TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Several East Texas animal shelters have been overrun with stray dogs and cats. With the increase of colder weather, the need to find a warm shelter for these animals has increased.

Every day Facebook will be flooded with posts about stray animals needing help. East Texas animal shelters have been having a hard time keeping up with the demand.

With no more room to house stray animals in East Texas, non-profits like the Humane Society of the United States have taken animals out of state.

“With the rescues that are here locally, what they do is they work with rescues that are up north and they get in animals adopted out because they have a very strict spay and neuter laws up there,” said Amber Green, the supervisor with the Smith County Animal Control and Shelter. “So in some types of dogs we have down here they don’t have up there so they want them.”

For example, 38 dogs were seized in Winona, but since the East Texas shelters were full of abandoned animals, they were taken to Maryland instead.

“There is just no one that wants to adopt right now, and the fosters and or rescues that take animals from us, they are looking for fosters to help get the animals out of there,” said Green.

Unlike the north, there are no spay and neuter laws in Texas, and East Texas animal shelters said they are overrun with puppies and kittens coming through their doors.

“Treat your animals like they are a part of your family and if at all possible, bring them indoors,” said Gayle Helms the executive director for Pets Fur People.

Without help, animals have been spending their time outside in the freezing cold, shivering with no shelter and food.

East Texas rescues have been doing everything they can to keep up with the demand and make room, but the need for fosters and supplies has been growing.

“I think a lot of people don’t understand the impact of having these dogs and cats that are not being spayed and neutered and how it affects the whole community,” said Helms.

In seven years a female cat and her offspring can produce 427,000 kittens. Shelters and rescues around East Texas said that spaying and neutering is the best way to fix the issue.

For those who are interested in becoming a foster, donating to a shelter, or adopting, they can reach out to their local rescue for more information.