Finding a Home for a Pet

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If you are considering finding another home for your pet because you are having problems managing your pet's behavior, please read the advice about Managing Problem Behavior. Nearly all behavior problems are manageable given good advice! Also, please visit www.wonderpuppy.net for information on placing a pet. If you need further help, e-mail the Advisor and someone will respond shortly.

If you find a stray or must find a new home for your own pet, try the following:

NEWSPAPER: If you have found a stray animal, the Knoxville News-Sentinel will place a "Found Animal" ad in the classifieds for you. Also, be sure to call the Animal Center at 215-6599 and get the animal listed on our "Found Animal" log, and also list the found animal on our web site's "Found Animal" log. Check the "Lost Animal" log to see if someone has reported the pet that you found as missing. You can bring a found stray animal to the Animal Center, where the staff will try to locate the owner. If the owner is not found and the animal is behaviorly and medically sound, it will be made available for adoption after the mandatory 72-hour holding period.

You can also place an classified ad in the newspaper if you are trying to find a home for your own pet. Give the animal's primary breed, age, sex, and a few words to describe its temperament.

In your classified ad, please DO NOT offer the pet "FREE TO GOOD HOME" and, first and foremost, be sure that the animal is spayed or neutered BEFORE you release it to a new home! Please DO NOT give away a pet that is NOT spayed or neutered! If you release an animal unaltered, there is a good chance you will be contributing to the homeless pet problem in our area. Any good you have done by finding a home for your pet will be undone if that pet goes out and creates more homeless pets.

NOTE ABOUT SPAY/NEUTER: If you need financial assistance with having your own pet(s) spayed/neutered prior to finding a new home, please call the Animal Center's FREE Spay/Neuter Mobile Unit, the Spay Shuttle, at 865-215-6677 or Peaceful Kingdom at 865-579-5164. You can also visit Peaceful Kingdom's web site at Spay Knox. There are organizations that can help you financially with getting this done! By spaying or neutering your pet before it goes to a new home, you will ensure that your pet does not go on to create other homeless pets.

When people call in response to your newspaper ad, ask questions to determine whether the home is a good match for your pet. For example:

• What is the living situation? (apartment, subdivision, farm...)
• Have they had pets in the past? (awareness of routine expenses, veterinary reference...)
• Who is in the family? (young children, other pets...)
• How will the pet be contained? (leash walking, fenced yard, invisible fence...)
• What is the family's lifestyle? (inside and quiet, outside and active, frequent traveling, how long are they gone during the day...)

A responsible adopter will be glad to answer these and other questions. If the caller sounds like a good prospect, offer to visit the home with the pet. If you are satisfied that the home is well-suited for the pet, great! If not, take the pet home and continue to look for a better match.

FLYERS: Create a nice flyer with your pet's picture. Post the flyer in pet supply stores and vet clinics. The most likely adopters are people who love and already have animals!

E-MAIL: Take a digital picture of your pet and e-mail it to friends and coworkers for forwarding to their friends and coworkers, etc. Word of mouth works wonders!

WEB SITES: Contact the Breed Rescue Group of your animal's primary breed. Most will be glad to include your animal's picture on their web site and offer referrals if appropriate, if they are not able to take your pet directly into their rescue program.

CRITTER MAGAZINE: Critter is a monthly magazine with pictures and descriptions of animals available for adoption in the Knoxville area. It is widely distributed throughout Knoxville each month, and provides free magazine space for people who are caring for pets needing homes. Email a picture and description of your pet and ask that your pet be included in the next issue.

ADOPTION CENTERS:

1. The Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley may have space for the animal in one of its adoption centers. Contact HSTV, Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 865-573-9675 or visit them online at HSTV.

2. Animal Works may have space for the animal in one of ts adoption centers. Contact Animal Works at 865-379-2227 or visit them online at Animal Works.

Please remember the above two organizations are "limited intake" facilities and that they do turn away animals when they are full.

Bringing your animal here to the Young-Williams Animal Center should be your last resort, although we can take your pet (we don't turn any animals away) and we will do out best to find a home for it. (There is a $20 fee for animals coming into our shelter from out of county.)

Why should we be your last resort? Because, sadly, there is a risk that your pet will be euthanized (put to sleep) due to limited space in the shelter. We can shelter about 475 animals at any given time, and we stay full almost year round. There are simple reasons why we have to euthanize animals. There are more animals than there are homes for them, many people allow their animals to reproduce and create even more homeless pets, and others are unable to keep their own animals for various reasons and must surrender them to shelters.