Over seventy million homeless animals in the US never find another home or the care they need; therefore, you can help these animals in need by providing help and support.
Help homeless animals by adopting and fostering pets, volunteering at local shelters, donating money or supplies, educating about animal welfare, and assisting in spaying and neutering local pets in your area.
A small act of kindness and effort can give these homeless animals the love and care they need.
Read on to learn how you can get involved in helping homeless animals.
Ways of Getting Involved in Helping Homeless Animals
Did you know there are about 3,500 animal shelters in the United States, taking in more than 7.6 million companion animals each year?
Animal shelters play a vital role in animal welfare by providing care and protection for needy animals.
However, not only these animal shelters are overcrowded, but they are also lacking in staff and resources.
You can help these not-for-profit organizations in many ways you can. Here are a few ways to get involved.
1. Adopt or Foster
Did you know only 1 out of every ten dogs finds a permanent home?
If you are considering getting a pet, consider adopting it from a shelter or rescue organization.
Adopting or fostering a shelter animal is the best way to get involved in helping shelter animals, as it provides a loving home for an animal in need.
By providing a loving home to an animal in need, you are not only helping that animal but also making room for another animal to be taken in.
Besides, it is crucial to remember that adopting or fostering an animal is a big responsibility and should be thoughtfully considered before making the decision.
- Make sure you are ready to commit to caring for an animal and be prepared for the changes that will come with having an animal.
- Be aware of the resources you will need to take care of the animal, such as food, veterinary care, and supplies, and also the cost to care for the animal and any unexpected expenses that may come up.
- Moreover, if you cannot adopt a shelter animal, you can foster them until they find a good family for adoption.
Benefits homeless animals receive from adoption and foster care.
- You are giving them a loving, forever home, which is the end goal for any pet in the shelter.
- Adopting or fostering helps free up space to allow stray animals a place to go until they can be adopted.
- You are saving a life, especially when you adopt from places that still implement euthanasia.
- It can save the lives of animals who cannot adapt to shelter life, those who require medical attention, and orphaned kittens who need assistance to survive.
Additionally, it can be a rewarding experience to provide a loving home for an animal that may have had a difficult past.
2. Donate Money to Animal Shelter
Mostly, animal shelters rely on donations to provide for the basic needs of the animals in their care, such as food, water, and medical care.
Therefore, you can also offer help by donating money to a local animal shelter or providing supplies.
Donations can help cover the costs of daily operations, supplies, staff salaries, animal housing upgrades, medical care, animal enrichment, and many more.
Donating money to animal shelters can help in a variety of ways, including:
- Donations can help cover the cost of these necessities and ensure that animals are well cared for while in the shelter.
- It can help support the services to the animals in their care, such as spay/neuter surgeries, behavioral training, and medical treatments.
- Caring for animals can be costly, and donations can help shelters meet the operation's expenses, including staff salary, utilities, and facility maintenance.
- With more funding, shelters can take in more animals, provide more medical care, and increase their outreach efforts, reducing the number of animals to be euthanized due to a lack of space and resources.
- It also helps shelters raise awareness about their mission, programs, and services to promote adoption, spaying and neutering, and responsible pet ownership.
Donating money to animal shelters can make a big difference in the lives of animals in need.
Therefore, every animal shelter and rescue organization needs your generous monetary donation.
3. Volunteer at a Local Animal Shelter
Even if you cannot adopt a pet, you can help make homeless animal's life better by volunteering in your local shelter or rescue organization.
Many animal shelters always need volunteers to help with daily tasks such as walking dogs, cleaning cages, and socializing with animals.
Shelter workers cannot maintain the proper grooming and bathing needed to help animals look their best.
Giving your time and volunteering at a local animal shelter is a great way to help homeless animals and positively impact your community.
- Help shelter animals in grooming.
- Bath them if needed.
- Trim their nails and hair.
- Clean their food and water bowl.
- Give them basic obedience and behavior training.
- Take shelter animals for a walk, play or socialize with them.
- Give litter box training to the animals.
- Clean their shelter or kennel.
- Help animal shelters with administrative tasks such as answering calls, data entry, and filing paperwork.
- Help with general maintenance and repair tasks such as painting, cleaning, and yard work.
- Sometimes the animals need to be transported from the shelter to a vet, foster home, or the adopter's home. You can volunteer by transporting them.
4. Donate Supplies
Donating supplies can make a big difference in the ability of these organizations to help animals in need.
Animal shelters and rescue organizations always need supplies such as food, toys, and bedding.
You can also check with your local shelter or rescue organization to see if they have a wish list of specific items they need.
Otherwise, here are a few things you can donate to help support homeless animals.
Moreover, if you are throwing a birthday party, ask the guest to bring pet food or essentials for the shelter rather than gifts for you.
5. Spay and Neuter Your Pets
Each year, 2.7 million shelter animals are put to death due to overpopulation, and there are not enough adoptive homes.
Only 10% of the animals brought into the shelter have been spayed or neutered.
Spaying and neutering your pets can help to reduce the number of homeless animals.
When pet owners spay or neuter their animals, it helps control the pet population and ultimately reduces the number of animals in shelters.
Here are a few reasons why you should spay or neuter your pets:
- It helps to prevent unwanted litter and lessens the number of animals that end up in shelters.
- Spaying and neutering can have health benefits. Female animals spayed are less likely to develop certain types of cancer, and neutered males are less likely to develop certain types of prostate cancer.
- Neutered males are less likely to roam or fight with other animals, and spayed females are less likely to develop certain types of aggression.
- Spaying and neutering are more cost-effective than caring for a litter of puppies or kittens.
6. Educate Others about Animal Welfare
Educating others about the importance of animal welfare and the ways they can help homeless animals can be a powerful way to make a difference.
Here are a few ways to educate others about animal welfare.
- Encourage your friends, family, and community to adopt, volunteer, and donate to animal shelters.
- Support local animal welfare groups and animal rights organizations such as ASPCA and Animal Welfare Institute to help continue their work.
- Educate the people around you by correcting their misinformed views about adoption and fostering.
- Encourage people towards adoption instead of buying a pet from a breeder.
- Use social media and other forms of the network to spread the word.
Spread the word and create awareness to make it a more extensive community and create a supportive network to deal with the problem.
Conclusion
Whether it is through adoption, fostering, volunteering, donating supplies or money, or spaying and neutering your pets, every little bit helps.
The most important thing is that you are making an effort to help and make a difference in the lives of these animals.
While those mentioned above are some ways to get involved, there may also be other ways.
Get in touch with Urban Pet Hospital & Resort, the best pet hospital in Urbandale, to learn more about the opportunities for getting involved.