Commitment #1
What is our goal?
To reunite or rehome every adoptable animal in our care.
Where are we now?
Green
We are achieving this goal with dogs.
Yellow & red
We are not achieving this goal with cats, but we continue to make progress.
Perfomance highlight 2022/2023
90%
Of dogs were reunited or rehomed, this is slightly less than last year and due to more dogs coming to us with serious behaviour issues.
70%
of cats were reunited or rehomed, this is compared to 66% last year
Recent updates
1 Jan 2023
ADOPTION DRIVE UPDATES, 2023.
From time to time we will run promotional events on social media and mainstream media to help ease pressure on the capacity of our shelters and make sure we are finding all our adoptable animals new forever homes.
Smooch a Pooch: 9th November - 23 November, 105 dogs and puppies into Forever Homes
92 dogs, 13 puppies
Cuddle a Cat Adoption Drive: 3rd October - 31st October, 319 cats into Forever Homes
319 cats
Bringing them Home: 8th August - 18th September, 252 dogs into Forever Homes
252 dogs
No Place Like Home: 1st June - 8th July 2023, 1,207 animals into Forever Homes
449 cats, 525 kittens, 188 dogs, 15 puppies.
Adopt a Footie Mate: 1st - 31st March 2023, 942 animals into Forever Homes
256 cats, 483 kittens, 188 dogs, 15 puppies.
3 Apr 2023
As part of wider animal welfare reforms, the State Government is developing a Cat Management Strategy. Our Director of Operations represents The Lost Dogs' Home as a member of the Cat Management Working Group, a consultation committee of animal welfare representatives, providing advice to the process.
8 Jul 2022
We are working ongoing with the Petstock group, to rehome cats and kittens instore. The partnership means we can extend our geographical reach and create new families beyond the boundries of our North Melbourne and Cranbourne shelters.
We are confident that we go the extra mile to reunite every lost dog or cat with its family.
Our greatest challenge, however, is being able to reunite cats. Most dogs we receive into our care are microchipped and/or their owners make contact within three days. Most cats we receive into our care are not microchipped or looked for.
As an open shelter we also receive high numbers of unsocialised cats, especially during kitten season. It is extremely challenging to rehome unsocialised cats. Unsocialised cats experience high levels of stress and trauma coming into the shelter. Severe and prolonged stress in animals is a poor welfare situation.
Longer term housing availability, especially during kitten season, is one of the keys for us to be able to tackle this problem. It takes at least 42 – 72 hours for a scared cat to settle into a shelter while a fully wild cat will not settle in this environment at all. At the height of kitten season finding housing options can be extremely challenging. Our foster program is stretched, and our rescue partners are as overwhelmed as we are.
Where do we need to be?
Maintaining our performance rehoming and adopting dogs.
Significantly reducing rates of euthanasia of cats and kittens year on year.
How will we advance?
- Deliver on low-cost microchipping and de-sexing initiatives and increase education on this issue.
- Increase collaboration and alignment of strategies with other shelter partners, RSPCA Victoria, Animal Aid, and others.
- Consider partnering with councils on trap-neuter-release programs if/when they become legal.
- Continue to monitor and reduce the length of stay between date of admission and date of adoption for all animals in our care.
- Teach responsible pet guardianship (microchipping and early desexing) of owned but also semi-owned cats, through our community outreach programs
- Promote responsible pet guardianship through our media and social media activities
- Continue to expand our foster care network and teach new skills on how to care for special needs cats and kittens: timid felines and neo-nates.
- Skill up our foster-volunteers to be able to provide long-term care for cats with high-level stress and/or anxiety issues.
- Make it possible for foster animals to be re-homed straight from their foster-homes.
- Continue expanding our capacity for rehoming cats from our Cranbourne site.
- Develop partnerships with community organisations and businesses that can contribute to our cat and kitten rehoming targets.