Go Behind the Scenes at an Animal Shelter Before You Adopt Your Next Pet

Hey Y’all,

You are probably reading this if you have read my book, Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued. Or maybe you came across a fun infographic I shared on social media and you wanted to learn more information about adopting cats. Thank you for being here to learn more about our cat community and how you can make a difference. I focus on cats in my blog, because my books are about cats. Rescue and adoption can be about many kinds of animals.

Terri

“Saving one pet won’t change the world, but for that one pet, the world will change forever.”

— Unknown

What does rescuing an animal mean?

Rescuing means adopting an animal who needs a home. This is not from a breeder, but from a rescue group or animal shelter.

Why should you choose adopting over buying a pet?

Save lives- reduce euthanasia rates at shelter due to overpopulation
Cheaper- lower adoption fees (that includes spaying or neutering, microchipping, initial vaccinations)
Variety of animals, breeds, gender, and ages available
Volunteers and staff help socialize the animals and can share personality traits to help you find the best fit for your family
Shelters usually have both mixed breeds and purebreds
Breeders usually care more about profit than animal welfare

In Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued, Mom volunteers at the local animal shelter. This character is based on me. When I had given myself a year to mourn the 2014 death my soulcat, Abby, my friend suggested that I volunteer with her at the animal shelter. Liz’s volunteer job was to help socialize cats in the cat room, including encouraging them out of their cages, getting them used to petting, adding enrichment and exercise by getting them to play with toys. She loved cats, but her husband was allergic, so she could never adopt a cat.

Volunteering fulfilled Liz’s desire to have a cat. I was giving myself a year to mourn the loss of Abby. Playing with other cats gave me joy while I was missing Abby. Liz and I shared many volunteer shifts together. I met Oscar and Emmy on one of my shifts, just after my year-long goal of waiting. In the book, Mom meets Oscar and Emmy on her first shift.

This photograph inspired an interior spread and the cover of the 1st edition and the latest edition of *Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued*.

How do volunteers help animal shelters?

There are many jobs that volunteers can do to help animal shelters. You can inquire at some of your local shelters to see what’s available. There usually is some quick paperwork and maybe an orientation meeting. Some shelters may have minimum hours you need to work in a week or month. Other shelters may be happy to take any amount of volunteering. There are some volunteer jobs you can do at home.

Possible volunteer jobs:

·Socialization
Dog walking (exercise)
Cleaning out kennels or litter boxes
Grooming
Giving food and water to animals
Reading to animals
Laundry
Data entry
Phone bank (outreach and engagement)
Website or social media

Understanding the Shelter Cat Population

It is estimated that around 3.2 million cats enter animal shelter in the US every year. That’s just over half of all animals added to shelters annually. Only half of these cats get adopted.

The biggest factor leading to shelter cat overpopulation is the number of unspayed and unneutered cats. A single pair of cats and their offspring can lead to more than 420,00 kittens over seven years if none have the spay and neuter surgery. In 8 years, that number jumps past 2 million cats who wouldn’t have been born.

Here’s a simple graphic to show how this can happen. And realistically, kittens can start having kittens around 6 months old, can have up to 4 litters a year, and can have more than 4 kittens per litter. Oscar and Emmy were part of a litter of 5.

SPAY/NEUTER STATUS FACTS

Even if you have indoor only cats, it is still important to have them spayed or neutered. At some point, it seems like every cat will escape through an open door. It doesn’t take that long for them to either get pregnant or get another cat pregnant. Help me part of the solution for overcrowding.

Also, check out my book, Oscar and Emmy Gain a Friend: A Story About Trap-Neuter-Return, for information about helping to spay and neuter community cats.

Check out the article below by Dr. Karen Halligan, a veterinarian who goes into great detail about the benefits of spaying and neutering.

https://spayneuter.org/why-spayneuter/

Veterinarian Debunks Myths

By Dr. Karen Halligan

Every year, tens of thousands of female dogs and cats die from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, uterine infections and difficult pregnancies.

Most people think that veterinarians recommend spaying and neutering solely to help the pet overpopulation crisis. While this is certainly a major reason to spay, there are numerous health benefits for doing it as well.

Before we talk about the benefits of spaying, let’s define it. Spaying is the surgical removal of the reproductive organs, uterus and ovaries from a female animal. Spaying can be safely performed on animals as young as 8 weeks of age.

Animals in heat and pregnant animals can be spayed, although the risk of complication is a little higher. Spaying your cat or dog before they have their first heat cycle, which is usually at 6 to 7 months of age, will decrease their chances of developing breast cancer to almost zero.

Spaying or neutering reduces the risk of your pet dying of uterine or ovarian cancer. Spaying eliminates the chance of your pet developing a potentially life-threatening infection of the uterus called pyometra.

Spaying or neutering eliminates the mood swings and undesirable behavior that female cats and dogs display during their heat cycle, such as messy spotting, pacing, crying and trying to escape.

Spaying or neutering greatly increases the life span of your pet. Owners of sterilized pets have fewer vet bills.

Spaying or neutering helps decrease the number of animals that are euthanized at the shelters.

Provided by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles.

What is microchipping and why should I do it?

Many shelters do require your pet to be chipped when adopting. It is a painless procedure where a small electronic chip containing your contact info is implanted just under the animal’s skin (usually between the shoulder blades). When a lost animal is brought in to a shelter, they are scanned to see if there is a microchip. Animals have a much higher rate of being reunited with their families when they are chipped. It is also important to keep your contact info updated if you change phone numbers, addresses, or vets.

Check out this informative article by Chewy for more details about microchips and the importance of them.

Is Kathryn, the shelter manager in the book, based on a real person?

Yes, Kathryn was the manager of Sugar Land Animal Services when I volunteered there in 2014-2016. After adopting Oscar and Emmy, I decided to write a book to show others what happened to your pets before you met them… a behind-the-scenes look at the intake process of a shelter. Kathryn was nice and generous with her time to allow me to interview her. Each shelter might have different policies about the things I talk about in the book (volunteering, naming animals, sleepovers, etc), but I wanted to include different possibilities for shelters.

After the book was published, Kathryn presented me with The Hensley Award in front of the Sugar Land City Council for my work in promoting animal rescue and adoption.

Kathryn and I in front of Sugar Land Animal Services

Why did I release a new edition of this book?

I released the 1st edition of Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued in December 2016. Unfortunately the original illustrator couldn’t continue with the series. Natalie Merheb is the illustrator for the Hurricane and Grandma books. Natalie had a completely different style. When I wanted to continue the series past the first 3 books, I searched for an illustrator with a similar style to Natalie. I was lucky to find Roksana Barwinska to complete the rest of the 8-book series. Roksana did get married after a couple of books, so there are different names on those 2 books.

The original Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued was written in rhyme and illustrated in single-page spreads with colored pencil. I made some minor changes in 2020 (changing the font to match the rest of the series and fine tuning the meter and rhymes. This was the 2nd edition.

With the final book of the series published (Oscar and Emmy Foster Kittens) in early 2024, I decided to rewrite and reillustrate Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued. Since the other 7 books were written in prose and included dialogue between the family, I wanted the first book to match. I also wanted to focus on the family from the first page. The children are central to each book, since they are so involved in every aspect of pet care.

I’m very happy with this 3rd edition of Oscar and Emmy Get Rescued and that my 8-book series is very cohesive, both visually and the readability. Look out for the box set that features all 8 books at a lower price than getting them individually.