Did you know? The Lynchburg Humane Society has a Community Pet Food Pantry

Posted on May 16, 2023May 16, 2023 by Claire LeFew

LHS’s Cat and Dog Food Pantry

Did you know that the Lynchburg Humane Society runs a Community Pet Food Pantry? The Lynchburg Humane Society Community Pet Food Pantry helps provide our community’s pets with food when circumstances might leave them without it. Our Pet Food Pantry is a lifesaving program that wouldn’t be possible without donations from community members and businesses!

To keep the lost and homeless pets that are cared for by LHS’s diets consistent, we only feed them Hills Science Diet products. All other cat and dog food donations help supply our Community Pet Pantry or the occasional special diet pet! Right now our shelves are low on cat food and we need your help filling them up.

How to get free pet food if you need help

Community members that need help feeding their pets can stop by the Center for Pets during open hours and talk to our staff at the desk about the program. Pets and families in need can come by up to once a month to get food for their pets.

How to get involved with the Community Pet Food Pantry

Help us help our community by donating any extra cat or dog food you might have lying around today! We take new or used bags (must be in original packaging) of food and you can drop them off in the donation carts at our front entrance!

You can also volunteer to help with the Community Pet Food Pantry by helping us keep it organized and labeled! Interested volunteers can sign up here.

For more information on our lifesaving programs to keep pets in their homes you can visit the Services tab of our website or reach out to [email protected].

Did you know? The Lynchburg Humane Society has working cats for adoption!

Posted on May 9, 2023May 9, 2023 by Claire LeFew

Barn Cats available for Adoption

Working cats, also known as barn cats, are cats that prefer to have an independent life from human friends. They would much rather be the guardian of a shop or a barn than be a house cat for a family. At LHS we have many of these cats available for adoption!

A few working cats available for adoption at LHS:

Cheese Puff is an eight year old gentleman that is looking for a place to call his own! Cheese Puff is not doing well in the shelter environment and would much rather be living his best barn or working cat life. Do you know of someone who needs a handsome orange and white hard working boy in their life?

Meet Fawn, this beautiful lady came to LHS summer 2022 with her kittens who have now found their families and she is waiting for her match. Fawn prefers independence and space from people but really enjoys the company of other cats so would do great with other pets. She LOVES her porch room buddy, Jason. More about Jason below!

Jason is a big, handsome cat that loves himself some other cats! Just because Jason prefers space from people doesn’t mean he can’t fall in love. Jason has had a couple of cats in his time here at LHS that he’s become very close to. His current best friend is Fawn! Our staff loves to walk by the porch room and see Fawn and Jason cuddled up together or following each other around. This pair would be perfect for a space that could use multiple cats like a large barn, store, or farm!

All our working cats can be found on our website with a “working cat” attribute on their profiles. Many of them also live in the Porch Room on the adoption hallway so you can come by and visit them any time.

Did you know? Supply donations help save pets at LHS.

Posted on April 11, 2023April 11, 2023 by Claire LeFew

Help homeless and lost pets at shelters by donating supplies

Did you know that you can help pets in your community with supply donations? Pet owners everywhere know that when you have pets, it requires a lot of supplies to care for them. Food, bowls, beds, linens, and toys are just a handful of the many things it takes to care for pets. Here at LHS we can be caring for up to 900 pets at a time here at our Center for Pet and in foster homes so it takes many supplies to make sure these pets are happy and healthy. Animal shelters rely on your generosity to save pets and supplies are a great way to get involved!

There are several categories of supplies that you can collect and donate to LHS that have a huge impact on saving pets. There are more details below but you can always visit our Needed Supplies webpage for a list of supplies and our online wish lists.

Pet Food Donations

Food is one of our largest monthly expenses here at the Center for Pets. We typically need over 2,000 pounds of dry pet food and over 1,500 cans of canned food per month. The pets here are kept on a consistent diet of the Purina Chow products, Purina Cat & Kitten chows and Purina Dog and Puppy chows. They are able to eat any brand of canned food. If you have a picky pet and have an already open bag of food you can’t use we can still accept those in the original packaging.

Any pet food that is donated that our pets can’t eat will do into our Community Pet Pantry. Last year we gave away almost 12,000 pounds of pet food from our Community Pet Pantry to pets and their families in need in our community. Help us keep our Community Pet Pantry stocked all year long!

Animal Shelter Bedding and Linen Donations

Animal Shelter dog | Dog in bath | Lynchburg, VA

You can probably guess that we go through a lot of bedding here at LHS! Our laundry is constantly going but sometimes bedding is too soiled or used by sick pets and unable to be washed. If you are cleaning out your linen closet, the Center for Pets is the perfect place to donate those unused sheets, towels, and blankets. Our pets always appreciate cat and dog bed donations as well.

You can also donate a comfy Kuranda bed to our pets here at the shelter here.

Enrichment Program

Shelters are a stressful place for dogs and cats. Enrichment can help! Our enrichment program includes many different things for both dogs and cats to exercise their brains. Things that help with our enrichment program include, peanut butter, enrichment toys, treats, and more! We have an Amazon wishlist dedicated to enrichment here: https://a.co/gLPTPNn

Foster Program

tiny kitten, neonate kitten, bottle fed kitten

Our fosters are often taking care of our youngest, most vulnerable pets. Many of these pets are too young to eat regular pet food and need specialized food and supplies to grow. Our foster department has a dedicated wishlist that includes many of these items. Even if you aren’t able to foster these tiny pets, you can still help them by donating formula, bottle supplies, heartbeat toys, and more to keep them healthy and growing. https://a.co/iCNJ7xK

Thank you! We are so grateful to our community for being so involved in caring for our pets and donating supplies!

Did you know? The Lynchburg Humane Society Transfers in at-risk Pets from other Shelters.

Posted on April 4, 2023April 5, 2023 by Claire LeFew

Author: Senior Manager of Operations, Amber Cabell

Saving pets at-risk of euthanasia

Did you know in 2022, LHS transferred 783 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens into our care that were at risk of euthanasia at other shelters? That’s 783 pets that were not euthanized for space or length of stay because of LHS’s transport program and were given a second chance to find happiness. There are many reasons why these pets may have been at risk; they may have been sick or injured and their originating shelter did not have the resources to provide medical care, they may have been too young for adoption and the originating shelter did not have any fosters for them to go to or adequate resources to care for them, or they may simply have been unlucky enough to end up in a shelter that is forced to euthanize for space because their community is unable to provide the resources they need to care for the number of pets they bring into the shelter’s care.

But there is one thing that every one of these 783 pets had in common. They all deserved to find happiness.

How to shelter transport programs work?

Sparkle and her siblings were at-risk pets transferred to LHS from Galax County, VA through an effort by Homeward Trails. They are all now adopted and at home with their new families!

Everyday there are a myriad of shelters and volunteers organizing transports all over the country to bring pets from at-risk shelters to safety. A smooth transport is no easy feat and requires the collaboration and cooperation of both the originating and destination shelters. Through each shelter’s point of contact, transfer paperwork is prepared and volunteers are secured to drive the pets from one location to the next. During this time, our pet care staff is working hard to prepare space for our new additions and setting them up with comfy blankets, fun toys, and tasty treats to celebrate their arrival. Once the pets arrive at LHS, our medical staff performs exams to ensure everyone is safe and sound, administers vaccines, and places them into their new, temporary suite and our adoptions team gets to work finding their new homes.

How to help shelter pets at-risk of euthanasia

We are very fortunate to be part of a community that makes this level of lifesaving possible and allows us to help pets both inside and outside of our city. Through fostering, adopting, volunteering, and donating, we are able to continue to save at-risk pets, provide them with the care they require and unite them with the homes they deserve. For information on how you can help save lives, visit the Get Involved tab on our website https://lynchburghumane.org/

Did you know? How Important Volunteers are at LHS.

Posted on March 28, 2023March 28, 2023 by Claire LeFew

Author: Events and Volunteer Coordinator, Ashley Douglas

How do volunteers help at the Lynchburg Humane Society?

Volunteers play an important role in the day to day here at the Center for Pets. They help out each department with small tasks that make a big difference. It is a huge weight lifted off of staff knowing we have volunteers to support us in caring for the pets. Just last year our volunteers donated over 7,200 hours to help us at the Center for Pets and Spay Neuter Clinic.

What can an animal shelter volunteer help with?

There’s a long list of things that a volunteer can do to make a difference! For example volunteers can help our Pet Care team with keeping things neat and organized. Whether that be with helping with morning cleaning, or pitching in in our laundry room.

Volunteers are also able to help out our Foster team and our Medical/Clinic teams! During kitten season our Foster and Medical team can always use the extra hands in making sure those little ones are getting weighed daily while waiting to go into foster care.

Other departments that are always happy to have the volunteer help are; Administration, Adoptions, and Pet Help.

Need some pet love? Volunteers get to spend time with our furry friends as well! We have cat socialization as well as a dog walking program! Get all the cuddles in from the four legged friends while also providing them with enrichment activities.

How do you get involved volunteering at the Lynchburg Humane Society?

Anyone interested in volunteering can apply here. There are three different types of volunteers, make sure to pick the one that best applies to you. You can also email [email protected] with any volunteer questions.