Submitted by bcurtiswx t3_126lhj3 in LifeProTips
Shelters are understaffed and underfunded and do not take the time to find all the problems or non-problems with the pets they are trying to find homes for. What may be seen as a fat or lazy animal to an animal shelter might be a larger problem that is ignored.
You could actually save your new pets life by taking them to your personal vet for a check up.
Very good point for a LPT of it's own! Thanks!
One caveat is to make sure you have vaccination and deworming records from where you adopt. When we rescued our cat and took him to the vet they immediately dewormed him "just in case" and it basically ruined his gut bacteria and he has lifelong digestive issues since then after being perfectly fine at the shelter.
What records... the our last dog came from the pound with every infestation you could imagine (including tape worm).
Great point! Definitely get as much information as you can from the shelter and bring it with you. The shelter I adopted from had all that and made it a priority to give it to me, but I can imagine not all shelters remember!
Wow! Once the adoption was finalized we received his intake paperwork (including the questionnaire from the lady who initially took him in) with his vaccination records, neuter records, and dental records (he’s FIV+ and had had a few teeth pulled by the shelter’s vet).
Deworming products do not affect gut bacteria.
Not directly, no. But an overdose that causes inflammation and diarrhea can, apparently. The vet basically said a buildup of "bad" bacteria overwhelmed the "good" bacteria (this is after weeks of blood and fecal tests). Six months of twice-daily Tylosin that we had to wean him off, and over a year of prescribed probiotics got him to a point where he can at least eat his sensitive food without issues.
So was it an overdose? I’m confused by your description.
With our two rescues, they wanted to know we had a vet appointment set up ASAP. Adoption was pending verification of the appointment.
Fortunately, the dogs had been well cared for through the rescue. No surprises...except one of our dogs is probably a fair bit older than the rescue thought. It was fine because I don't mind senior dogs. He's the sweetest baby!
Great point! And many shelters and rescues actually have partnerships with local clinics to offer free first visits! Also please update your other pets' vaccines and consider quarantining new pets post-adoption to limit risk of spread of disease. Open intake shelters are wonderful but especially currently, are often very crowded. Overcrowding can stress animals which can subsequently decrease immune function increasing risk of spread of disease.
Our community does the free first visit and it's wonderful! I've had access to this program while adopting pets over the past 20 years and always appreciated it, but sort of took it for granted that other places don't have it. We are very lucky! Plus our regular vet accepts the free first visit so it's the beginning of a long term relationship.
YES!!! I love that for you all! I love those programs too because like you said - it's the beginning of a long-term relationship when you establish care with your primary care veterinarian as part of the free first visit!
The rescue I volunteer with requires adopters to visit their own vet within 10 days of adoption. We're lucky that we have a lot of resources to help our animals before they're placed but even so, it's a good idea to get a once over from a vet you're familiar with.
100%! We took our new kitty boy to the vet the day after bringing him home from the shelter because he'd lost most of the hair on his ears. The shelter said it was because he was allergic to their plastic collar, but we wanted to check for ear mites anyway and have him looked over. No mites, everything is good, and he now has hair on his ears. He is fat and lazy, but that's our fault.
Our vet didn’t charge us for the first visit, as he wants to encourage rescues/adoption. Wasn’t expecting that.
I adopted a cat from a shelter and they didn’t disclose the cat had Feline Leukemia Virus (a very aggressive virus that transmits to cats and similar animals via nasal droplets. Like a mix of Covid and HIV for your kitty). Brought her home and was met by my and my then-gf’s other three cats. All four of them were dead within a couple years.
Shelter did not take responsibility, denied the cat I adopted had it when she was at the shelter. No payout, gf broke up with me because according to her, I indirectly killed her babies
The shelter we adopted our cat from was fantastic. He was in a quarantine room with other cats that needed to have a respiratory infection ruled out.
We filled out the adoption paperwork the day we met him. He wasn’t medically cleared for adoption so they approved us as to foster him and they let us bring him home a week later. We were instructed to contact the shelter if any health issues arose. I had already made an appointment with my vet to meet him and she found him to be in good health. (She picked him up, hugged him, and told him he’d hit the jackpot!)
At one point during the foster we did have to take him to the vet because a growth developed on his paw. It turned out just to be keratin and fell off on its own, but that visit was free because we contacted the shelter and made an appointment with the vet that they worked with.
Once he was actually cleared for adoption part of the paperwork mentioned taking him to our vet within two weeks of “adoption.” When I called to ask about it (because he’d already seen my vet, and the next available appointment was months ahead) they explained that if any genetic issues were discovered they would discourage us returning him.
I explained that he was “home” the first night and I wouldn’t return him if they paid me. They gladly took my credit card for the $50 adoption fee.
bro how is that a lifeprotip. who is crazy enough not do that?
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!
Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment.
If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
Ojntoast t1_je9mkgq wrote
Every shelter Ive worked with will suggest this to you as part of the adoption process also. That is because they know they aren't even looking for everything that could be wrong.
LPT: even pets available for free adoption from a shelter have a large financial commitment associated with them. Before adopting, make sure you have a budget monthly for everything your new family member will need.