found animal
So you've found a stray animal in your
neighborhood or roaming the streets. What do you do now?
Much Love Animal Rescue receives dozens of calls
and e-mails a day from people who are hoping we can take in a stray
animal or unwanted pet. But sadly, because we do not have a permanent
facility and our funds are earmarked for animals already in our care,
we cannot take in animals from the public. But we can help by giving
you advice on the most effective ways for you to help find the animal a
home.
the first step: determine
if the animal has an owner
According to the City of Los Angeles Department of
Animal Services, it is estimated that 26,000 to 44,0000 stray dogs roam
the streets of Los Angeles at any time.
First, check the animal for tags and if it has
them, contact the owner immediately. If there are no tags, legally you
must take the animal to the shelter nearest the location where the
animal was found. (Call 888-452-7381 to find the shelter nearest you or
go to http://www.ci.la.ca.us/ANI/).
Animal shelters are the first place and owner will
look for a missing dog or cat and legally you must take the animal to a
shelter for the minimum holding period of ten days, or you must try to
find the owner on your own with ads, flyers, etc. Many people don't
want to take the animal to the shelter in fear the dog will be
automatically euthanized. While it is a fact that Los Angeles has a
euthanization rate of nearly 70%, this is the place where many pets and
their owners are reunited. Even if the animal does not have tags, it
may have escaped from a yard and if it is microchipped, it's owner
could be determined when the shelter scans the animal for the chip.
If you want to keep tabs on the animal, get the
impound number from the shelter and track it through the shelter system
to determine when the animal will be available for adoption which
should be five working days from the day you turn it in if the owner
doesn't show up. You can also place "First Rights" on the
animal so that you can adopt it when it does come up for adoption if
you show up between 8:00 am to 9:00 am on the first day it is available
for adoption. Remember to check out the shelters where logs are kept of
owners looking lost dog or cats and see if any of the descriptions
matches your animal's.
If you decide against taking the animal to the
shelter, many veterinarian's offices can also scan the animal for a
microchip. If no microchip is found, you must place ads in local
newspapers and place "Found" flyers in the are where the
animal was roaming for at least 10 days before you can legally claim
ownership of the animal and try to find it a new home or keep it for
your own. When placing an ad be vague in your description, note the
area the animal was found in and your telephone number. This is to
ensure that the people calling are truly the animal's owner. Make sure
they can give a description of the animal and ask for the animal's name
to see how it reacts when called. If so far so good, ask to see proof
of ownership in veterinary records, dog licenses or a photo of the
animal. Most newspapers will place "Found" ads free of
charge.
step two: finding
the animal a new home
If you have gone through the steps above, and no
owner has been found, you can adopt it yourself, try finding it a home
yourself or you can take the animal to a local shelter.
If you decide to try and find a home for the pet,
you will need to assess whether the animal is a good candidate for
adoption by determinig it's traits.
Is it a friendly animal or aggressive toward
people or other animals?
Will the animal need extensive training by a
professional or will it make a good pet for a first time owner?
You will also need to determine if the animal is
in need of medical attention and if it has been spayed or neutered.
You will find the most success when the animal's
face is seen in many places. You can place ads in newspapers, on local
websites such as craigslist.com and place flyers in animal-friendly places of interest.
When making up flyers, we recommend coming up with a story that
describes the way and location the animal was found, it's temperment,
health condition a great photo and your contact information. Suggested
places to post the flyers include dog parks, pet supply stores, vet
offices, local businesses like juice bars and coffee shops and perhaps
at your workplace. If you contact us, Much Love will place a photo and
description of your animal in the courtesy section of our website. We
also recommend contacting as other animal rescue groups. They might
post you to their sites as well as allow your animal to be courtesy
showings at their adoption sites.
courtesy listings
We are pleased to help others who are doing their
best to help these loving creatures. We are happy to place an animal in
need of a home on petfinder.org, one of the nation's largest resources
for pet adoptions. Animals can only be placed on petfinder.org by
animal rescue organizations, but we can have the interested party
contact you directly. Below are guidelines and suggestions for you to
help find your animal a safe and happy home and a successful adoption.
We have a few requirements in order to add them.
First, e-mail a short bio on the dog or cat.
Please include age, sex, breed as well as any endearing information
that you may have. Also include a digital picture of the animal for the
site.Also include up to three photos in jpg format.
In order to add them to the websites, we require
that the animals are neutered/spayed, vaccinated before they are listed
and go to their new home.
Many ask about the purpose of microchipping. A
microchip is a chip the size of a piece of rice that is inserted under
the muscle tissue in between the shoulder blades. This device contains
the owners name and phone number. If the dog or cat should happen to
get lost, vets offices and all shelters and pounds have a scanner that
they use to read the information and notify the owner. By law, stray
dogs and cats who do not have a microchip can be euthanized after 5
days whereas if the dog or cat has a chip, by law, the animal cannot be
euthanized for 25 days in order that the owner can have the opportunity
to retrieve the animal. This is a wonderfully inexpensive (@$30) safety
device that every animal should have.
As a courtesy, here are some guidelines that we at
Much Love use when adopting out our animals that you may find helpful.
We recommend:
That you do a homecheck to assure that the dog or
cat is going to an animal friendly home.
We require a fenced in yard for our dogs that will
assure that the dog will not get lost or hit by a car if it should
happen to get out unexpectedly.
Our cats are adopted out to indoor only homes. The
life expectancy for a cat is significantly longer if it is indoors and
free from the threat of cars, coyotes, Feline Leukemia and the
equivalent of the feline AIDS virus.
Charge a nominal adoption fee - $50 or more. This
assures that the person has extra funds so that if the dog or cat gets
sick or needs veterinary care, they can provide it.
step three: Determining
if a home is suitable
Now you've found someone who wants your pet, how
do you decide if they are right for the animal? Check out our dog and
cat applications to get ideas on what are good questions to ask. Much
Love requires a home check to determine if the animal will be living in
a safe environment. If you would like to, we recommend you do one as
well for your animal's possible new home.
