Animal Shelters in Crisis

[Pea-n-Me]

There’s been a domino effect since the pandemic.
Many pets were unable to be spayed and neutered due to closures and that brought more animals to be cared for.
Staff shortages remain. Some shelters without a vet have trouble processing animals for adoption.

Right now a big issue is the economic downturn.
People can’t afford to feed their animals and in some cases are losing their homes due to increased rents.
Many love their pets but just can’t afford to keep them.
Some adopted pets for company while home during the pandemic but now have to go back to work.

Shelters are desperate for funds and help.
They need foster families, even those who might be able to help out just on an emergency basis, to get an animal out of a shelter who’s facing euthanization due to overcrowding.
They need to move animals into foster care or homes in order to make room for other animals.

Daily they are finding all kinds of pets at their doorsteps that they have no where to place.
Animals in shelters long term often develop behavioral, and sometimes health, problems due to stress.
Not sure everyone is aware this is happening.

I know we have a lot of pet lovers here so I thought I’d open up this discussion about how we can all help.

 

[Moliphino]

In my area there are a lot of rescues that bring dogs up from the south to find homes. We don't have a large homeless pet issue (there are currently 4 dogs between the two local shelters), so we bring them in from places that do.

I've adopted two rescues in the past two years. Leota was an abandoned puppy in Alabama and Rosita's mom was pregnant in an Alabama shelter, taken in by a rescue up north, and gave birth in a foster home in NY.

I regularly donate to Best Friends, as they do work nationwide to help shelters become no-kill, promote legislation to protect animals and get rid of breed-specific legislation, etc.

 

[LSUmiss]

One other issue in my area is some of the ridiculous hoops you have to jump through to adopt. While I don’t want pets to end up in the wrong hands, some of it is just crazy. My sister adopted a Great Dane & that process was absurd.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

One really easy way to help is to use AmazonSmile instead of plain Amazon for purchases.

You can direct where you want the charitable donation that Amazon makes with each purchase to wherever you want it to go.

Mine goes to a rescue group that takes on some of the most heinous abuse cases imaginable, and I also donate to them regularly using Venmo, as well as other rescue organizations.

I always remind my family members (on our account) when they’re making purchases to use AmazonSmile. It’s easy when shopping to accidentally slip back to regular Amazon, so you have to pay attention. But you can see how many times they’ve donated on your behalf, and how much money it’s produced. It may not be a lot, but every little bit helps.

 

[easyas123]

Excellent thread topic Pea! And one you know is near & dear to my heart..

One other issue in my area is some of the ridiculous hoops you have to jump through to adopt. While I don’t want pets to end up in the wrong hands, some of it is just crazy. My sister adopted a Great Dane & that process was absurd.

I work closely with a rescue in the Northeast, and have been a volunteer & a foster home for quite a while. And..you aren't wrong! I feel like at times rescues can be a bit militant and heavy handed. They do have checks & balances, and all of that is well intentioned and frankly, needed. I had a applicant to adopt a foster I had that were great on paper, all references checked out, home visit went swimmingly....then tell them congrats you've got the dog! and they say "oh, yeah...I never really asked me husband, he doesn't want another dog in the home" , and I've had other times where they totally flake out, but there are times where it can get absurd as you mentioned.
The current rescue (brac dogs) I work with I've been with for 6 years, prior to that I volunteered for a Great Dane Rescue, also in the mid- atlantic.
My current foster pup has just officially gone up for adoption a few days ago. While I won't be the one to sift thru all the applications, I will be presented with 3 or 4 applicants who best seem to fit the needs of the dogs. I'll look thru those and choose one that I think fits the dog best (because perfect is impossible but best is not to shabby), and also select a back up. I then contact the applicant and have a long conversation with them regarding the dog. Assuming that goes well the references (3 personal, 1 vet) are checked and another volunteer does a home visit in ensure the applicant does in fact have the premises they described in the application in relation to the care of the dog (fence. stairs, pools - things like that) Once that is done I notify the applicant that they are thru the process, the pup is theirs and we schedule a time for them to come and pick up their new family member. We operate from VA to Maine, so folks do sometimes have to drive a distance, but they agree to that when they submit the application. To keep from getting a ton of looky-lou's the rescue charges a $10 application fee.
All told the process can take 1-3 weeks depending on volunteer schedules and whatnot.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

In my area there are a lot of rescues that bring dogs up from the south to find homes. We don't have a large homeless pet issue (there are currently 4 dogs between the two local shelters), so we bring them in from places that do.

I've adopted two rescues in the past two years. Leota was an abandoned puppy in Alabama and Rosita's mom was pregnant in an Alabama shelter, taken in by a rescue up north, and gave birth in a foster home in NY.

I regularly donate to Best Friends, as they do work nationwide to help shelters become no-kill, promote legislation to protect animals and get rid of breed-specific legislation, etc.

One other issue in my area is some of the ridiculous hoops you have to jump through to adopt. While I don’t want pets to end up in the wrong hands, some of it is just crazy. My sister adopted a Great Dane & that process was absurd.

We got a shelter dog last spring, too, up from Mississippi. I agree about how hard it can be adopting. I tried for years finding the right dog and lost out on many that would’ve been good for our family. But I know they have rules for a reason and most are volunteers, so I rolled with it. Some shelters have made things a little easier I think lately so they can move these animals out.

 

[Moliphino]

One other issue in my area is some of the ridiculous hoops you have to jump through to adopt. While I don’t want pets to end up in the wrong hands, some of it is just crazy. My sister adopted a Great Dane & that process was absurd.

Lord yes. I always looked at a rescue's application process and immediately disregarded any that were too much work. I didn't want to deal with home visits or extensive interviews.

 

[TippyThomas]

The shelter I volunteer at hovers about 150 to 175 percent of it's normal population cap. We simply don't have any more room. I'm not familiar with the strategies they are using so I can't comment on what is or is not working. I just know there are more animals there than there should be and it's sad to see.

 

[Colleen27]

Here, they're shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by making it so hard to adopt. The county shelter is the only one that doesn't want veterinary references and a home visit and fees of several hundred dollars, and even with all that a lot of them have rules about what kind of fencing is okay (we were disqualified by one for having chain link), whether or not they'll adopt to families with children, etc. Then they cry about being full and post fundraisers and Amazon wish lists, but those same rescues *race* to the county shelters to adopt pretty much any non-pit bull dogs that come in, supposedly out of concern for the county's less strenuous vetting of adopters.

I think my favorite was the one that wouldn't qualify us to adopt the dog we were interested in because we have small animals (rabbits & cats; the dog in question was a lab-shepherd mix and apparently those have to go to dogs-only households) but then turned around and asked if we'd be willing to foster. So our household is adequate to care temporarily for dogs of unknown temperament but not to add a "forever" member of the family? Or the one that hosts the vaccine clinic we use for our indoor cats but won't adopt to us because we use their clinic to keep their shots up-to-date rather than taking the cats for full physicals when their shots are due.

We're currently looking to adopt a second dog and the county shelter recently shared an adoptable dogs post with one that perfectly met our criteria... medium size, young but not puppy, female, and of a breed we're familiar with. But it was snatched up by a breed-specific rescue within minutes of the shelter opening the day after the post. Two days later, the same dog is up for adoption on the rescue's Petfinder page for $450 (vs. the $125 the county charges).

 

[easyas123]

I'll add this -

I know this time of year and as we go into springtime many of us embark on a bit of a cleaning spree - at least I do! Those old blankets & towels you were going to replace? The shelters can really use those, and of course any donation of dog/cat beds, food & toys. Laundry soap, lysol, cleaning supplies...there really are many ways to help with a small donation of $$$ or household items they might need. Many keep a running list on their websites and/or Amazon wish lists.

 

[Darcy03231]

Honestly, I used to support our local shelter with donations of cat food, old towels, blankets, litter, etc. The last time I went in to donate I was rather rudely told that they'd prefer cash over donations. Last time I donated.

I've moved on to providing more support for our state food bank, local food pantry, veterans home, and homeless shelters/outreach programs. They've been very appreciative of anything donated and they are also in dire need.

 

[easyas123]

Honestly, I used to support our local shelter with donations of cat food, old towels, blankets, litter, etc. The last time I went in to donate I was rather rudely told that they'd prefer cash over donations. Last time I donated.

I've moved on to providing more support for our state food bank, local food pantry, veterans home, and homeless shelters/outreach programs. They've been very appreciative of anything donated and they are also in dire need.

That's a shame...honestly I probably would have done the same as you in that situation. And you are right, there is a lot of need everywhere.

Luckily the two shelters near me I've donated to have all been very gracious in accepting donations, but I know every place is run differently and all have to deal with limited funding in creative ways. It probably helps that I live in a very rural area with the lowest population in the state and things are less bureaucratic - or maybe a little under the radar is a better way of putting it - than in more heavily populated areas.

 

[Lumpy1106]

We're currently looking to adopt a second dog and the county shelter recently shared an adoptable dogs post with one that perfectly met our criteria... medium size, young but not puppy, female, and of a breed we're familiar with. But it was snatched up by a breed-specific rescue within minutes of the shelter opening the day after the post. Two days later, the same dog is up for adoption on the rescue's Petfinder page for $450 (vs. the $125 the county charges).

This has been my experience over the years too. Why are the "rescue" groups allowed to do this? It is absolutely impossible to adopt anything other than pit-bull mixes directly from the shelter where I live because of this. Call me cynical, but IMHO, this only benefits the "rescue" groups, and not the pets nor the people looking to adopt them. FWIW - we adopted our cats from the shelter, but went to a breeder to get our dog. We didn't want a pit bull and couldn't get the rescue group to respond to our requests, and yes, this has happened multiple times over decades.

 

[Mango7100]

There is a big crisis in veterinary medicine in general—there is and will continue to be a vet shortage due to various reasons such as poor income to education debt ratio, compassion fatigue, and undesirable working conditions. Not many vets go into shelter medicine, so shelters will continue to feel the pinch.

Ways to help—-get your pets spayed and neutered. Accidental breedings happen all the time (the cat got out once, the dog was in the yard and the neighbors dog jumped the fence, etc). Donate to local shelters—the national organizations such as ASPCA and Humane Society of the United States have a lower percent of donated dollars that actually go to the organizations, the rest go to top brass and marketing. Donating even towels or stuffed animals can help. Our local shelter will ask for simple things like toilet paper tubes for the rabbits and for people to make cat toys out of old socks and fill them with catnip. Foster if you can—space is a premium so even fostering for a week can make a huge difference. It also lets the pets who are scared and not outgoing in a stressful shelter setting let their true personality shine, therefore making them more adoptable. If you use the Target Circle app, you can select certain charities to get a percent of your sales.

And I know that people like to bash how expensive some adoption fees are, but they are a fraction of the cost of care. Heartworm testing, vaccines, spay/neuter, flea medication, deworming, FelV testing each adoptable pet adds up. Not to mention the cost of animals who need more extensive care. Our local shelter has achieved no kill status (adopts out 95% of intake), and they will do much more extensive veterinary care such as heartworm treatment, eye removal, limb amputation, fracture repairs, etc. Some fees are higher to weed people out who maybe can’t afford the commitment that is needed for the cost of a pet.

And honestly if you aren’t taking your current pets in for yearly exams (which they should have every year since I doubt any one on this thread is palpating their pets lymph nodes and abdomen, performing a retinal exam to look for hidden signs of hypertension, or performing thoracic auscultation) and they are not on appropriate parasite control and up to date on vaccinations, then the rescue assumes that you won’t take appropriate care of a new pet since that’s the history they have to go on. I have no problems with them denying someone for these reasons. The veterinary references I have filled out are basic—what pets does the family have, are they up to date on vaccines and parasite control, do they bring their pets in for yearly exams which is required to have an established veterinary-client-patient relationship, have you see any signs of neglect, etc.

 

[easyas123]

And I know that people like to bash how expensive some adoption fees are, but they are a fraction of the cost of care.

Quite true. My current foster, a 5 year old bulldog, has racked up just over $4K of medical bills that the rescue has paid out. In the six months he's been with us we've gotten him healthy & healed. His adoption fee is $500-

 

[Mango7100]

Quite true. My current foster, a 5 year old bulldog, has racked up just over $4K of medical bills that the rescue has paid out. In the six months he's been with us we've gotten him healthy & healed. His adoption fee is $500-

Exactly. The clinic I worked at did work for several rescue groups and they did any medical care necessary. We gave them a discount on our services and waived exam fees, but between all the dogs they had and some of the significant issues, their bills would be huge. And if a family wants to adopt a bulldog but thinks $500 is a crazy fee to pay, they are in for a rude awakening in what their future medical care bills would be considering the problems that are associated with bulldogs and their required maintenance.

 

[_19disnA]

Honestly, if you want to help a local animal shelter, donate directly to them so the items/money actually do some good. Those recent 'pathetic dog commercials' by the ASPCA are a big turnoff and if you do some research the vast majority of what you donate goes to pay expenses/salaries of the people who run that organization. So your 'donations' are mostly going to pay their salaries and virtually none of that ever gets to the organizations they are supposedly collecting for. I think the laws regarding 'non-profits' needs to be revisited to close these types of loopholes.

 

[Moliphino]

And honestly if you aren’t taking your current pets in for yearly exams (which they should have every year since I doubt any one on this thread is palpating their pets lymph nodes and abdomen, performing a retinal exam to look for hidden signs of hypertension, or performing thoracic auscultation) and they are not on appropriate parasite control and up to date on vaccinations, then the rescue assumes that you won’t take appropriate care of a new pet since that’s the history they have to go on. I have no problems with them denying someone for these reasons. The veterinary references I have filled out are basic—what pets does the family have, are they up to date on vaccines and parasite control, do they bring their pets in for yearly exams which is required to have an established veterinary-client-patient relationship, have you see any signs of neglect, etc.

Asking for vet references makes perfect sense. It was the personal references I had trouble with. The rescue I used required 2 and only one could be family, which is tough when you're a really antisocial person.

 

[TLSnell1981]

One really easy way to help is to use AmazonSmile instead of plain Amazon for purchases.

You can direct where you want the charitable donation that Amazon makes with each purchase to wherever you want it to go.

Mine goes to a rescue group that takes on some of the most heinous abuse cases imaginable, and I also donate to them regularly using Venmo, as well as other rescue organizations.

I always remind my family members (on our account) when they’re making purchases to use AmazonSmile. It’s easy when shopping to accidentally slip back to regular Amazon, so you have to pay attention. But you can see how many times they’ve donated on your behalf, and how much money it’s produced. It may not be a lot, but every little bit helps.

Thanks for this information. I shop ALOT on Amazon.

 

[Mango7100]

Asking for vet references makes perfect sense. It was the personal references I had trouble with. The rescue I used required 2 and only one could be family, which is tough when you're a really antisocial person.

Agree. I don’t see the need for 2 personal references in addition to a vet reference.