Helping Homeless Pets

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Lynne Hudlow

Before moving to Portland, I lived in a more rural area of Pacific Northwest where fall is one of my favorite times of the year — a great way for me to spend a fall afternoon is seeing all the color changes that the season brings. The vibrant leaf changes and seasonal foliage are amazing out in the country!

While there are a lot of things I loved about living beyond the city, one major downside to it was that we would often find a lot of abandoned or stray Pets. People often drive Pets out to the ‘country’ and turn them loose when they’re no longer wanted. I have adopted two cats this way in the past. They were kittens at the time and Ebony as I named her, had stunted growth which I’m almost certain was due to the malnutrition she endured before finding us. Ttoz was much younger when we found him and he grew to a healthy adult size. There were also a number of Pets we found that we brought to the local humane society in the hopes of finding them new homes since our house was full at the time with 4 dogs and 4 cats.

I found my cat, Toast, after having moved to the city and my current Pets Beatle, Turtle and Tomato were all adopted from local shelters. Since I’ve received so much benefit from local shelters, I’m passionate about trying to give back to them—especially during harder economic times, when Pets tend to suffer in great numbers, too.

In addition to adopting or donating to a local shelter, there are other ways to help Pets and support your local shelter community. Here are just a few to consider:

  • Buy supplies from a shelter
  • Volunteer to help at the shelter or help with shelter outreach programs
  • Sponsor or foster Pets waiting for adoption
  • Donate supplies (food/cat litter/blankets/towels) to a shelter
  • Attend training classes
  • Attend education classes
  • Tour a Pet shelter
  • Encourage friends and family to adopt from a shelter
  • Participate in a fund-raising event (local walk/runs auctions, and larger events)

Encouraging school-aged kids to prepare a report on Pets, shelters and charities is another great way to help youngsters learn about ways to help Pets, too. Any support from the community, no matter how large or small helps these organizations continue to provide their much-needed services.

And, if you’re in the market for a new Pet of your own, http://www.petfinder.com/, is a great place to start.



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