It's very important to introduce a new animal into your home in such a way as to cause the least stress and disruption for the new pet as well as your existing fur family. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? You'd be surprised how often people don't follow the instructions given by their adoption counselor. And then we see the animal returned because it "couldn't get along" with their other pets.
**disclaimer: this is my opinion/based on personal experience. I'm in no way speaking for or on behalf of the shelter**
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Home Sweet Home...or not
I volunteer at an animal shelter and sad faces abound when one of our animals is returned. While we want all of the animals to find homes, we especially want them to find the *right* homes; even though it gives us a sad when the critters come back, sometimes it's for the best. But other times it's because people's expectations when adopting don't match the reality of introducing a shelter animal into their homes.
**disclaimer: this is my opinion/based on personal experience. I'm in no way speaking for or on behalf of the shelter**
The first and most important fact to keep in mind is that your new pet is seriously stressed.
No matter how well we treat the animals at the shelter, the shelter itself is a stressful environment. There are new sounds and smells all over the place and the animals are prevented from doing many of their natural behaviors in response. Cats often want to hide while they adjust and figure things out, but there's really nowhere for them to go in a kennel. Dogs like to thoroughly smell things to gather information, but they are separated from everything by doors.
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