Home Depot Shoppers Discover 15 Animals in One Kennel

“Nobody in the area could tell them where [the cats] came from …”

A few weeks ago, the team at Safe Haven Humane Society was handling a busy day when an unexpected group of visitors arrived at their front door. They were carrying a large crate filled with cats they had discovered while shopping at Home Depot and had brought directly to the shelter in hopes of getting them help.

“Our front office gave me a call and was like, ‘Hey, I really need some help. These people just showed up with an unknown amount of cats in their car in crates,’” Katie Storm, marketing and development specialist at Safe Haven Humane Society, told The Dodo.

Strangers Find Cats Abandoned Outside Home Depot

The rescuers explained that they had found two crates taped together outside the Home Depot parking area, with no person nearby claiming them. They stayed in the area for some time, hoping someone would return for the animals, but nobody ever came.

“No one in the area could tell them where the cats came from, and they didn’t know what to do at that point,” Storm explained. “So they took them and drove over to us.”

Although Safe Haven Humane Society usually operates through an appointment-based system, the staff immediately recognized that the cats needed urgent assistance and decided to make an exception.

“We were all kind of at our max, but our executive director went out and talked to them and could tell they didn’t know what to do at that point,” Storm said.

A Shocking Discovery Inside the Crates

The people who found the cats had never opened the taped-up crates because they were worried the animals might escape. As a result, no one knew exactly how many cats were trapped inside.

When shelter workers finally opened the crates, they were stunned to discover a total of 15 cats.

“One crate held four adult cats, two of whom were heavily pregnant,” Safe Haven Humane Society shared on Instagram. “The second, much smaller crate contained two more adults and nine kittens.”

Shelter Staff Provide Immediate Care

The humane society team quickly began caring for the cats, providing them with medical attention, food, and a safe place to recover. To help reduce stress after their frightening experience, all of the cats stayed together during their first night at the shelter.

“By the morning, everybody was more relaxed and happy,” Storm said.

Giving Each Cat a Fresh Start

To celebrate their new beginning, the shelter named all 15 cats after Disney characters. The organization explained that after everything they had experienced, each one deserved a true “happily-ever-after.”

Fortunately, their new lives began quickly.

Within just two weeks, all nine kittens and four adult cats — Alice, Bo Peep, Jasmine, and Aurora — found adoptive families. The two pregnant cats, Alana and Flora, were placed in foster homes, where they safely gave birth to healthy kittens. Those kittens and their mothers will be ready for adoption in August.

“[The kittens] are starting to get cute and chunky,” Storm said.

A Rescue That Changed 15 Lives

The Safe Haven Humane Society team is grateful that these cats were found in time and given the chance to experience love, safety, and permanent homes.

“To know that they probably would have been stuck in a cycle of having kittens over and over if nobody found them is heartbreaking for us,” Storm said. “So we’re happy that they get to be happy and in homes and loved.”

What began as a mysterious discovery outside a Home Depot ended with 15 cats receiving the second chance they desperately needed.