Tag Archives: pet adoption

iPhone App for Pet Adoption

I blogged recently about pet adoption. I truly believe that adopting a pet from a shelter is the best way to take home an animal companion. There are so many animals to choose form right now too. With the economy hurting, many families and individuals are finding that they can no longer afford to keep their pets. It’s sad, but true. Shelters are overwhelmed with animals. One of the local news networks here ran a story about an area shelter that suspended its adoption fees to help families adopt pets. I called the shelter to find out how well it … Continue reading →

Holiday Help for Animal Shelters

Let’s face it: most animal shelters need help throughout the year in the form of volunteers, monetary donations, and donations of food and other items for the residents. But the holidays are a great time to offer a little extra help to your favorite shelter! If you’re the sort of person who buys holiday gifts for your furry, feathered, and scaly family members, you might want to think about picking up an extra something and bringing it to your local shelter. Food, treats, and toys are always welcome. Your local shelter may also keep a list of specifics they need … Continue reading →

Adopt a Less-Adoptable Pet Day: August 12

Petfinder.com has declared August 12th “Adopt a Less-Adoptable Pet Day”. For all the overlooked pets in shelters, this day’s for you! What constitutes a “less-adoptable” pet? Petfinder asked their member shelters which pets were the hardest to place. 30% of responders had the hardest time finding homes for senior pets 15% of shelters had a difficult time adopting out pets with health issues 13% of Petfinder shelters had problems with breed prejudices (and many shelters mentioned pit bulls specifically as being hard to adopt because of breed prejudice) 10% of responders had difficulty placing pets who need to be the … Continue reading →

Five Years of Moose!

I’m not always good at remembering birthdays and anniversaries, so I have a few online calendars to give me hints about the date. Today in my email was a happy birthday wish for my dog Moose from Dogster.com. I don’t know what his actual birthday is — I don’t know Lally’s birthday either — so we celebrate anniversaries. Some people call them Gotcha Days, as in “this is the day I gotcha.” Five years ago today, I drove to Ticonderoga, NY to pick up a foster dog named Coyote. I had picked him out from a series of shelter dog … Continue reading →

What’s This about the Obamas Getting a Puppy?

Barack Obama’s win was, naturally, the talk of all the news yesterday. But of course the thing that caught my ear was the focus on how the Obamas were considering getting a puppy. The Puppy Speech I’d tried to stay awake for Obama’s victory speech Tuesday night, but instead I ended up falling asleep. I guess if I would have watched it I would have heard for myself the part where he said he was going to reward his daughters’ support and patience during the campaign with a puppy. I was surprised to hear they were considering a puppy. I … Continue reading →

You Know You’ve Been Adopted by a Cat When…

“You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals.”~- George Mikes-~ As I’ve mentioned before, I did not grow up with cats. I always thought I was simply a dog person because that’s what my family had when I was growing up. But when I went away to college, I was adopted by a couple of cats. I’ve always known I’m an animal lover, but a cat owner? Until Einstein and Sneakers came along and adopted me, I never considered that I could have my own cats instead of … Continue reading →

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month: Getting Ready

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog month! If you’ve decided that this is the right time to add a four-legged family member, congratulations. Shelter pets are awesome… and yes, I’m biased because all of my pets have been rescues. Pet adoption isn’t an easy thing these days. A lot of shelters and rescues want to check vet references, meet the entire family, and may even want to visit your home! Dogster.com (one of my favorite pet sites) polled nearly 200 shelters and came up with a great list of things to think about before you adopt a dog or cat. … Continue reading →

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month: Share Your Story!

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog month! If you’ve been thinking about rescuing a pet from a local shelter, this is a good time to do it. (Okay, there isn’t really a BAD time to save a pet from a shelter, is there?) There are so many wonderful pets sitting in shelters for various reasons. Maybe their owners had an unexpected health issue and had to surrender them. Maybe a soldier was deployed and couldn’t find a new home for a beloved pet. Maybe an abandoned dog or cat had a litter in the wild and was picked up by … Continue reading →

How to Adopt a Pet without Adopting the Responsibility

Some people want to adopt a pet or help animals but they don’t want to adopt the responsibility that comes with it. Or maybe it’s not so much they don’t want the responsibility as it is circumstances prevent them from taking it on. (Such as they work too much, don’t have the room to keep a pet, or live in a place where pets aren’t allowed.) Yet, they’re still able to adopt a pet. How? Through pet adoption programs like the ones I’ve listed below. If you want to adopt a pet, but can’t, or, if you’re like me and … Continue reading →

Using the ASPCA’s Personality Matcher to Adopt a Pet

The other day I was cruising around the ASPCA’s website looking for information about pet adoption when I stumbled across their Meet Your Match (MYM) Canine-ality, Puppy-ality, and Feline-ality assessment tool. “What the heck is that?” you might be asking. (I did when I first read about it.) It’s a great question. (And I’m not just saying that because I asked it too.) The Meet Your Match Program It might be the face, the eyes, or even the shiny coat that first attracts you to a certain dog or cat, but as any animal lover knows, pets have personalities too. … Continue reading →