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How to help homeless pets across the US Shelters, Foundations and Charities
With millions of cats and dogs living on the streets of America, how can you help homeless pets across in 2024 and beyond?
On any given day, upwards of 70 million stray animals are living rough on the streets of the United States. Luckily, there are plenty of ways that anyone, even those without experience working with animals, can help homeless pets. Whether you specifically want an independent breed of dog, or simply want to offer your services to help an animal no matter they’re shape or size, it’s time to get involved.
Your time is precious, use it to volunteer at a local shelter
Undoubtedly the best way to help homeless pets across the United States is to volunteer at a local animal shelter, charitable foundation, or welfare organization.
Its a sad part of reality that many local animal shelters are running on severely limited manpower, with dedicated staff often working long hours and spread far too thin to spread love equally around each animal that arrives. This is where you come in.
Whether its through dog walking, feeding and hydrating animals, cleaning out cages, or even just sitting with shelter animals in their time of need as YouTuber Rocky Kanakas hit web series Sitting with Dogs proves; every second, minute, or hour of volunteering counts.
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Most animal shelters also regularly host special meet & greet adoption events where prospective owners can come and see if there are any strays that they are willing to give forever homes to.
Through volunteering at these adoption events, not only can you help sway potential owners with your energy and enthusiasm, but its also a fantastic way to support full-time staff who might be just a little stressed out by the chaos.
An often-overlooked aspect of volunteering with animal shelters and charities is that its not just volunteering your time and energy, but the resources at your disposal too. If you drive a car thats large enough to carry a dog or cat, you can volunteer to transport animals to and from rescue centers or even veterinary clinics.
Looking for an upgrade? Charities like The Humane Society of the United States also allow you to donate second-hand cars which they either give to shelters or auction off, with the proceeds being donated to supporting animal welfare.
Pennies on the Dollar – Money donations can go an incredibly long way
In a similar vein of thought to volunteering, monetary donations from members of the public are the backbone of many animal shelters and charities across the United States.
Unfortunately, the reason why many shelters cant operate at full capacity is simply because they dont have the resources to do so.
To put it bluntly, getting animals off the street and into forever homes is certainly not a cheap endeavor, with emergency vet bills and running costs meaning that many local shelters struggle to keep up month-to-month.
Any amount of money helps keep the lights on, the animals well-fed, and the staff employed. Here, its arguably more important to donate however much you can reasonably give to a specific local shelter instead of nationwide chains and corporate enterprises.
Whilst nationwide shelters and charities do outstanding work for the good of American animals wherever they are, donating money to a smaller, underfunded shelter will have a much larger impact on your local community.
Some of the biggest no-kill animal shelters in the US include: Austin Pets Alive (Texas), City of San Jose Animal Care & Services (California), Multnomah County Animal Services (Oregon), Members of the Metro Denver Shelter Alliance (Colorado), Richmond SPCA (Virginia), Tompkins Country SPCA (New York), Nevada Humane Society (Nevada), Dane County Humane Society (Wisconsin), Arizona Animal Welfare League (Arizona), Best Friends Animal Society (Utah), and PAWS Chicago (Illinois).
Social media and traditional internet searches can also help you find which animal shelter is local to you: Platforms such as Pet Finder, Chewy, and the ASPCA each have search-by-postcode tools to help.
If you like the idea of giving money to an animal shelter but dont like the idea of setting up a direct payment, you can donate money in memory or in tribute to a loved one.
Similarly, many large retailers also offer charitable donations as part of day-to-day purchases choosing animal welfare-related charities means that over time, bit by bit, youll make a difference.
Toys, bedding, and treats help settle nerves and wag tails
Animal shelters are often in need of donated items since purchasing brand-new equipment can be an expensive bill if you are caring for 10+, 20+, or 30+ different animals in one location.
While you should always check with a shelter and/or organization first, the following items are commonly donated and are likely to be accepted:
- Unopened bags and cans of food, unopened packets of treats
- Clean blankets, sheets, towels, overthrows, and other insulating materials
- Raised dog beds, covers, and cushions
- New toys or toys that are in good condition
- Leashes, collars, harnesses, and other common accessories
- Grooming equipment that is in new or good condition
A fantastic idea might also be baking your own animal-friendly treats from home and then donating them to shelters. Again, you should always open a discussion with a shelter first before putting your oven on and follow specific recipes only youre cooking might be great, but feeding shelter animals requires extra care and attention.
Educate others and spread awareness for charitable organizations
Whilst the vast majority of people will admit to being animal lovers, whether they own a pet or not, educating people on the dangers, issues, and solutions to pet homelessness is truly the linchpin of the current issue.
But before you educate others, you must educate yourself first.
Thankfully, there are a plethora of resources and organizations that can help give you a better understanding of the scale of the problem in the United States. These include:
- ASPCA
- The Human Society of the United States
- Best Friends Animal Society
- Hope For Paws
- American Humane
- Stray Dog Support
- Friends of Animals
- PETA
- StreetDogz
Whether it be through social media or word-of-mouth, sharing information on stray animals, local shelters, and adoption events with as many people as possible increases not only the chances that an animal can get rehomed, but that shelters can continue to operate in 2024 and beyond.
The phrase it takes a whole village to raise a child can be somewhat applied to homeless animals too; you might be able to change the lives of plenty of stray pets by yourself, but youll achieve much more in a group if you team up with a friend or family member.
Similarly, the staff who work at animal shelters and charities need your support as individual people; even a simple message of thanks or a positive comment on an online post can brighten their day.
With the epidemic of homeless pets continuing to affect millions of animals across the United States, there is an opportunity for average everyday people to have an enormous impact; you just need the patience and passion to change a life.
