Being a pet lover, it is difficult to be away from your pets. Letting go of your beloved pet to rehome could lead to an enduring heartbreak experience. However, unavoidable circumstances at times press one to take some hard decisions.
On the other hand, it is harder for the pet than you finding it difficult! A new place, a new caretaker, a new family is not a piece of cake for pets.
To simplify this whole experience, here are some tips. Let’s work your way around, helping in rehoming your pet in a safer and more compassionate manner:
- Flaunt the best of your pet
The first thing you need to do is to click adorable pictures of your pet. It’s important to have a portfolio of your pet handy all the time. Especially the ones that portray your pet’s most happy moments. You never know until you cross paths with a prospective family who is ready to adopt! In case you have to surrender your pet to a shelter, these cute pictures will surely help your pet find a happy home!
- Prepare a detailed introduction/bio for your pet
A quick glimpse of your pet can comfortably bond with a new owner. List out things your dog or cat is good at. You can add any pieces of training you’ve put them through, their personality, medical history, and preferences.
Mentioning their habits helps a lot; like how much exercise they’d need or the time they like to spend outside usually. What are their most favorite and least favorite foods, treats, and activities they like to do? You can also be descriptive about your pet’s best features and things needed to be taken care of.
Having said the above, make sure you don’t hide any details for the future owners, regardless of how they are good or bad, the details about your pet should be open for the future owners, which eventually helps in an easy transition of your pet into their new home.
For instance, if you mention that your pet might need some discipline to be taught or will require to be patient with, it will not get turned away from its new family for being unruly.
- Get your pet ready for the move
Make sure your pet is in adoptable condition: i.e. well-groomed, up-to-date on vaccinations, and flea, and tick-free. You can also have your pet spayed or neutered if it’s not done already.
- Avoid advertisements at all costs
Advertisements, with their seemingly fast and simple approach, can turn out to be hot waters for your pet, a pretty bad spot to involve. If you post your pets on personal classifieds or sites such as Craigslist, your pet might fall into the hands of someone who would misuse or harm them. There are always better options, even if they are time-consuming. Look for them.
FINDING A NEW HOME
Your beloved pet deserves a safe and sound new home, we back you up for that!
But this search necessitates a great deal of patience! Here are some options that you can start with.
- Start with the closest ones
An ideal first step would be discussing this with your family and friends. You may find someone close who really loves pets but have not been able to get one. Besides, talk to the groomers, pet store owners, or the pet guardians.
- There are many non-profit humane societies and animal rescues that allow you to list your pets for adoption on their websites. This will surely help and support you to find trustworthy sources for your pet’s new home.
Once you do have some options in your bucket, shortlist potential adopters and start contacting them.
Now, it’s time to set up for the interviews. You can take help from the following basic questionnaire that every pet owner should refer to.
- What do they like about your pet and how does the pet fit into their lives?
- Do they already have pets? If yes, then what kind of? Will your pet interact, be comfortable, and friends with this pet?
- Is their house pet-friendly?
- Will they be able to provide a good lifestyle to your pet? How do they invest in pet care?
- Will they be able to invest enough time in taking care of your pet?
- Are they genuine about having a new pet and ready to keep it for a long time?
- In fact, you must request a house visit, once you shortlist potential adopters after the interviews. This will help you to make a careful choice of keeping your pet’s preference in mind.
Tip: A smart way to weed out unworthy adopters is to charge a nominal fee for adoption. A small amount wouldn’t matter to someone who really wants to adopt your pet. Whereas, non-serious candidates will keep dragging the subject or retract sooner than you expected, thus saving your time. Even a small amount, say $20, can serve this purpose.
Consider surrendering your pet to an animal rescue or municipal animal shelter if the aforementioned options fail to find a new home for your pet.
- Explore breed-specific rescues
If your pet is not a purebred, you can reach out to breed rescues who are open to mixes of their specialized breed. Breed-specific rescues are mostly foster-based, which means that your pet will get to live with an approved foster family until it’s adopted.
- Check all the shelter facilities in your area, and upon deciding, finally, surrender your pet. Inquire and obtain information in detail about the process of accepting owner-surrendered pets. There might be surrender fees or waitlists. Look how they take efforts to care for pets and then make your decision. When you are parting ways with your pet, including our pet’s best photo and all the information that you’ve put together to the shelter, it will definitely help them find a new home faster.
Saying goodbye to your beloved dog or cat is perhaps the most difficult choice you will have to make. But a smart search — a little look around in the area, a bit of research, and some preparation may save you from some heartache and simplify the whole process for you and your pet.
If you ever had to face this situation, we wish your pet a loving and caring forever home.