Las Vegas City Wire

Pets often end up in shelters due to preventable circumstances. The main reasons include strays, confiscations, and owner surrenders. Stray animals are usually lost pets without identification when they arrive at shelters. Confiscations occur due to police investigations or situations involving owner hospitalization, incarceration, cruelty, or abandonment. Owner surrenders happen for various reasons such as moving, financial difficulties, or lifestyle changes.

To keep pets out of shelters, owners can take proactive steps like ensuring their pets have identification tags and microchips with updated information. "A collar with a tag and a microchip are essential," the press release states. Platforms like Petco Love Lost use facial recognition technology to help find lost pets and increase the chances of reunification.

In 2024, it was reported that 78 percent of lost dogs brought to shelters lacked collars, tags, or microchips. Many of these dogs have families who cannot be reached without proper identification.

Before contacting shelters for a missing pet, individuals are encouraged to use social media platforms and neighborhood apps like Nextdoor to alert local communities quickly. Additionally, knocking on neighbors' doors may help reunite lost pets with their owners since many pets do not wander far from home.

Shelters play an important role in caring for abandoned or abused animals. By keeping lost pets out of the shelter system through these measures, space and resources can be preserved for those animals in dire need.

For further assistance with lost or found pets, the Pet Support Hotline is available seven days a week at 702-955-5932. Potential adopters should consider the 3-3-3 Rule: allowing new pets time to adjust over three days, weeks, and months to build strong bonds.

Spaying or neutering is also recommended as it helps prevent unwanted litters and reduces pet overpopulation.

By taking these steps and understanding why pets end up in shelters, communities can work towards ensuring every pet has a loving home.