July 10th, 2018
Over the last several years Almost Home has consistently shared the message that we want to save every pet that has a chance at a happy, healthy life. It was our mission to achieve a “save rate” that exceeded 90% and we’ve achieved it each year since 2015. Saving more lives isn’t a mission unique to our community, it’s a message that has been spreading across the country but it comes with its own challenges.
Shelters are now facing the problem of “capacity for care.” Capacity for care, refers to how many pets one shelter can adequately care for at one time. It’s not simply how many can we get fed and watered and cleaned in one day, but how many pets can we care for both physically and behaviorally.
As I write this blog, Almost Home has 410 pets in its care. We are above our capacity for care. Too many pets increases the number of pets developing illnesses (and increases our medical costs and care time), increases the amount of time spent cleaning, decreases our ability to do dog play groups because of staffing, decreases our ability to do daily enrichments for the animals and causes us to reduce the amount of space our pets have to enjoy because it is necessary to half-kennel animals.
How can we fix this problem? Fifteen years ago, most shelters would euthanize pets to make space for incoming animals. This isn’t an acceptable option for us, but we desperately need your help to improve our ability to provide for the pets in our care. How can you help us?
Foster. Foster parents are able to give pets a break from the kennels, provide care for those pets not ready for adoption and free space on our adoption floor. Almost Home provides all supplies for your new pet, all we ask you to provide is love.
Volunteer. Volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization. From helping us clean, to assisting with dog play groups and creating enrichments for our pets, they are vital to our ability to provide care for the pets at AHHS. Every additional hour of volunteer help builds our capacity at Almost Home.
Donate. When our population increases, our expenses increase as well. Everything from pet food to cat litter to basic vaccinations are needed in greater quantities when our intake is skyrocketing. Your donations are what help us care the pets that need us and every dollar counts.
Adopt. Of course, adopting is always a huge help to us. If you’re looking to add a pet to your family, please visit us at AHHS. Even if it’s not time for you to add to your family, always encourage your friends and family to adopt. Thousands of pets come through our doors each year and your new best friend could be here waiting for your today.
Please consider helping today. We can’t help them, without you.