An Animal Hospital Serving Maryland

Animal shelters are facilities built to house homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily, a large variety of dogs and cats. At least that's the definition given by Wikipedia. Of course this definition does not go into the fact that most of these "shelters" only house their shelterees for a short period before "putting them down". Not a good scene if you're a dog in one of these so-called dog shelters.

Humane Euthanization In Local Animal Shelters

The goal of today's dog shelter is to provide a safe and caring environment until the animal is either reclaimed by its owner, placed in a new home, or placed with another organization. In theory, that sounds good but there's more to it than that. Dogs that are brought to the shelter that are deemed "un-adoptable" never stand a chance in this type of pet shelter.

For an animal adoption to take place, dogs must pass a temperament test that may include a test for food aggression. Picture this, you are a normally "nice" dog tossed out into the streets due to a natural disaster or some other event beyond your control. In order to survive, you must learn to be aggressive about protecting whatever food you come across. Can you be faulted for retaining that trait when you are eventually brought to an animal shelter? No, and yet, that's exactly how you willl be judged and that's what will buy you a one-way ticket to the big sleep.

In the past, a shelter was more commonly referred to as a "dog pound", however some pundits in the animal league decided that that name was too harsh and conveyed a message of rough, tough street dogs. Well, isn't that where most of these pet shelters receive their occupants from? Maybe that's the reason that they describe the scheduled euthanization of an animal as "humane".

We never did understand that. Death Row is never humane, not for humans and certainly not for animals.

Speaking of humane, most animal shelters around the world have a policy of euthanizing animals that are not adopted within a certain timeframe, (usually 7 to 14 days). Some, on the other side of the coin, oppose cruelty to animals of any sort and they only put down animals in severe, irreversible distress or pain due to a malady or possibly aging. This type of shelter is called a no kill animal shelter. In our opinion, this no-kill animal shelter is the real definition of treating animals humanely.

No-Kill Animal Shelter Adoption

Interested in an animal shelter adoption? Great! You must first learn to choose the right shelter. Local animal shelters are usually municipality run and subsidized. It's a great way for them to satisfy their citizens desire to rid the streets of "strays". The problem is, most of these also practise "humane euthanization". As respectable pet owners, there's just something about that word that gets under our skins.

With a little research and asking around at your local pet hospitals, you'll soon find that there are other facilities around that are no-kill. Visit the facility of choice before adopting. Some shelters practice a hard-sell approach and even throw in free or inexpensive veterinary services. Look at the overall health of all of the animals. Some diseases are highly contagious and spread throughout a kennel rapidly. One such disease is "kennel cough".

You may want to consider being a volunteer at your local animal shelter. This is truly a great way to get an insider view of the process. There are many other ways to conduct research but in the end, your heart will tell you which of these animal shelters hold your special new friend. It always does.