Pets await ‘furever’ homes

Published 6:15 am Thursday, May 14, 2015

VALDOSTA — Choosing the perfect pet can be quite a task. Every factor from size to temperament is taken into account. Hundreds of animals sit in Lowndes County Animal Shelter waiting to become a perfect fit to a family.

According to numbers provided by the Lowndes County Clerk’s Office, 602 dogs and 246 cats entered the Lowndes County Animal Shelter during the first quarter of 2015. While 155 of the dogs and 53 of the cats were adopted, 148 cats and 203 dogs were euthanized.

While the shelter partners with rescues, pet relocation programs and participates in local adoption and fostering program, it is not enough to compete with the number of animals brought into the shelter on a daily basis, according to the county. Due to the shelter’s limited space, animals cannot be kept indefinitely.

Preventing overpopulation through spaying and neutering along with increasing adoption rates is the ultimate goal for the shelter.

“Adopting a shelter pet saves two lives. For every pet that is adopted, kennel space is made available for the next intake. In addition, the adoption fee covers the cost of spaying/neutering to ensure that shelter pets do not further contribute to the pet population,” said Lowndes County Clerk Paige Dukes.

Cost for adoption is $125 for dogs and $105 for cats.

For dogs, this fee covers the cost of 30-day pet insurance, distemper combo vaccine, rabies vaccine and tag, physical exam, flea treatment, microchip and registration, heartworm test, first heartworm prevention, deworming and spay/neuter. All of these treatments alone would cost $278.

For cats, the same things are covered aside from the heartworm test and prevention since it is far less likely for cats to get heartworms. Cats are given ear cleaning, ear mite treatment and feline leukemia and FIV blood testing. If paying for all of these treatments, the cost would be $269.

A coupon is also included in the adoption packet for a free bag of cat or dog food from McKinney’s Pet Lovers Food and Supply Company.

Dukes said local veterinarians have shared stories of residents purchasing animals from Craigslist, parking lots and other venues that end up having costly and sometimes deadly illnesses such as parvo.

All shelter animals are fully examined by veterinarians to ensure the new owner knows of any health issues a new pet may have.

Lowndes County Animal Shelter is located at 337 Gil Harbin Industrial Boulevard and can be reached via phone, (229) 671-2760.

Adoptions begin at noon Tuesday through Saturday and end at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday.