PORTAGE | Van and Crystal roam the small office of the Portage Animal Control Department.

Brushing up against visitors as they walk in the door, their soft purrs seem to say "take me home."

Then Marge Beirlle of GB Rescue Group walks in with Oscar. He's looking for a home, too.

Pat Parish, a Portage animal control officer, is expecting two more cats to come her way later in the day. That's on top of the corgi housed in the pen behind the office and the boxer and two Labrador mixes in the back of her van. She's hoping to find their owners sometime during the day.

If Parish and partner Rick Henderlong can't find the animal's owners, or if the owner no longer wants them, they're hoping to find homes for the critters.

Finding homes for abandoned animals is a growing part of their services, along with picking up strays and handling dog bite and abuse complaints.

They have a network -- rescue groups, animal clinics, friends and family -- where they put out the word, seeking responsible pet owners. Some find owners. Some are fostered until permanent placement can be found.

"We take a lot to Hobart (Humane Society) and they try to adopt them out, but they only have so much room and can't hold them any longer," Parish said. "Some of them may have something wrong with them, so we try to keep them and help them so they won't be put down."

Often, Parish said, people who have lost a cat or dog don't call their office or call several days after the animal has wandered off. It's best, she recommended, to call as soon as possible to report a missing pet.

The department was on case 168 this particular Thursday morning. But that number doesn't represent the number of animals it has tried to help so far this year. One home earlier in the year had 38 cats rescued from it. Another had 12. A box of 11 kittens was found at Imagination Glen Park recently. Those 168 cases probably represent 500 animals, said Parish.

Cats, which can have three litters a year, are a particular problem. Dogs are easier to place and there don't seem to be as many strays as there used to be, they say.

"It's got to be the love. You don't want to see them put down," Henderlong said of the efforts the two make to find homes for animals.

It doesn't stop with cats and dogs. Parish's morning started with a call from a local day care center. They'd found a guinea pig in their yard when employees came to work in the morning.

It was a first for Parish. She picked up the small animal. Back in her van, she began making calls, trying to find a home for the animal. A local veterinarian's office said it would accept the guinea pig and try to place it.

BREAKOUT

For more information

Contact the Portage Animal Control Department at (219) 763-1825.