Humane Society of Elmore County News
World Veterinary Day
This past Saturday was World Veterinary Day though we think that should be 365 days/year. Since the vast majority of us were not visiting our Vet on Saturday, please take a minute to send a note or make a call or just remember next time you are at your Vet to thank them for all they do! Veterinarians are pretty special medical experts when you think of it – they are general practitioners, surgeons, parasitologists, anesthesiologists, orthopedists, neurologists, behaviorists, oncologists, pharmacists, epidemiologists, gerontologists, dentists and so much more all wrapped up into one person. And, oh by the way, they have to have that knowledge for more than one species and about breeds of these species that may have very specific medical needs and challenges. Please never short-change the medical knowledge and skills of your Veterinarian as they are ‘doctors’ who have made it through a very rigorous, competitive & demanding educational hurdle to attain the title of ‘DVM.’ And for those who don’t have pets – you need to also be thankful for all those in the Veterinary profession as they keep our food supply safe, see to the welfare of animals in our food production system, zoos, natural environments and further protect us from disease and issues affecting animals and humans together through research and hands-on work.
This Tuesday, 30 April is also National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day! We love this day to bring awareness of all the wonderful pets that are in Shelters locally and across our country. Right here in the River Region we have three Shelters that house a total of approximately 800-900 pets in all of our Shelters and foster homes. And that number will climb rapidly with the advent of kitten season and will easily top 1000 by summer. That is a lot of displaced pets in need of new and loving homes for one three-county region! In this day and age you can easily check out pets looking for homes using the internet – the two oldest and most active sites are www.petfinder.com and www.adoptapet.com
. Now will you see 800+ pets online between our three Shelters? No, as many are in the various stages of being held in hopes their owner will reclaim them, or under medical treatment, or too young for adoption, or being evaluated for any behavior issues, possibly being held for court actions, waiting spay/neuter appointments, etc. Shelter staff play a kind of animal Rubik’s cube all day long as new animals come in, medical issues are addressed, fosters step up, animals are readied for adoption, adoptions & transfers (to rescue partners) happen, and yes, euthanasia is determined to be necessary.
What you will get when adopting from our area Shelters are pets that have been fully vaccinated, treated for internal and external parasites, spayed or neutered prior to (in our Shelter’s case) or as a condition of adoption & microchipped. Shetler staff also evaluate these pets and do their best to help potential adopters make a good adoption choice based on numerous factors that take into account the pet’s personality, activity level, breed propensities as well as the adopter’s lifestyle, living situation, personal preferences, etc. Since far too many of these pets have been discarded at least once, our goal is to help make a ‘good fit’ placement that will be successful for pet and human alike which is the key to successfully ‘adopting’ a pet.
