Change A Pet's Life Day January 24
Today is Change a Pet's Life Day. It's a fairly recent event that has a major emphasis on adoption. In this post I will focus places to adopt a pet in the Los Angeles area (with ideas on how to find a location adoption group outside of Los Angeles) and other ways that you can change a pet's life that don't involve adoption.
Adoption
If you are ready to adopt a pet there are many organizations and groups that are good options. If you are outside of the Los Angeles area I recommend looking first at your local animal shelter. Often these are the animals who are in the most need of a home. Shelters and rescues usually always require the pet to be spayed/neutered and usually do it before your pet is adopted out to you (cats and dogs). Adoption fees will cover the costs of their spay/neuter surgery (for cats & dogs) and vaccinations. A microchip is usually included in that cost as well, but if it's not they can be found for as low as $15 from places like PetCo. Most local shelters have special adoption rates throughout the year, too. It's a great chance to save money on the adoption so you can invest it into something like pet insurance to be ready for any future vet visits.
Some local adoption groups in the Los Angeles area:
Los Angeles Animal Services - www.laanimalservices.com/adopt
County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control - animalcare.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/acc/our_animals/search
Southeast Area Animal Control Authority - seaaca.org/adoptions/view-our-animals
San Gabriel Valley Humane Society - www.sgvhumane.org/available-pets/
Best Friends - la.bestfriends.org/adopt
NKLA - nkla.org/adopt-a-pet/pet-adoption-center
SPCALA - spcala.com/adoptable Sites that list animals for adoption that include smaller rescues:
AdoptaPet.com - www.adoptapet.com
Petfinder - www.petfinder.com
Helping Shelter Pets
1. Ask a local shelter how you can help them. They may have a specific need that you and people you know could fulfill.
2. Foster an animal.
3. Transport animals for a shelter or rescue(short or long distance)
4. Take pictures. These can be pictures you take for the shelter to use or for posts on Facebook pages that network animals at shelters.
5. Social media posts of animals or needs that a shelter or rescue has.
6. Collecting items that the shelter needs.
7. Encourage your friends and family to adopt if they are able.
8. Donate money.
The list can go on and on.
Changing Your Pet's Life
For those who have pets, you have already changed your pets life up to this point. What a gift you've given to them and what a gift they are to you. The great thing is, your pets life can still be changed. Ways that you can change your pets life might include:
1. Enrolling your pet in a training course of some sort. This could be basic training all the way to herding or obstacle courses.
2. Changing your pets diet and activity level if they've become plump.
3. Schedule a vet visit if it's been more than a year.
4. Hire a dog walker for your dog.
5. Spend some quality time with your pet.
This list can go on and on, too.
Share with us how you're changing a pet's life.
