This cat provides just the joy and solace they need. Max, happily oblivious to the perils of being human right now, is just pleased to have a home.
“If you can give a pet that needs a good home a suitable home whilst you are self-isolating, from my experience it’s fabulous,” Andrew says. “You’re at home all day which means you can provide endless hours of enrichment and love to a new animal. On Sunday I spent a good two hours completely overjoyed baking banana bread and listening to Kacey Musgraves whilst Maximum played with a peg at my feet. Max is basically the greatest thing that the Internet has given me aside from my beautiful husband to be (we met on a gay hook-up app).”Max was adopted from Forever Friends Animal Rescue in New South Wales. Other shelters around the country are wondering what they’re going to do with all the creatures in their care. The Australian Animal Protection Society, for example, has had to stop accepting new animals. It has also cut the cost of adopting a pet by half, to encourage people to take home an animal. “We just don’t know how long we’ll be able to keep functioning,” says the society’s general manager, Megan Seccull. “We had 15 kittens this past weekend alone. I am heartbroken because I just don’t know who is going to come into our shelters and pick these animals up. If the government tells us we have to close to the public, where will they all go?”Make Your Own DIY Dog Friendly Carpet Deodorizer. Do you have some dog odors you want to get rid of? If you don’t have any special products on hand don’t worry – you can make your own simple dog friendly carpet deodorizer with items you’ve got around the house.
Seccull is hoping that people will at least volunteer to foster animals temporarily, through this crisis. Most animal shelters have a fostering system, where they recruit and train kind human beings to care for their animals until they can be adopted permanently. Anyone who can commit to caring for an animal for the rest of their lives might consider adoption.
Meanwhile, RSPCA shelters around the country are bracing for drastic changes to the way they operate. They’re losing volunteers and donations, as well as simply seeing fewer people turn up to meet their animals.“We are concerned about the impacts of the crisis – for example, people losing work or income and struggling to afford pet food and vet care bills,” says Dr Sarah Zito, senior scientific officer at the RSPCA. “We’re not yet seeing a significant increase in intake or more people surrendering their pets during the coronavirus pandemic … Sadly, we do expect this will happen over time. The likelihood of a drop in adoptions, donations and volunteer support, as well as an increase in surrenders is a very real concern for us at the moment. Most RSPCAs expect these changes to become more significant and serious this week and onwards.”Watch Out For Your Dogs Feet in the Summer. Hot pavement can burn your dogs paws rather quickly. To see if it’s too hot for your dog place the back of your hand on the pavement – if you can’t hold it there for 5 seconds it’s too hot for your dog. On really hot days consider walking your dog in the woods, on the grass, or waiting til the sun goes down.
Where to adopt or foster
National
RSPCA
Keep an Eye On Your Dog Around Water (Especially Pools). Not all dogs are great swimmers, and when it comes to pools they can be very dangerous for a dog. Keep an eye on your dog if they’re out in the yard by the pool and make sure your dog knows where the steps in & out of the pool are.