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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Shelter offers support to new pet owners

IDS

For a humane society, finding forever homes for shelter animals when many of the town’s residents cycle out in four years is an exercise in preparation.

Virgil Sauder, the director for Bloomington Animal Care and Control, said working with the ever-changing population of a college town can be helpful and harmful.

The “distinctly transitory” Bloomington residents, he added, can help by thinking about how their life after Bloomington will work within the confines of pet 
ownership.

“(We) have to look at the idea of the forever home with a population that’s in transition; the future is unknown,” Sauder said. “But that’s the case with everyone who walks in the door — not just students.”

Sauder said “not planning for the worst, but being aware that your life is going to change” is the best frame of mind for an adopter to come in with. “Every animal that is adopted has that home for life — that’s the goal,” Sauder said.

Sauder said the Bloomington Animal Shelter works with anywhere from 150 to 300 animals at a time, including the litters of baby animals they place in foster homes in the spring.

The adoption questionnaire is uncomplicated, Sauder said, although the shelter does check in with the potential adoptees’ landlord.

Julia Eppley, the shelter manager and foster program coordinator, said in order to make the transition as quick and easy as possible, would-be pet owners can bring in proof they’ve paid their pet deposit to the adoption clinic.

Adoption counselors can give advice on particular animals’ training, sociability and any problems or quirks they may bring with them from their last home, like nervousness around strangers or “leash-related issues.”

Aside from doing their research and ensuring they can handle a time commitment, Sauder said new pet owners should think of a new animal like a newborn — the first year is when everyone has to adjust to a new lifestyle.

“For most things, with (enough) time and that commitment, you can get past the introductory phase and end up with a really good pet,” Sauder said.

Eppley also said new pet owners’ instincts about how to curtail any problems that may crop up in the early weeks may be wrong — but the animal shelter employees, who have dealt with most of these issues extensively, will probably be able to help.

For example, Eppley said, scolding a new cat who is not using its litter box consistently is not the way to solve the problem.

Most litter box issues, she said, are about the placement or cleanliness of the box — adding another box if there are two cats in the house, or putting it somewhere the cat can get to it at any time will usually do the trick.

In other words, she said, putting it in a room where the door is normally closed is not the best course of action.

“We want to be here as an ongoing resource before adoption, during and post-adoption,” Eppley said. “We hear about a lot of these things, and might be able to give options for these people to make small changes before they get frustrated and maybe bring the animal back.”

A relatively small percentage of the population brings animals back, Sauder said, though there are some owners who “re-home” animals, passing them to a friend or relative.

Sauder said as long as the pet gets a chance to settle into its new, second home, re-homing isn’t necessarily bad.

“When it becomes a problem is when the animal gets bounced around to two or three homes and never really gets a chance to settle,” Sauder said.

Sauder said some may not consider how to take a pet home, perhaps overseas, with them after graduation. The potential for moving is a concern for almost any Bloomington resident.

The concern, Sauder said, is always that an animal is 
being properly cared for.

To that effect, Sauder proposed two possible scenarios for short-term pet ownership.

In the first scenario, a pet-owner may acquire an animal, treat it well, train it properly and, after a year or two, realize they can no longer care for an animal or bring it with them when they move.

“That’s what we’re here for, to find that animal a new home,” Sauder said.

But in the second scenario, a person may pick up an animal from a pet store or shelter, neglect its training and socialization, then leave it with the shelter.

In that case, the 
shelter must now keep an “untrained, hyperactive, difficult animal,” which will remain longer at the shelter and be harder to place.

“That’s the cycle we’re 
trying to break,” Sauder said.

The shelter has 20 paid staff members, Sauder said, and between 80 and 150 active volunteers at a given time.

One way volunteers can help, and perhaps try the “training-wheels” version of pet ownership, is through 
fostering animals.

The shelter also relies on an animal foster program, compiled from Bloomington residents and a number of graduate students, Sauder said.

The foster homes can keep animals outside of the shelter while they’re undergoing some medical treatment or working through behavior issues from their past homes, Sauder said.

Foster homes also raise neonatal puppies and kittens until they are a healthy two months old and can legally be adopted.

The commitment needed to foster ranges from two months or so to raise young kittens, to several months, up to a year and a half, to socialize and train young dogs with behavioral issues.

Eppley said all sorts of foster opportunities are available for Bloomington 
residents.

“We need a variety — people who are willing to do a slow process with a dog,” Eppley said. “But we also need a group of four roommates who want to cuddle kittens all the time and socialize them. Whatever the situation, we can find someone to suit.”

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