By: Alicia Sexauer
We love our senior pets—that is why we are thrilled that November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month! If you have been thinking about adding a four-legged-friend to your family, consider opening your home and your heart to an older dog or cat in need.
While small kittens and puppies may be adorable, older pets are just as loving and loyal as their younger counterparts. Not to mention, adopting a senior animal companion comes with some cool advantages:
- Grown-up pets do not require the constant monitoring and training that puppies and kittens do.
- Many are already house-trained.
- Since senior dogs and cats are fully grown, you will be immediately aware of important information like personality type and grooming requirements, making it easier to choose the perfect pet for your family.
Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that senior pets are often the last to be adopted from shelters, putting them at an increased risk for euthanasia. Senior pets tend to spend the longest amount of time at a shelter or rescue before finding their forever homes, that is if they find one at all. Older canines and felines of advanced age have higher euthanasia rates than their younger counterparts, they can often live the rest of their lives out in a shelter kennel.
When you adopt a senior pet, you are not only welcoming a lifetime of love into your home, you are also saving a precious life.
Facts like these make National Adopt a Senior Pet Month so important.
Story after story suggests that geriatric pets are especially grateful for their new home. They seem to know they have been rescued, and owners often notice an extra special sense of love and appreciation from their well-seasoned pet.
The list can go on and on, but most importantly, when you adopt a senior pet, or even share knowledge about the need for senior pet adoptions, you are truly saving a life. We, on behalf of all the shelters and senior pets out there, thank you for that.
Interested in adopting a seasoned senior for your next family member? Here are some local places to help get you started.
- St. Louis Senior Dog Project
- Open Door Sanctuary’s Seniors for Seniors Foster Program
- Senior Dogs 4 Seniors
- APA
- Humane Society of Missouri
Want to help? Here are some things from PetFinder you can do:
- E-mail this post to a friend who wants a new pet
- Promote one senior pet on Facebook or Twitter every day this month. (On Twitter, add the hashtag #PFseniorpets.)
- Share a Happy Tail story.
- Add a senior-pet search widget to your Web site or blog.
- Post a photo of your senior pet (and tell us why he or she rules) on our Facebook wall.
- Adopt a senior pet for Adopt-A-Senior-Pet Month.
Have you ever adopted a senior pet? What would you recommend for first-time adopters? Let us know in the comments below!