While shortages of toilet paper and hand sanitizer are still far reaching in New York, there’s another shortage occurring within the city, a shortage of shelter dogs and cats.

According to an article from Bloomberg on Wednesday, Muddy Paws Rescue and Best Friends Animal Society, are reporting shelters they work with are either entirely out of or close to being out of cats and dogs after there was a 10x surge in applications over the last two weeks.

Anna Lai, the marketing director at Muddy Paws says this is “a great problem to have” after they ran out of dogs to match with foster volunteers. 

This massive spike in the pet adoptions isn’t exclusive to New York, or the United States, for that matter. 

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says that its Los Angeles office saw a 70% rise in animals going into foster care and Best Friends Animal Society says that similar scenarios are occurring all across the country.

There were also reports from the UK about increases in adoption rates for sheltered dogs and cats since the start of their lockdown. Battersea Dogs and Cats revealed that for the week starting March 16th, the animal shelter found forever homes for 86 dogs and 69 cats, which is more than double the number of adoptions from the previous week. 

As a result of all of this, pet-centred companies’ shares are soaring as the rest of the market crashes. Chewy Inc. is up 7% this year, a similar rise to what PetMed Express Inc. is experiencing.

While this is all undoubtedly good news, some shetlers worry that there could be an influx of returned pets as people start losing their jobs or getting sick as a result of the virus. 

However, for now, as we all collectively stay indoors, people living alone, couples, and families with children can all enjoy the love and companionship of a new family member.

If you’re looking for more positive vibes, try checking out our uplifting coronavirus stories post. For more daily feel good stories, make sure to subscribe.