Why Adopt a Shelter Pet?

Help Turn the Tide! Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters each year. Of these, approximately 31% of dogs and 41% of cats end up being euthanized, in large part because no one wants to adopt them. —ASPCA, 2014

1. Save a life! These animals did not arrive at the shelter because they are damaged or did anything wrong. They have simply been lost by their owners, abandoned, or were unlucky at love, and they deserve a second chance.

2. Large variety of pets to choose from! Shelter pets offer a delightful smorgasbord of types and styles: large and small, pure breeds and mixed breeds, high energy and easy-going, youngsters and oldsters. All just waiting for you.

3. Adopting a shelter pet can save you money. Every shelter animal is spayed or neutered and has been vaccinated against disease, prior to adoption.

4. Knowledgeable shelter staff can help you find the perfect pet. RCHS staff get to know the animals’ personalities and dispositions and can help you find a pet that fits with your family’s life style and living conditions.

5. Say NO to puppy mills and animal cruelty. According to the Humane Society of the United States only 30% of pets in homes today come from shelters or rescues. By adopting a shelter animal, instead of purchasing one from a pet store, breeder, or over the Internet, you’re saying NO to puppy mills where the focus is on profit and not on animal welfare. By adopting a shelter pet you’re saying NO to animal cruelty.

6. Become part of the solution to pet overpopulation. By adopting a shelter pet you will be freeing up space for another pet in need of a home. Additionally, your adoption fee will help pay for the care of those pets waiting to be adopted—including the cost of spaying or neutering. Spaying and neutering animals is the only real solution to pet overpopulation.

7. Be a hero, make an impact! Adopting a shelter pet will make you feel wonderful when you take home your new best friend and realize how you’ve made a difference by helping an animal in need.

How You Can Help

Learn more about how you can help the animals by adopting, sponsoring or fostering a pet; donating money or supplies; or volunteering with RCHS.