We Were Adopted! March 5th – 11th.

Stewie and 27 of his friends found happiness this week!

A little over a month ago, the Bedford County Animal Shelter was in “code red” and reached out to us for help. That’s how we met sweet Stewie! When we heard about Stewie, we knew we needed to help save this boy. Stewie had been in the shelter for over a year and was the longest resident in the Bedford shelter.

It didn’t take long for our staff to immediately fall in love with him. Over the last month of getting to know Stewie, we found out how sweet and playful he could be. How he loves a good game or two of tug-of-war, or that he can’t resist a good cuddle session.

To our delight, Stewie was adopted over the weekend! He now will get to spend time with his new family playing all the doggy games and getting to get those cuddles in on a cozy couch in a new home. We want to thank everyone who adopted this past week giving so many deserving pets new homes. We also want to thank Select Bank for making it possible for people and pets to Find Happiness!

Check out who all found happiness below!

Pets that were adopted March 5th through March 11th.

Cats that were adopted:

Barbie, Beanie Baby, Buttons, Callie, Dimples, Elordi, Frost Boss, Ice Slice, Judy, Sasha, Snaps, Tara, Toggles, Truely, Wonton, and Zippy.

Dogs that were adopted:

Annie, Faith, Hadley, Harley, Indie, Leia, Miley, Mishka, Selena, Stewie, Tycoon, and Vixen.

Did you know? Your lifesaving donations are doubled through year-end.

"Did you know" Lynchburg Humane Society logo, a green dog icon that has a confused head tilt

Author: Jill Mollohan, Executive Director

Did you know right now your donations are doubled?

End of year giving is vital to the Lynchburg Humane Society to continue helping nearly 10,000 pets per year and over 7,000 people.  That is why some wonderful supporters came together and pledged to give a total of $100,000 and are challenging the community to donate and have their donations matched. 

That means your donation is doubled from now until December 31! Your donation will help twice as many pets!

Your support will help us save pets like Athena and her kittens.  Athena’s owner reached out to us for help, he had become overwhelmed with too many cats and not able to tend to their health needs.  Athena came in with some of her housemates who were all sick with severe upper respiratory infections.  Athena though, was pregnant and both of her eyes had ruptured from illness and infection. Once she had her kittens, she was too weak and sick to care for them at first.  With care from staff and a loving foster home, the kittens were cared for and Athena was treated for her illnesses.  And look at Athena now with her beautiful kittens!  Even though Athena is blind now, she is a great mom to her kittens and they all deserve a loving home.  They are still under our medical care, but will be available for adoption soon!   Without your support, we cannot continue to help pets like Athena and her kittens survive and get their second chance at the life they deserve.

Please donate now through December 31 to help twice as many pets!

Did you know? The responsible, but tough decisions of a ”no-kill”/lifesaving shelter.

"Did you know" Lynchburg Humane Society logo, a green dog icon that has a confused head tilt

Back in January, I wrote a blog about what it means to be a no-kill shelter.  That blog was an overview about the meaning of no-kill, and how it doesn’t mean that we are able to save every pet that comes to us.  While I wish we could save everyone, it’s not feasible, realistic, or responsible. But…let’s dig into that a little more.

We save a lot of lives here. We give it our all to try to save all of the pets that come to us in need.   While it is sad and difficult to make the decision to euthanize a pet when it is terminally sick or severely injured, it is, of course, the right thing to do. We never want a pet to suffer.  

But when it comes to pets (usually these are dogs) that have behavior issues and could be a risk to the community – that’s when things get real tough.  They aren’t physically sick and they aren’t suffering from injuries…but they are not safe to be adopted, so what do we do?  

We work hard – that’s what we do! We give the pet everything we can to try to make them adoptable, we look for rescues, we evaluate their behavior, we contact veterinary behaviorists, we talk with professional trainers, but sometimes none of that works and a very tough decision has to be made.  When that happens, we know we have done everything we can to save that pet, and that euthanasia may be the only safe decision.  Even though we are able to save many pets that have some behavior issues, the truth is that we are not a behavior rehabilitation facility, and so we must do what is right not only for the pet, but also for the safety of the community.  These are the decisions that are often the toughest for our staff and volunteers because these are usually pets that have been with us the longest since we take the time to do everything we can, and in that time our staff becomes very close with these pets. So when a tough decision has to be made, it can be devastating.

Because of our community, we have an amazing shelter but it is no place for a pet to stay long term.  Some pets can handle this stressful environment, and others can’t.  And if a pet is not ready for adoption or has special needs that make them harder to adopt, their stay here can be life threatening.  We do everything possible to make them comfortable during their stay, but inevitably some pets start to mentally decline. Their quality of life begins to deteriorate and if we can’t get them out of the shelter, we must make the decision to euthanize – because again, we never want a pet to suffer.  

We are fortunate that with the thousands of pets we save, the ones that are too sick, too injured, or too unsafe for the community only make up about 7% of the pets we see each year. 

Our hope is that in the future, humanity will be kinder to pets and fewer will come into shelters and when they do come into the shelters, more will be able to be saved.  But for now, we know we are doing everything possible for our community and the pets. Thank you to our staff, our volunteers, our fosters, and our community for helping us continue to save every pet we can.

Did you know? It’s easy to foster at the Lynchburg Humane Society!

Author: Miranda Ward, Community Pet Coordinator

Fostering a Cat or Dog in Lynchburg, Virginia

"Did you know" Lynchburg Humane Society logo, a green dog icon that has a confused head tilt

The Lynchburg Humane Society serves upwards of 10,000 pets each year, including the operations of our Center for Pets, our Spay/Neuter Clinic, our rehoming services, and our lost pet services. Did you know that around 2,000 of these pets are underage kittens and puppies? This is where our foster team and our amazing community of volunteer foster families comes in!

We are always searching to grow our foster community in order to help further our life-saving mission. Here are some FAQs about fostering if you’ve been thinking about getting started!

How do I become a foster?

A: You start by applying here. Once we’ve received and approved your application, you’ll receive an onboarding email from us teaching you how to join our foster Facebook page which is the best place to learn about fosterable pets. You can also send us an email at [email protected] and ask which pets are available for a match.

How much does it cost to foster a pet?

A: Nothing! Fostering is completely free. LHS provides all of the supplies, medication, and equipment it takes to care for your foster pet. We also provide all of their medical care right here at the Center for Pets with our wonderful Medical Team. You are never obligated to buy or pay for anything.

Where do the food and supplies come from for the foster program?

A: We receive a lot of our supplies from in-kind donations from our generous community! When a community member’s pet switches food, has too many toys, or blankets, they often will drop them off here to help our lost and homeless pets at LHS. LHS also buys hundreds of cans of wet food and upwards of 10-20 bags of dry food per week which is possible because of our wonderful supportive community of donors. 

Do you only need fosters for kittens?

A: Nope! We offer different kinds of placements for all sorts of pets. We need lots of kitten fosters for sure, but we’re also always looking for foster families for pregnant and nursing cats and dogs, puppies, and adult cats and dogs (and the occasional rabbit, guinea pig, ferret, or other small pet!) 

How long do I keep a foster pet?

A: It depends! If you want a shorter term placement, we offer emergency one night foster placements for pets that come in that are too small to stay by themselves in the center overnight. The next shortest term is a program called Tutoring for adult dogs to get out for a weekend and relax! After that, there are underage kittens or medical kittens that may only need care for a week or two. If you want to keep a pet for a long time, underage pets like neonates have an average stay of 3-8 weeks. Pregnant and nursing pets have an average stay in foster of 2-3 months. If you just can’t bear the thought of giving a pet back once you take them home, we also offer long term hospice fostering, which is a great way to give back, especially for people who would be interested in adopting but may not be able to afford the cost of care for medically complicated or senior pets. If you’re more of a go with the flow type, some of our medical and behavioral cases have no set limit and are just in foster until they are ready for adoption!

What do I have to do?

A: To foster, you need a place to keep the pet isolated from any resident pets. We often provide playpens and crates to help with this, but bathrooms and walk in closets work great for small pets like kittens. You just have to feed them, love them, play with them, keep them and their space clean, and come back for appointments as needed! 

Become a foster at the Lynchburg Humane Society!

If this blog encouraged you to apply, let us know in the notes on your application! We are excited to welcome you into the foster community and have you join us in this fulfilling mission to help save and care for our neediest pets. 

Did you know? At The Lynchburg Humane Society, FeLV+ cats find happiness, too!

Author: Amber Cabell, Senior Manager of Operations

What is FeLV?

"Did you know" Lynchburg Humane Society logo, a green dog icon that has a confused head tilt

Feline Leukemia Virus, or FeLV,. is an autoimmune disease that weakens a cat’s immune system, making them more susceptible to germs and bacteria and increasing their risk for more severe secondary illnesses such as Feline Upper Respiratory Infection. 

FeLV is contagious to other cats and can be shed in saliva, nasal secretions, urine, feces, and the milk of a nursing FeLV+ cat. For this reason, it is not recommended for FeLV+ cats to live with cats that do not have the virus. 

Unfortunately, there is no cure for FeLV and cats that have the virus will have it for life. Because of this, FeLV+ cats are euthanized at shelters across the country every day. 

The Lynchburg Humane Society places FeLV cats into loving adoptive homes

Chili, an FeLV+ cat who came in with kittens! Her and all of her kittens are now adopted into loving homes.

12 FeLV+ cats found happiness 2022 and 19 so far in 2023! 

FeLV+ cats can live normal, happy lives for several years and, at LHS, we believe that that time deserves to be lived out comfortably in a home and with the love of a family. So, we have dedicated the Blue Sunroom in our front lobby to our FeLV+ cats and have reduced adoption fees to help get these amazing felines out of the shelter and into those homes as quickly as possible.

But don’t take our word for it. Stop by and visit the Blue Sunroom cats today and let them show you for themselves!