I can't keep my dog...

Area animal shelters the best option for re-homing a beloved pet

The Brewster Animal Rescue on Route 6A in Brewster.

By "CapeCatMan"

Few things are more traumatic to an animal lover than coming to the realization that they must give up a pet.

In the past few months many Cape Codders have been forced to change their housing situation due to the bad economy. For some of them, this necessitates the heart-rending decision to re-home their dog or cat.

What to do? How will you find a new home for your unique, beloved animal? Most will first try to place their pet with a friend, neighbor or family member. When that fails, folks turn to Craigslist or other classifieds sites, including capecodpets.com.

With a classified listing you really have no idea who is adopting your companion animal. Everyone sounds great but how do you select a new home for Fido or Mew? Can you trust the new person to give your beloved pet a good and safe home?

I often approach people who have listed animals on Craigslist and tell them about the excellent animal shelter operated in Brewster by the Animal Rescue League of Boston. I'm always surprised by the responses I get - the myths and urban legends that people have in their heads that prevent people from choosing an animal shelter to re-home their pet.

Let's do some de-bunking

Let's de-bunk some of the myths. These items are based on my personal knowledge of the ARL shelter in Brewster but this material likely applies to every reputable shelter in the area.

MYTH #1 - "Animals are euthanized after ten days" Bunk!

The staff at most of these shelters works very hard to find an appropriate home for every pet that is brought to them. I have personal knowledge of cats and dogs that have lived at the Brewster shelter for over six months before the right new owner came along. The very few animals I have seen euthanized have incurable medical conditions or were too dangerously aggressive to place up for adoption.

MYTH #2 - "Shelters sell animals for experimentation" Bunk!

I have never heard of a shelter on the Cape that sells animals for experimentation or any other purpose. Our Cape animal shelters are uniformly working for the well being of the pets in their care. Their goal is to adopt them into a new home.

MYTH #3 - "Life in the Pound is Cruel and Stressful" Bunk!

First, let's lose that word "pound" - it's the "n-word" of the pet rescue profession. These are animal shelters, not dog pounds.

My experience with the Animal Rescue League's Brewster shelter shows that they operate a clean, safe shelter. Every animal receives lots of human contact every day. They always have clean bedding, fresh food, and lots of toys. They're kept warm in winter and cool in summer. Their kennels or cages are cleaned every single day and sometimes even more often if there's a little something that needs attention.

Small animals such as birds, guinea pigs, rabbits and hamsters have an especially good life at the ARL shelter. These pets receive species-appropriate fresh fruits and veggies daily, lots of interaction with the staff and have their entire cage bedding changed every single day.

MYTH #4 - "If I surrender a pet, the shelter will never let me adopt from them" Bunk!

Everyone runs across unforeseen circumstances in life. Sometimes an elderly pet owner must enter a long term care facility and cannot bring her beloved cat. Perhaps a parent loses her job and must move to an apartment that does not accept dogs. I personally adopted a cat whose service-member mistress was deployed to Iraq and could not place all of her pets. Other times a particular dog or cat is simply not a good fit for your home.

An animal shelter is not likely to ban you from adopting because you surrender a pet under justifiable circumstances

MYTH #5 - "It costs a lot of money to leave my dog at the shelter." - Bunk!

Most animal shelters will ask a small surrender donation of $25 or so. However, I have never seen a shelter that would turn away a pet because the owner could not afford to make a surrender donation. Remember, these shelters are about the safety and well-being of your pet. If you cannot afford a surrender donation, be up front with the staff. They will help you.

If you have made the decision to bring your animal to a local shelter, it would be good of you to call them and try to make an appointment. This ensures that the shelter staff will have a block of time set aside to give you and your pet the attention you deserve.

When you surrender an animal

Surrendering an animal involves a bit more than handing over the leash and saying goodbye. Most shelters will ask you to fill out a few pages that tell them about your animal's behavior, her likes/dislikes, what she likes to eat, where she likes to sleep and anything else that might have a prospective adopter decide if this is the kitty for them. You'll want to bring with you any veterinary records, especially those related to rabies and distemper vaccines.

If you pet has a favorite bed, dish, scratching post or toys it would be nice of you to bring "her" items with her to the shelter. In most cases, the shelter staff will be able to pass these items along to the folks who adopt her.

Help them acclimate

A few months ago I adopted an older kitten after one of my cats died. This little fellow had been adopted by an elderly couple who realized over a period of six months that a young kitten might be a bit too much for them. After all, what could be worse than a senior taking a fall because a kitten tripped them?

At any rate, "Albert" came home with many of his own possessions. The kindly couple provided some of his favorite foods, his carrier, special toys and his scratching post. These familiar items made it much easier for him to acclimate to his new home.

Once your pet is accepted at an animal shelter and you have said your goodbyes, the real work begins. The new guest is vet-checked, receives necessary inoculations and is checked for fleas and intestinal parasites. Dogs undergo behavioral evaluations after they have settled in to the shelter's routine.

Time to meet prospective parents

When an animal is ready to be offered for adoption, they are placed in the public area where visitors can meet them. Most shelters post their animals on petfinder.com to maximize the viewing audience. (Note that capecodpets.com has a petfinder.com feed of local animals awaiting adoption.)

At the animal shelter in Brewster, each animal has a kennel card that includes the notes the previous owner provided as to the pet's likes/dislikes and other characteristics that would be of interest to a prospective new owner. Potential adopters can socialize with the dogs, cats and other furry or feathery animals in hope of finding that perfect match.

Potential adopters are screened on a number of criteria. Some of these include the appropriateness of the match in terms of the animals needs and activity level versus the adopters stated desires in a pet. They also verify whether the adopter owns their home or, if a renter, has landlord permission to have a pet.

Once an ideal match is found, the pet is micro-chipped, spayed/neutered if necessary and - if adopted from the Brewster shelter - goes home with a collar, ID tag, leash (for dogs), food and lots of printed educational material for the new owner.

Doing the right thing

Every day we read about dogs that are "thrown away" by the side of the road, cats that are released in a state park or rabbits that are "freed" into the wild to become coyote food. A domestic pet cannot survive on its own, without humans to provide food, protection and love.

With the irresponsible options off the table, that leaves the choice of "re-homing" a pet to strangers through the classifieds or bringing her to a clean, safe animal shelter, we hope you choose the animal shelter.

Links to animal shelters across Cape Cod may be found here.