Hi, I hope you’re doing OK. Today I’m sharing 10 ideas for how you can help your local animal shelter here in the U.S. during the COVID-10 Pandemic. Last week, I wrote about what pet dog owners must do in general during the COVID Pandemic.
Each community has different needs and may have different plans for how to best get through this pandemic. Please make sure to ask local shelters and rescue groups directly how you can help vs. making assumptions. These are simply my ideas and opinions as a volunteer and former pet dog & cat foster home.
10 ways to help an animal shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic
First, let’s state the obvious. Donere. Adoptere. Foster if there is a need.
All of these are always crucial for shelters and rescues. email or call in development before showing up to adopt or foster & ask what the current process looks like. For example, our local shelter is using shelter visits only by appointment and only for those who intend to adopt.
Now, here are 10 additional ideas you may not have considered:
1. Leave stray cats alone.
Most “stray” cats are not lost. They’re simply family pets out for a stroll, regardless of whether you personally believe this is ok or not.
Unless the cat is undoubtedly in anxiety or looks to be starving, I would let the cat be. She will probably find her way home on her own. Shelters are already taking care of a high number of animals ideal now, and “kitten season” is about to happen in full force. Let’s not overburden them at the moment with adult cats that are probably not even lost.
My cat, Scout
2. help an animal shelter by sponsoring a dog’s adoption fee.
A great way to help a lot more animals get adopted faster is to offer to sponsor a pet dog or cat’s adoption fee. What this indicates is you pay the normal adoption fee in development as a donation and then the future adopter gets to take the animal home at no cost. Or, the adopter might still choose to donate, and in that case, even better for the shelter!
That Mutt sponsored the adoption fee of a local pet dog this month. He went into a foster home last Friday, and within a few hours the foster home made a decision they would adopt him! Woo hoo! I believe the fact that his adoption fee was already paid for helped the family decide to keep the dog.
Other things you could sponsor:
A pet dog or cat’s spay/neuter
Donate for medical bills of a certain animal in need
3. simply ask the animal shelter how you can help.
Since every shelter has different needs, the best thing you can do is simply call or email and ask, “How can I help?”
When I lived in Fargo, one of our cat shelters was having a ringworm outbreak. Ringworm is an itchy fungus and not a huge deal, but it’s contagious and undoubtedly bad press for a shelter. I mean, no one wants to deal with a fungus that has “worm” in the name!
I called the shelter and simply asked, “How can I help?” They said, “We desperately need volunteers to help with cleaning!” So I went over and helped clean and sanitize for a few hours. then I volunteered to foster one of the incoming cats in buy to keep him from being exposed. who remembers Tumbler?!
Tumbler
4. Do not surrender a pet ideal now if you can help it.
Things happen but if you’re able to hold onto your pet dog or cat for now, please do. If you know of a friend or family member who needs to surrender their pet for whatever reason, consider taking in the animal for them temporarily or using to help with training or exercise if you can. Or getting food or whatever it is that can help.
I know things happen and I’m certainly not here to judge. I had to return a pet dog I planned to adopt earlier this year, thankfully to her breeder vs. a shelter. So I get it. but shelters are facing tough times ideal now, so the less animals they have to care for, the better.
5. Volunteer to help with training issues.
On a related note, if you’re a pet dog trainer or if you’re an experienced pet dog person in general, you might be able to help the shelter by volunteering to answer some of the training questions that come in.
Some dogs and cats get surrendered to shelters for behavioral problems. These issues could be things like:
resource guarding
lunging at other dogs on walks
cat chasing
nipping at children
separasjonsangst
counter surfing and so on.
For cats, the issues are often related to not using the litter box or for scratching.
Sure, often it’s a lot more complicated than this or the owner has already made their beslutning om å overgi dyret, uansett. Men ofte kan litt hjelp eller til og med bare lytte til problemet utgjøre en stor forskjell.
Noen hunder er veldig utfordrende, og ofte trenger folk bare å føle seg støttet.
6. Begrens personlig frivillig arbeid for nå-planlegg snart å hjelpe.
Våre lokale tilfluktsrom begrenser frivillige nå, med god grunn. Dette er for å stoppe spredningen av Covid-19-viruset. Bare ansatte og essensielle frivillige vil jobbe ideelt nå på krisesentrene.
Likevel er det andre måter du kan melde deg frivillig på. For eksempel kan du melde deg frivillig til å sjekke referanser via telefon fra potensielle adoptere. Du kan melde deg frivillig til å sende takke -e -postmeldinger til folk som adopterer dyr. Det er mange måter å hjelpe på. Det beste å gjøre er å bare ringe og spørre hvor det er behov.
7. Del og støtt hendelser som “Clear the Shelter.”
Våre lokale krisesentre fremmer “rydd krisesenteret” på sosiale medier, noe som indikerer at de gjør det beste de kan for å få alle dyrene sine til fosterhjem eller adoptivhus så raskt som mulig.
Etter min mening er det dette krisesentre må gjøre hele tiden, men det er til og med mye viktigere å få dyr ut av krisesenteret nå. Personalet og frivillige er begrensede, og dyrene er under enda mye mer angst enn vanlig. Et ly er ikke noe sted for en kjæledyrhund eller katt på lang sikt. De har det nesten alltid bedre i et fosterhjem, etter min mening.
Vår tidligere fosterhund, Lana
8. Besøk bare ly hvis du planlegger å adoptere.
Våre lokale tilfluktsrom har politikk som er ideelle nå og oppfordrer folk til å besøke ly bare hvis de planlegger å adoptere. Dette er selvfølgelig for å sikre lystaben og andre medlemmer av samfunnet i tillegg til å holde deg frisk.
Hvis du er interessert i et dyr, må du ringe ly for å planlegge et virtuelt “møte og hilse” for å gå over dyret. Deretter må du planlegge en avtale for å møte dyret personlig og fullføre adopsjonen. Vent i bilen din når du ankommer, og ring ly for å gi dem beskjed om at du kom. Når de er klare for deg, må ett familiemedlem gå inn for å fullføre adopsjonen.
9. Hjelp et dyrehjem ved å planlegge en virtuell innsamling.
Mange av vårinnsamlingsarrangementene er kansellert for tilfluktsrom. For eksempel ble St. Patrick’s Day innsamlingsarrangementer for det meste kansellert rundt i landet. For å bidra til å gjøre opp for dette, kan du planlegge din egen virtuelle innsamling for et visst ly. Du kan sette opp dette via Facebook og dele med venner og familie.
10. Hold dine egne dyr trygge.
Hold din egen kjæledyrhund bånd eller under stemmekontroll/tilsyn, slik at han ikke vandrer av i løpet av denne tiden. Make sure his ID identifies and microchip info are up to date. If your cat goes outside, now would be a good time to put a breakaway collar on him with ID tags!
What would you add to this list?
So those are my ideas! Please add your own ideas in the comments!
If you’ve adopted a pet dog recently or if you’re fostering, please let me know!
-Lindsay
Relaterte innlegg:
How to foster a dog
How to foster a cat
