Are You Doing These 3 Things To Help Keep People & Pets Together?

It’s Thursday, so that means we’re sharing another brilliant idea from our Innovation Bank. These short, pre-recorded webinars feature successful, replicable programs from your colleagues in the field, and today it’s Kentucky Humane Society’s Pet Retention program in the spotlight. Shelby Schulz, MPA, Pet Resource Manager, shares a few tips and tricks that can help keep pets out of the shelter and in their homes.

“Tell Me A Little Bit More…”

It doesn’t take extra staff or resources to dig a little deeper to figure out why someone is calling to surrender their animal. “You can keep a pet in their home simply by having a conversation,” says Schulz, and shares the story of a pet owner who explained he couldn’t afford the $600 to have both of his cats neutered at his local veterinarian, and thought he had no choice but to surrender one of them. Schulz pointed him to their low-cost clinic–$80 per cat!—and the family could stay together.

Some tips for having nonjudgmental conversations:

Start the interaction with the attitude that people are doing the best they can for their pets
Work on active listening and give the client the opportunity to share their situation
Validate the client’s feelings

Create a Safety Net Resource List

No matter your budget, size or available resources, Schulz stresses that all you need is a little time to create a list of safety net services in the community. (And P.S., she finds that most people have no idea many of these resources are available.) This is a great project for a volunteer, and be sure to include such services as:

Pet food banks
Free/low-cost spay/neuter & vaccine clinics
Financial aid resources
Lost & found resources
Pet-friendly housing

Track Your Program

You’ll want a way to quantify your efforts, says Schulz. Tracking is also a good way to see how much time you’re spending in order to best assess impact.