Rescue – PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE

Why It Is Now Even More Important Than Ever To Support Animal Rescue Organisations

The cost of changing a rescue animal’s life forever – PRICELESS!

To feed a dog for one month typically costs somewhere from £16 to £50, depending on the breed. Microchipping costs about £10 to £15. The average cost of essential vaccinations is £64. A vet appointment costs between £40-£60. Physiotherapy/Hydrotherapy – the average cost is £50 for a 30-minute session.

You may wonder, why do you have to pay to adopt a dog?

Well, running an animal shelter is not cheap, with food, heating and other costs, so you money goes towards supporting them in the work. It also pays for vital care that your new pet has had, and covers essential expenses that you’d likely have to pay for anyway if you got your dog another way.

Why do dog shelters charge people to adopt pets?

First of all, animal shelters cost money to run. While they get donations and funding through events like charity runs, the costs are high. They need to pay for food, heating and other bills, as well as any staff costs and expenses like petrol for home visits.

Adoption fees also cover other expenses for the dogs, such as vet bills, which you’d likely have to pay yourself anyway if you acquired a new dog through other means.

Every dog rehomed is vaccinated, microchipped and neutered.

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD #ADOPTDON’TSHOP!

Adopting a pet has many benefits, some of which you may have not considered. Here are some reasons why adopting a pet would benefit you and your family.

1. You are saving a life

By adopting from a shelter, you are providing an animal with the second chance they deserve. Many have been rescued from horrific circumstances such as cruelty, neglect and abandonment, or quite simply their owners were no longer able to look after them due to illness or a change in situation.

Before and after: these pictures were taken two months apart

Shelter staff work tirelessly to nurse animals back to health, rehabilitate disturbed animals and do everything they possibly can to ensure they are prepared to go to a new home. Sadly, not all of them are as fortunate. Some shelters have to euthanise due to lack of space, meaning many healthy animals lose their lives. By rehoming a pet you can give an animal that has been abandoned through no fault of their own a loving, stable home, and help to stop overpopulation.

2. You will save money

Shelters often microchip, spay, neuter and vaccinate the animals that come into their care. This saves you a lot of money because you don’t have to pay for the procedures yourself and it ensures the pet you are taking home is healthy. Also, the prices of adopting a pet from a shelter are often a lot lower than the rates charged by breeders.

3. Can help to eradicate puppy farms.

A puppy farm, or mill, is the illegal practice of breeding puppies for the sole purpose of maximising profit, without any regard to the dogs’ health or wellbeing. Dogs at puppy farms are forced to breed several times to their detriment and they are often kept in terrible conditions without basic necessities.

Bred Relentlessly For Profit

People who run such places are not concerned with producing healthy dogs, so they can be born with severe problems that emerge over time. The dogs usually don’t receive any veterinary care, and will often be destroyed once they can no longer reproduce. Additionally, dogs at pet shops are often products of puppy farms. Adopting from a shelter aids in stopping dogs from being subjected to such horrific circumstances, because rather than funding this illegal trade you will be rehoming a pet from somewhere reputable that supports animal welfare.

4. Can improve your health and make you happier

Various studies have shown that a having pet can elongate your life, whilst improving your overall happiness and health. It also helps people with depression, stress, anxiety and many other ailments. The affectionate and loyal nature of dogs as pack animals that form close relationships with their owners can help sufferers of depression, who may feel like they don’t have anybody else.

Stroking your pet can reduce your blood pressure and stress levels, and playing with them can increase the levels of serotonin and dopamine your body produces, making you feel calm and relaxed. Walking the pet is a way to exercise and provides sufferers of anxiety and depression with a reason to leave the house. It also creates opportunities for socialising with other dog walkers. The animal you have helped through rehoming can help you.

5. Can benefit children

Children can be taught valuable life skills through pet ownership, such as the importance of maintaining responsibilities. Rehoming a pet will also encourage empathy by making them think about how they have helped to give an unwanted animal a loving home. Pets can help children with separation anxiety and provide them with security, as they can be safe in the knowledge that someone will always be there. As well as this, they can be a loving companion and playmate.

6. Many of the animals are housetrained

Animals at shelters have often been housetrained in their previous home, particularly if they are older. This saves you a lot of time and extra effort when training your new pet where to go to the toilet.

7. Unconditional love

A pet is a companion that will never judge you, will love you regardless of whatever happens and will always be there. As well as making you feel great, their unconditional love raises your self-esteem because of the affection they show you. It is said that animals know when they have been rescued, so the bond between you and your rehomed pet will be especially strong.

8. You could get a pet you never expected

Although you may have an idea of what you are looking for, there are a wide variety of animals waiting to be adopted from shelters. This may mean an animal you would never have imagined could turn out to be the best match for you. Therefore, it is always important to have an open mind when visiting shelters.

9. Older animals can prove to be the best companions

Many people want to adopt puppies and kittens without considering the advantages of having an older pet. If trained in their previous home they will be less likely to destroy furniture than a younger pet, and as such, will probably require less supervision. Older pets are often calmer and quite happy to sit in your company rather than demanding constant attention. They also have more developed personalities than puppies or kittens, so it may be more apparent when visiting them at the shelter whether or not you are suited.

10. Adopting supports spaying and neutering

Spaying and neutering animals is important in controlling the animal population. Many pets that aren’t spayed or neutered often contribute to the problem of unwanted animals, which can lead to more being left at shelters. Adopting an animal from a shelter means that your new pet has been spayed or neutered where possible.

Please help us continue to support animal rescues by donating any amount, large or small. Your donations make our work possible.

And please remember…

…the cost of changing a rescue animal’s life forever is – PRICELESS!

CHARITY APPEAL TO BUILD THE FIRST CENTRE IN THE UK FOR DISABLED ANIMALS

As thousands of disabled animals are put to sleep across the UK, animal welfare charity Miracle’s Mission is looking for help to build the UK’s first centre for disabled animals – where they can be rehabilitated before finding their forever homes.

Victoria Bryceson, founder of Miracle’s Mission, says that countless disabled dogs are euthanased unnecessarily, despite the fact they could have a good quality of life with the right physical therapy and prosthetics.

She says, “At the moment amputation of one leg is common practice with UK vets, as dogs can live very well and still be very active with three legs, especially if it is a back leg, as most of the weight is on the front legs.

“However, when it comes to a double amputation leaving the dog with two legs, the general vets that I have seen in the UK have said it’s definitely not possible to do this as the dogs won’t be left with a good quality of life.”

Many people may not be aware that dogs who have wheels and prosthetics can live as good a life as a fully able bodied dogs – much like Ella, who was found wandering the streets of Egypt, paralysed from the back down after being thrown off the top of a building.

Miracles’ Mission brought her to the UK, giving her a second chance. A wheelchair for dogs was made so she could get around, and soon Ella was running around with other dogs, living life to the fullest. Victoria is looking to let owners know that their disabled dogs could live happily, too, if only given a chance.

She adds, “The specialist hospitals seem more open to it as they have more experience in the area, but even they have problems where most of their dogs in these conditions are euthanased – not because they need to be but because, in their words, it is the owners of the dogs who can’t cope with the thought of a two legged dog. So there is a huge need for education in this area, amongst the public, dog owners and vets.

“General practice vets that have seen my journey with double amputee dogs have said that they have had a huge education on disabled animals and they can now see the possibilities and potential of a disabled dog. They are now much more open to using wheels and prosthetics. Dogs using wheels and prosthetics can live as good a life as a fully able-bodied dog and this is what I want to show people.

“I was stopped so many times when I was with a double amputee dog, to ask about her wheels as people hadn’t seen them before. They told me stories about their dogs back legs deteriorating and they thought the only option was euthanasia, but now they would look into wheels.”

The new centre will provide dedicated care for the most vulnerable dogs and cats. Animals under its care will receive thorough veterinary assessments, MRIs, surgeries, the fitting of prosthetics, and doggy wheels. Their personalised rehabilitation plan will include physiotherapy and hydrotherapy as well as daily massage and TENS machine stimulation.

Victoria says, “The animals coming into our care will initially all be stray dogs with nowhere else to go and no one else to help them. They will either have been born with some sort of condition, such as a bent leg that they can’t walk on or they will have been in an accident – for example hit by a car or they will have been abused.”

Once the patients have been emotionally and physically rehabilitated as much as possible, Miracle’s Mission get to work to find them all forever homes.

Victoria explains, “We will offer a full rehabilitation programme right through from assessment to surgery to rehabilitation, recovery and re-homing. This is again why education is so important, so that people become open to adopting disabled dogs.

“If we don’t re-home the dogs the centre will be full on day one and then we won’t be able to help anymore, so it is really desperately needed that the dogs be re-homed.”

There already is a waiting list of disabled dogs, but Victoria cannot accept them until she is able to finance the centre. She is currently crowd funding to raise £20,000 to secure a deposit for the centre, which if secured will be built in Yorkshire in 2020.

You can donate to the Miracle’s Mission appeal HERE. If you’d like more information get in touch by writing to info@miraclesmission.org

Paul Christian, founder of Protect All Wildlife and Patron of Miracle’s Mission.

Images by Andrew Price

A North Dakota Brewery Is Helping Shelter Dogs Get Adopted By Putting Their Faces On Their Beer Cans

Craft beer cans featuring the faces of **shelter dogs** from the Fargo Brewing Company.

A North Dakota brewery is helping local pups find their forever homes by featuring their faces on the front of its beer cans.

Partnering with the rescue organization 4 Luv of Dog Rescue, Fargo Brewing Company hopes that adding the dog’s mugs will help these harder-to-adopt pups get noticed. The dogs featured have a hard time socializing, so they don’t do well at adoption events. Hopefully, the cans will change that.

Jerad Ryan, a volunteer with 4 Luv of Dog, says the partnership between the brewery and the non-profit was his idea.

“Our wonder dogs are dogs that will live their best life in a home by themselves and there’s no other pets,” Ryan said. “They can be a little bit tougher to find homes for, foster homes, that type of thing. We are featuring those dogs in a can and bringing them here, so the public can meet them,” he added.

“The harder-to-adopt dogs sometimes labeled as ‘Oneder dogs’ have always had a special place in my heart,” shelter volunteer Jerad Ryan told the outlet. “My first three-and-a-half years volunteering at the shelter I would spend extra time with the dogs that had been there long-term mostly due to the fact they don’t do well living with any other dogs. Many of our foster homes already have a resident dog or two so it is difficult to find these particular dogs a forever home.”

Fargo Brewing will hold a beer release during which four of the dogs from the cans will stop by the brewery. The brewery also plans to donate any profits from the limited release to the rescue organization.

Please adopt shelter pets. And if you can, please consider adopting a senior pet. Seniors already know so much and their hearts are open to love. with more to give back than you ever imagined! There is nothing I love more than a “senior” dog or cat! They are some of the best pets you can invite into your life.

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Anyone who believes that money can not buy you happiness has never paid an adoption fee!

When you buy an ‘Adopt Don’t Shop’ pin badge £1 goes to help PupAid in their fight to close #puppyfarms! Get yours at ADOPT DON’T SHOP PIN.