. If a dog or cat disappears from the blog, she said, it means it has been adopted.

The SPCA in Hinton also serves Jasper, Edson, Grande Cache and the Yellowhead Country region in general. It is located at 209 Kelley Rd. in Hinton and is open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. seven days a week.

For more information call 780-865-2800.