A Fredericton cat rescue organization called CARMA has issued an urgent call for help after a house fire in Sussex, N.B. left 19 cats homeless.

All 19 cats were living with an elderly couple, well-known in the Sussex area as people who would take in any cat who was no longer wanted, but they’re now faced with new challenges.

CARMA volunteer Suzanne Prior says the wife has had to go into hospice care.

“The husband stayed in the house with the cats and unfortunately there was a house fire and he couldn't stay there because the house was condemned, so then there's a problem with what are you going to do with the cats?” says Prior.

The animal protection office contacted the CARMA organization to ask for their help.

Prior says the cats are extremely friendly and they’re well socialized with both people, other cats and dogs.

Adoption fees have been reduced in an effort to get the cats into new homes as soon as possible.

“In the case of these cats they would be euthanized and again these are friendly cats that were dearly loved so that would've been very painful to everybody involved,” says Prior.

CARMA volunteer Sue Knight says, unfortunately, this isn’t an uncommon occurrence.

“It's very common, when we go and deal with colonies sometimes the caregivers don't even know how many they're dealing with, they think they're dealing with ten or 12 then we go on and sit there and particularly at feeding time we'll find there are 25 to 30 to 35,” said  Knight.

CARMA is now pushing for a provincial strategy to look at the overwhelming cat population they’re dealing with.

Knight says the cat population in New Brunswick is an issue that’s hard to track due to a lack of data available.

“It's all anecdotal for phone calls, we know in the CARMA chapters how many colonies we're dealing with, but we know from where we don't have chapters and where we can't help, we've had calls for help,” she said.

The organization has put out a survey in an attempt to find out more information.

Knight says an example from a survey in Halifax revealed that there were over 50 colonies of cats with a couple of colonies that had more than 500 cats.

The 19 cats who are up for adoption range in age from eight months to two years old.

Anyone interested in fostering a cat is asked to contact the Fredericton chapter of CARMA.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore