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Keep Pets in Homes

Many animals surrendered to shelters are given up due to solvable behavior issues or lack of housing. These tools can help you eliminate housing barriers in your community and help renters keep their pets, keep more cats in homes and making pet care, behavior and wellness resources and information more accessible to pet owners and potential adopters.

Spotlight > Keep Pets in Homes

Do you have the right to keep your pet?

Tenant advocacy helps keep pets and families together

Would you believe me if I said that in the past 6 years I have adopted out more than 400 dogs and cats, 99 percent of them either adult cats—often very old cats—or large breed dogs, typically pitbull-type dogs? How about if I said I did this at the cost of approximately $75 a month?

Well, if you don’t believe me … you’re right. I didn’t adopt out 400 hard-to-place dogs and cats. I did something even better ... I kept them in their homes.

Read Do you have the right to keep your pet?

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  • Assessment

    Resources to help cats

    Protect cats in your community

    Humanely managing community cats is your best path to reducing the number of unowned cats in your shelters and in your community. Use the resources below to get ahead of any potential conflict with neighbors and policy-makers, increase the effectiveness of your trap-neuter-return (TNR) efforts, collaborate with wildlife conservationists and more. Everything from targeted TNR to colony care to grassroots mobilization is covered to help you best address the needs of the community cats in your neighborhood and beyond.

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  • Magazine Article

    All Pawgwarts houses are equal

    Shelter director explains the power of magical thinking

    by Bethany Wynn Adams

    When the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando in Florida started “sorting” homeless dogs and cats by “Pawgwarts” house, rather than by breed, it led to an explosion of media coverage, shelter visitors and website traffic. But the Harry Potter-inspired idea isn’t just about sorting hats and spells: It’s a way to get people to stop and rethink what “breed” really means.

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  • Blog Post

    The sun is rising on pet-friendly housing

    Arbitrary species, breed and size restrictions in rental housing tear families apart and cause pets to become homeless. Let's put an end to un-"pet-friendly" policies by helping properties welcoming cats and dogs of all breeds and sizes.

    Lack of affordable pet-welcoming rental properties comes at a huge cost to pets and their people

    by Todd Cramer

    During my time at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey, I was privileged to work on an HSUS Pets Are Welcome pilot program designed to encourage property owners to allow pets in their rental units, and to support them with guidance and resources when they did.

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Find more resources in Shelter + Rescue Essentials