Creamcicle & The Sedalia Animal Shelter Need Your H.E.L.P.

The Sedalia Animal Shelter recently took to their Facebook page to address some concerns area residents have about the shelter accepting strays and surrenders. Additionally, the shelter provided some tips on how all of us can help the shelter not be at capacity.

One of the concerns shared with the shelter is that they can't always accept a stray of a surrender when a resident shows up with one. The shelter pointed out that since the shelter is owned by the City of Sedalia they can't accept strays or surrenders from non residents of Sedalia. Secondly, the State of Missouri prohibits the shelter from accepting any more animals when it reaches it's authorized capacity.

They then went on to ask for all our H.E.L.P. in some ways of reducing how many animals wind up in the Sedalia Animal Shelter:

H - Have your pets spayed or neutered.

E- Encourage your friends and family members to adopt from the Sedalia Animal Shelter, or shelters like it. If your interested in a specific breed make sure you ONLY purchase from a reputable breeder, not a puppy mill. You might also consider adopting from a rescue devoted to the breed you want to adopt.

L- Leash, license and microchip your pet. Licenses and microchips can help reunite you with your pet quickly. It's a lot better than your pet winding up at a shelter and not being reunited with you.

P- Plan and prepare for your pet. Plus practice patience while owning your pet. Sometimes pet ownership can be trying.

The shelter goes into more details on how you H.E.L.P. in their Facebook post which I've included at the end of this post.

Having worked with a variety of animal shelters and a rescue group, and having rescued three dogs in the course of my adult life, I can tell you the advice provided by the shelter is true. It's also advice, if followed by all of us, can make a difference in our community.

One last thing. The last thing a shelter or a rescue wants is for you to have to surrender your pet. It can be difficult to ask for help, but if you're in a temporary situation where you need some help with pet food. Or a little bit of temporary care for your pet. Or something like that. Reach out to shelters and rescue groups. I'll be blunt, they might not have a program or a way to help you. But there's a good chance they can refer you to a group or a person who might be able to help you.

If your in the market to add a fury friend to your family you can see the available pets at the Sedalia Animal Shelter here.