Cat rescue group needs new home

Chandler-based Kit Kat Rescue is looking for a new home due to the closure of their current PetSmart location.

Chandler PetSmart to close after 18 years

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PetSmart, located at Alma School and Warner Road, currently serves as an adoption center for the no-kill nonprofit cat rescue group. The store will be closing on July 26, displacing Kit Kat Rescue and the 200 felines that it currently serves.

“To say that there is a panic within the team of Kit Kat is an understatement,” Venus Henderson-Hughes, an employee of Kit Kat, said in an e-mail.

The organization is rushing to find a new location where it can showcase cats. Most of the cats in the care of Kit Kat are in foster homes, but they use the PetSmart location for actual viewing of cats. Kit Kat President Wayne Miller said the deciding factor for a location is the ability to showcase the animals.

“Key placement for an animal is to show the animal,” Miller said. “It’s best if we can rotate the cats through the adoption center.”

Kit Kat Rescue was able to adopt out 78 cats this past year out of the PetSmart location, while their internet adoptions were only around 10 to 15 cats.

Miller said there’s a possibility of sharing a location with another rescue group.

“We don’t want to injure any other rescue out there,” Miller said. “It’s got to be a win-win for everyone.”

No plans are final for Kit Kat, but it is running out of time. The air conditioning in the store has gone out and the cats are being cooled only by four fans, Henderson-Hughes said.

“The cats are not in any peril,” Miller said. “But it can get quite uncomfortable in the heat.”

There are about 20 cats currently residing at the PetSmart. They will remain available for viewing there until the doors are officially closed later this month. Miller said that if they cannot find homes for the cats in the next two weeks they’ll have to be squeezed into foster homes.

“Many of the staff have quite a few of the animals in their homes already with not much more space for extra animals,” Henderson-Hughes said.

Miller said that while finding a new location is a priority, he ultimately hopes for Kit Kat to open up its own shelter.

“More shelters are needed in the East Valley,” Miller said.

Miller said opening a new shelter would hopefully be able to save more animals in Maricopa County. Last year 31,055 animals were euthanized and 12,990 of them were treatable or manageable dogs and cats. Kit Kat has even begun to take in small dogs in an effort to save more animals from euthanization.