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Millions of cats and dogs are put to sleep each year in the United States. It's shocking, and so sad to think of all the lives laid to waste for lack of a good home. If you feel compelled to help, you can. Even by taking small personal steps you can help the plight of animals nationwide. If you feel compelled to help even more, there are many ways to do so.
Rescue work and eliminating the feline overpopulation problem starts with you and your own pets! One of the most important things you can do with your own animals (aside from giving them all the love they can stand and good health care) is to have them spayed or neutered. There are already so many good animals dying in shelters everyday because there aren't enough homes. We don't need to be introducing any more mongrel kitties into this world for a while. By having your female animals spayed, you prevent them from having litters. It's also important to have your male cats neutered so that they don't go out and find an unspayed female to breed with. The second thing you personally can do to help is to adopt your cats from local humane organizations, pounds, or rescue groups. If the idea of having a mutt animal bothers you, there are many purebred rescue groups that have taken animals from bad situations. Some of these animals are even papered!
If you feel compelled to help outside of your own family setting, there are many options available and many levels of involvement. Listed below are just a few and a bit about what is involved.
1.) Donating to an organization:
Most if not all rescue and humane organizations are more than happy to take donations of food, equipment, medical supplies, or money. Many organizations are non-profit which means that anything you donation will be tax deductible for you. This level of helping requires little personal effort or involvement, but it's the life source of many rescue groups. Especially smaller, privately run groups.
2.) Sponsoring and Animal:
Sponsoring an animal usually involves a little more emotional and sometimes physical involvement than a simple donation. Many rescue groups will let you pick a specific animal to sponsor. You are then able to help out with that animal's food bills, health care, and offer it some stability in life without actually having to care for the animal directly. By sponsoring an animal, you provide the rescue or humane group with steady income for an animal allowing them to be able to take on more animals. The amount of money you choose to provide that animal with is entirely up to you. Every little bit helps and it's not uncommon for an animal to be sponsored by 2 or more people.
3.) Volunteer work:
Volunteer work is the driving force behind many rescue and humane groups. Volunteers care directly for the animals in shelters, take the animals to adoption days, help introduce animals to prospective adoptive parents, clean litter boxes, attend to minor health issues, and most importantly offer animals love and attention until they are in a permanent home. The amount of duties a volunteer will have varies greatly depending on the group they are working with. Direct interaction with the animals in a lot more emotionally involved and you need to prepare yourself for the ups and downs that come with rescue work. Not every animal can be helped.
4.) Foster care providers:
This is the highest level of involvement and help one can offer. You offer your home to a rescue group and allow them to place their animals with you to be fostered until they find permanent homes. You're generally responsible for the animal's food, daily needs (litter box, litter, water and food bowls, etc.), and taking it in for health care. Most rescue groups pay for their animal's vet care, but you will be responsible for getting the animal back and forth to the vet. While the animal is in your home it will be your 24-7 duty to love and care for them and deal with any health and behavioral problems. Not all rescued animals make it, and the pain of losing an animal that you have worked hard to save is intense. Before you take on this sort of a responsibility, be sure you have come to terms with the eventuality that you will lose some animals. More importantly though, you will be helping to save the lives of cats who would have otherwise died. By opening up your home to one or more foster animals you provide one or more spaces at the shelter and actively help to save lives. Just about all rescue and humane organizations are ecstatic when a person volunteers to be a foster "parent". Be sure to clarify all your responsibilities with the rescue group before you bring the foster kitty homes!
Regardless of what you choose to do, know that every little bit helps! One life saved is one less life needlessly lost.
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