ORLANDO, Fla. — Two Central Florida animal shelters report overcrowding, and they’re appealing this month to your senses and especially your finances.

Orange County Animal Services has reduced its adoption rate to $10 for eligible dogs and cats, and Marion County Animal Services is offering free adoptions for all animals throughout July.

Ahead of the July 4 holiday, meanwhile, animal shelters including Seminole County Animal Services are emphasizing the effects of fireworks on dogs and cats and providing tips on how to protect your pets during the celebrations.

One Massachusetts-based animal-advocacy volunteer reports cases of frightened dogs jumping through windows and running away, prompting increased missing-dog reports in July.

Regarding this month's reduced adoption rates, Orange County Animal Services emphasized that it doesn’t exist for profit and that it frequently offers promotions to reduce its shelter population.

“To us, the more valuable piece is, ‘What can we do to highlight these animals and to get them into their homes as quickly as possible?’” manager Diane Summers told Spectrum News this week.

Meanwhile, Marion County Animal Services is playfully appealing to your July 4 patriotism. Its Facebook page features a dog with superimposed red, white and blue sunglasses and a cat in an Uncle Sam hat.

“Let Freedom Ring!” it declared in a Thursday post and reference to free adoptions.

“We generally try to include some sort of fun, holiday-themed or timely promotion in order to encourage people to visit the Animal Center, and spend some time with our adorable adoptable pets and bring a new member into their family,” Marion County spokesman Alex AuBuchon said in an email to Spectrum News.

He cited overcrowding as the reason for the current promotion.

The overcrowding comes during so-called kitten season, or feline breeding season, which typically begins during spring and overwhelms animal shelters through summer.

Lake County Animal Services, Osceola County Animal Services and Volusia County Animal Services stand among those whose social media pages in recent weeks have emphasized photos of adoptable cats and kittens.  

And they’ve been predictably cute about it.

“Get storm ready right meow!” Lake County wrote in a Facebook post that featured a hooded cat and told of a promotion last week at a local Hurricane Expo.

“Cats are prolific breeders, so the need to find homes for their offspring is urgent,” said Marion County’s AuBuchon.

The shelter’s adoptions, which usually cost $50 for cats and dogs, include vaccinations, spay or neutering, microchip and a county license. All of that is included in its July promotion, he said.

The Marion County shelter also has two-long time canine residents who need homes: Canyon, an 8-year-old male mixed breed in his 476th day at the shelter, and Percy, an 8-year-old female mixed breed in her 464th day there.

AuBuchon noted that shelters also tend to see an increased number of puppies this time of year. “Adopters are naturally more attracted to them, which means older dogs are more overlooked than usual,” he said.

In Orange County, shelter officials said Thursday they were caring for 173 dogs and 146 cats, putting them at “near capacity.” The shelter said the same in May after it confiscated 51 dogs because of what it considered poor care or unsafe living conditions.

Shelters say their capacities fluctuate depending on how many animals they have to keep separately, such as dogs who don’t get along with other dogs, or must keep together, such as a dog with a litter.

Summers, the manager at Orange County Animal Services, said she doesn’t consider it unusual to house about 170 dogs at a time. Yet she said the shelter’s population of more than 300 dogs and cats caught the shelter by surprise given a drop in the number of animals it housed during the pandemic compared with the previous year.

The shelter took in 12,000 animals in the fiscal year that ended in October, about 5,000 fewer than the previous year, she said. She attributed the decrease in large part to the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which many people worked from home and could better take care of a pet.

Summers said shelter officials hoped “that it was indicative of just a downward trend and people really trying to keep their animals at home.”

Yet the shelter now sees “normal numbers” of pet intakes, she said.

Asked if a drop in COVID-19 cases and an easing of safety guidelines has prompted more people to give up their pets, Summers said, “I think that plays a role in it. But throughout the years we've always seen a number of animals surrendered because people are moving and can't bring them along or they've been evicted from their residence.”

The shelter charges standard adoption fees of $55 for dogs and $40 for cats. About a third of the shelter’s animals are available at the $10 rate, which includes vaccinations, microchips and spaying or neutering, she said.

The shelter takes in many animals as strays and must hold them for a certain period before making them available for adoption, Summers said.

As for the other dogs and cats, she said, “they're ready to go out the door with that forever family.”