Litter of puppies left on the side of the road in Cabell County

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A litter of 10 puppies is in a makeshift home in a bathroom at the Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Shelter, because it’s the only place the shelter could make space for them.

“Right now, we are way over capacity, and we desperately need fosters and adopters,” said office manager Andrea Jones Parkins.

Sunday afternoon they were found in a cardboard box and a broken crate, and the shelter couldn’t just turn them away.

“In a situation like that where they were literally left on the side of a busy road, yeah, we can’t,” said Jones Parkins. “We do our very best to find placement for them.”

The shelter doesn’t normally take newborn puppies because their immunities aren’t strong enough to be in environment of a shelter, especially after being pulled away from their mother so soon.

“It’s just not safe and healthy, and our concern is the health and safety of the animals,” Jones Parkins said.

Luckily, all 10 puppies made it out alive, but given the heat and humidity, they may not have made it.

“It’s really troubling when things like that happen because we see a lot of folks who bring animals in and they don’t realize how quickly puppies or any animals can get overheated,” Jones Parkins said.

Which is why they’re especially pushing to find fosters and adopters to give puppies, and the rest of the animals in the shelter, safe and loving homes.

That way, there’s more space for animals to be safely sheltered.

The shelter has photos of all of the animals up for adoption on their website and they update it almost hourly.

They also have links to applications to either foster or adopt.

Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest information.