Our Advice and Resources for Potential Surrenders

As the warm weather settled in, we received litters of puppies and kittens on top of our usual stream of strays and surrenders. We are at capacity. As we continue our mission to heal and home Isabella County’s animals in need, we need community help to keep our shelter population manageable.

The majority of our animals come through our doors as strays, especially our feline population which frequently receives pregnant strays or feline mothers and their litter. Our canine department, however, is frequently stocked by owner surrenders.

Make no mistake– we understand the challenges that come with pets and the complications that can influence owners to surrender. We at HATS are here to help you and want to share our resources and tips for making sure your pet can comfortably remain your companion.

Honesty about the animal you bring in

Despite our words, we know there are often feelings of fear, guilt, or shame along with surrendering your pet. We understand that nobody wants to surrender, sometimes it feels like the best, or only, option. All we ask for is your honesty.

When pets are surrendered their time at our shelter is often shorter and can be made easier for them because our staff can learn their behaviors and interest upon intake. Information about our animals is hard to come by since most come to us as strays. 

Strays brought to us typically require days, if not longer, to warm-up to our staff and show off their unique personality. Any information provided upon intake can be extremely helpful for the animals future and our understanding of them while they are in our care, but can also help them in finding a new forever home. The shelter environment can be very stressful and cause our animals to act differently than they would in a home environment. If we are able to accurately describe the animal to potential adopters they have a higher chance of a successful adoption.

Strays also require a stray hold, where we provide them the basic care they need while waiting to reunite them with their owner. Strays with no i.d. (no tags or microchip) are held as strays for 4 business days, with i.d. (tags or a registered microchip) are held for 7 business days.

Sometimes we receive strays that do not truly appear to be a stray. While they may not have identification they can be very friendly, well trained, or appear to be well taken care of which tells us they might be a surrender in disguise.

While this may help owners feel less judged or guilty about surrendering their pet, this can hinder the animals future and our shelters resources. Always be honest with our staff about the situations at hand. We aren’t here to judge you, we are here to help.

Litters

Backyard breeding and accidental litters are, unfortunately, a common occurrence in Isabella County. Here are our recommendations for those with puppies, kittens, or unexpectedly welcoming a litter into your home:

• Spay and neuter your pet! This is the best, and easiest, way to prevent litters and accidental breeding. Our spay and neuter clinic offers $80 feline surgeries and canine surgeries for $140 (up to 70 lbs) and $200 (70 lbs +)

• Keep cats indoors/supervised outside: We at HATS recommend keeping your feline friends indoors at all times, especially in cases of Feline Herpes Virus and FIV positive cats. Diseases are easily spread between outdoor, stray, and feral cats.

  • Investing in proper indoor enrichment activities is essential for all pets to be satisfied in their home environment. Catio’s and cat strollers are a great way to safely show your cat the outdoors while keeping an eye on them.

• Try rehoming BEFORE bringing your litter to HATS: Websites like Adopt a Pet make it easy to rehome your animal. Personal and social media connections are also a good resource for this, but be sure they are going to a good, caring home.

• Bring them to the correct shelter: We often get calls from outside Isabella County, which we would love to help with! However, as the Isabella County Animal Control facility, our priority must remain with those within our county. Checking in your county, township, or city for a shelter that is able to prioritize your needs is a great first step.

  • Don’t let our waitlist deter you from bringing your animal here. It can move faster than expected and we ARE able to help out-of-county animals in due time.

When a pet becomes pregnant unexpectedly our spay and neuter clinic is able to fix the mother, with their litter or during their pregnancy, to prevent future litters.

Case-by-case Basis

Sometimes we receive calls or animals that are in dire need of our help or guidance and we recognize that there can be complications and stressors that may contribute to someone's need to surrender a pet.

We are here for you. Our staff is always available for questions about changes in behavior, training, adapting to new or increased stress and anxiety in pets, and more. There are often ways to work with your pet to overcome unwanted behaviors and help keep your pet with you.

Mitten State Dog Training is a valued community partner of HATS. Their main business is in-home lessons and training plans– meaning they come to your home and create a training plan catered to your dog and your training needs.

When Mitten State came to HATS for a training lesson with our staff, they shared with us an app, GoodPup, that makes training an easy step-by-step process for any owner. There are many other apps out there offering similar services, such as Pupford; Dogo; and Puppr.