One of the return reasons I see so often that grinds my gears, especially when the animal comes back to the shelter on a bite quarantine, is when the adopter takes an animal an introduces them to resident pets immediately. Our adoption counselors go over and give out handouts about properly introducing their new pet to their resident animals, I'm not sure if they do this for every adoption or just when we know the person has other animals in the home. But we also go through the 3-3-3 rule with every adoption which, while it's not the same thing, would also prevent immediate introductions. Do other shelters see this often as a main reason for surrendering? What else could we be doing to better educate adopters?
To give an example: An adopted took home a 10 year old female cat and within hours brought it to their parents' house to meet their dog. The parent was holding the cat and the adopter was holding the dog on a leash a few feet away and the cat began to panic, rightfully so, and started biting and scratching to get away and when it escaped began attacking the dog. They then called animal control to come get the cat and surrendered it back to us, and the cat was back in the shelter just 4.5 hours after being adopted.
We provide a significant amount of resources in person and on our website about proper introductions so I'm not sure if it's just a general public education or if there really is more we can be doing.
#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment------------------------------
Laurel Wilton
Feline Welfare Supervisor
Nebraska Humane Society
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