Nearly one million fewer animals are entering shelters every year, according to the ASPCA. The number of animals euthanized each year has dropped by over 1.5 million. That all happened in the twelve years since 2011.
That’s considerable progress and we should be proud of that. There’s always more to do, though. This raises the question of how to help animals.
There are many ways you can help animals, and one of the best places to start is with senior animals. Our love for puppies and kittens means senior pets often get lost in the shuffle. We’ll discuss ways you can help them here.
Drive Them to Vet Appointments
Like people, animals often need more medical care as they age, so getting older animals to the vet is important. Many shelters are non-profit ventures, so they rely on volunteer help to do most of the work.
The American Kennel Club recommends taking senior pets to the vet twice per year. Managing the healthcare of one or two elderly pets is often taxing, but managing an entire shelter’s worth is another issue entirely. Helping get animals to vet appointments helps lighten the workload quite a bit.
Rescue or Foster
Those who favor a more hands-on approach can volunteer with an animal rescue organization. These volunteers save animals from cruelty and give them a chance to enter loving homes.
Every animal deserves to go to a loving home and most of them get to. Some pets don’t get adopted right away, but you can still give them the experience of living in a home beforehand.
Fostering a pet allows you to care for a pet until it gets adopted. This is important because pets experience stress and loneliness like humans do. Animals are also known to stress-eat, so fostering an animal might also keep them from gaining too much weight.
Use Social Media
So much of the world today is online. Going digital is sometimes the best way to reach people. Social media in particular is a useful tool for helping dogs and helping cats.
Talk about common issues facing pets. You could spread the word about micro-chipping and how it saves pets from ending up in shelters.
If you know how to post pictures, it’s a great way to showcase some of the senior pets at the local shelter. A few good pictures and a nice personality description have helped a lot of pets get adopted. Getting people in the door is often enough because animals are often their own best advocates.
Some people believe that pets choose their humans rather than us choosing them. Getting an animal into a room and seeing how comfortable they are with us is sometimes all it takes.
How to Help Animals: Tips for Supporting Senior Pets
If you’re wondering how to help animals, caring for senior pets is a great way to start. We’ve discussed a few ways you can help senior pets here, but there’s no shortage of events and talents that you can use to help senior pets.
If you want to help your senior pet, we can help you. We’ve designed a whole list of products to help senior pets live their best lives. We encourage you to shop at our store to find products for your furry friends today!