How You Can Help Abandoned or Lost Pets?

If you com across an animal that has obviously been abandoned (that is, it looks frightened, unfamiliar with its surroundings, ill-fed, and dirty), help it.

If it is friendly and you are able to approach it, find a suitable leash/rope or carrier and take it home. After that, call an animal welfare organization to see if they have fosterers available to take the animal in. If the animal is in good shape, young, and friendly, the SPCA too may be able to put it up for adoption.

If you can adopt the animal, all the better! Call a welfare society or see a vet for advice about caring for your new pet. If you can't adopt, and the welfare groups have no fosterers but you want the animal to live, perhaps you will be generous enough to sponsor its maintenance elsewhere?

If you cannot catch an animal that clearly needs help, yet runs away from you despite your efforts, some welfare organizations have volunteers who may be able to help you catch it. However, not all have sufficient manpower, so try your best first.

Do no confuse sterilized strays with abandoned pets. Sterilized strays are cared for by animal welfare volunteers. You will recognize them by their familiarity with where they live, and their healthy appearance.

Also, if you see a young kitten on its own, do not take it away. Its mother is probably out looking for food and will be very distressed if she returns to find it missing. To be certain, remain at a distance to observe. You may have to wait a long time, or return later in the day to check. If the mother is still caring for the kitten, let her do her in peace.

What Can Happen When Pets Are Abandoned or Lost?

A domesticated animal is very different from a wild one. It does not know how to fend for itself. It might barely know how to feed itself. If abandoned, it is vulnerable to countless dangers:

* It may be attacked by predators or territorial animals of its own species. Even if it does not die from an attack, the resulting wounds may slowly infect and kill it.
* It may be abused by cruel people.
* It may wander onto the roads and be hit by a vehicle.
* It may die of heatstroke.
* It may die from thirst or starvation.
* It may suffer the pain of disease, infections, or injury.
* It will be bewildered, disorientated, and unable to defend itself.

If you can no longer care for a pet, never abandon it. Try to have it rehomed. If that fails, take it to the SPCA or a veterinarian to have it put down. Some people may think it extreme to put a pet to sleep if it can't find a new home, but seeing animals suffering severe illness, a quick and humane death is infinitely preferable to a long-drawn-out one.

The Consequences Of Abandoned or Lost Pets

Abandoned or lost pets are distressed, not free from captivity.

If you have ever witnessed the panic that overcomes a small child when he turns around in a busy mall to find that his mother is not where he thought she was, you have some understanding of the fear a pet feels when it is suddenly abandoned.

The child who can't find his mother in a store may sob, scream, stamp his feet and wail, but when his mum, who is really only a few feet away, comes running, the crisis is over. The tears dry up, the sobs wane, and in a few minutes the child is all smiles again.

An abandoned pet cannot wail and run to a friendly mall staff member. It doesn't have the words to ask for help. But it is in as much distress as any lost child. Animals that are more vocal, like dogs, may whine or whimper and run about looking for a familiar face or voice; others that don't often make many noises, like rabbits, may cower and hide.

Even pets that always seem to be making a bid for freedom from their homes do not realize the consequences of their attempts. Just because it always seems to be trying to slip out the door, it does not mean it can survive without you.

A domesticated animal depends on its human carers to feed, water, shelter, and medicate it. If it is abandoned or lost, terrible things can happen to it.