Dogs, cats … and rats available for adoption

If you've always wanted a pet rat -- and who hasn't? -- this is your lucky weekend.

You can pick up two of the pestilence-turned-pets Saturday or Sunday at an adoption event by Best Friends Animal Society and the Animal Foundation, which operates Lied Animal Shelter.

For more conventional pet lovers, cats and dogs also will be available or adoption.

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. both days at the shelter's satellite adoption center at 7035 Ann Road.

The shelter is closing the center at the end of the month and hopes to find homes for its 38 remaining animals before then. A second satellite center already closed.

Animal Foundation Executive Director Christine Robinson said the closures are part of a major reorganization of the Lied Animal Shelter that will allow resources to be redirected to the main shelter.

The shelter closed for a week earlier this year and 1,000 animals were euthanized after a team from the Humane Society of the United States discovered an outbreak of parvovirus and distemper in dogs and panleukopenia in cats.

All animals available for adoption are spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Photos of the animals can be seen online.

Adoption fees are $50 for dogs and $30 for cats. Information on fees for rats was unavailable on Thursday.

For more information, call Lied Animal Shelter at 384-3333.