Animal shelters are the home of millions of dogs, cats and other animals in the United States and across the world. Not all of the animals in a shelter will have the privilege of being taken home as a pet to a loving family and will stay in the shelter for quite some time.
Luckily, adoption rates from animal shelters have been pretty high lately, and a lot of people are choosing to pick a pet from a local shelter instead of a breeder. That’s fantastic news for local animals and the owners and crew of animal shelters are thrilled to see that almost thirty percent of pets are being adopted from a local animal shelter.
Of course, the number one help for animal shelters and the animals that reside there would be a larger number of people adopting new pets, but there’s plenty of other ways to help your local animal shelter out too. And to make it even better, you can help them a lot by donating some household or unnecessary items that are laying around in the house.
1) Folders or old newspapers
Animal shelters can always use paper, whether it’s regular paper, an ancient telephone book, folders or even newspapers, they sure come in handy. Animal shelters use these to line the bottoms of cages. Plenty of animals means that there’s plenty of cages to be cleaned every day.
2) Baby bottles
It may sound a bit weird at first, but it definitely makes sense for newborn puppies and kittens. Some of them still need to be nursed in order to grow up healthy, and that sometimes means that bottle-feeding is necessary. If you’ve got any old baby bottles collecting dust, your local animal shelter would make great use of them.
3) Sanitizers
Although working with animals is definitely very rewarding, the volunteers of an animal shelter aren’t exactly working in an extremely clean environment. Sanitizers – whether it’s antibiotic alcohol or a simple hand soap – can do wonders for the health.
4) Blankets and towels
Pets from a shelter can also get cold, want to crawl under a warm blanket or need to get their hairs dried after a shower – just like us humans. Old blankets will make the life of a pet warmer both figuratively and literally, while towels definitely come in handy after bathing.
5) Baby food
Providing for tens if not hundreds of animals in a shelter can be a very expensive situation. Animals seem to love baby food and have an adoration for meat-based baby food in particular.
6) General cleaning supplies
Even though it’s almost impossible, it’s very important to keep shelter animals in a clean and nice environment. Pretty much all cleaning supplies can help make this happen! The shelter will shine and this will reflect on the animals as well.
7) Warm heating pads
Like I’ve said before, animals can appreciate a nice and warm feeling. Aside from being more comfortable, a warm environment is also extremely important for weak and young animals and can be the difference between life and death for newborns.
8) Canned tuna
You’ve probably heard that giving regular food to animals isn’t the best of ideas, but canned tuna in water is pretty much the perfect exception to the rule. It’s especially adored by cats!
9) Handy office supplies
People seem to forget that while caring for the animals is undoubtedly the hardest work, there’s a lot of paperwork involved too! If you’ve got anything laying around that could make the life of a volunteer easier when there’s an adoption, that’s a pretty cool way to help animals in an indirect way.
10) Plastic bags
Everybody has too much of these laying around, and they come in more than handy to pick up poop from dogs. You’ve probably got tons of those bags already, why not give a few to your local shelter to help them out for a bit?
11) Leashes and collars
Most of the time, animals are being taken in without anything at all. Some old leashes and collars would go a long way in giving some animals some well-deserved space outside.
12) Cat litter
If you have a cat, you’ll know that litter boxes have to be refilled very often. Supplies of litter are limited at a shelter, anything extra is a big help.
13) Bowls
It’s one thing to have an adequate supply of food itself, but with so many different animals around in a shelter, it’s important to have a sufficient supply of bowls to put that food in as well.
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