Black cats, senior dogs at shelters wait longest for new home
Varjupaikade MTÜ is raising money with a charity art auction to help find new homes for black and black-and-white cats. The animal shelter nonprofit says it is these cats and senior dogs in particular that they have the hardest time placing.
"With the Black Cat Month campaign, we're trying to showcase both black and black-and-white cats, because they wait the longest in shelters for a [new] home," Varjupaikade MTÜ communications and donations director Anni Anete Mõisamaa said on ETV's "Terevisioon."
Numbers from the nonprofit's eight shelters across Estonia show that while these cats take longest to place, at most of their locations, orange and calico (tricolor) cats are the most popular.
To help support black cats, Varjupaikade MTÜ organized a charity art auction on their website this month, with proceeds going to help them find homes.
They also have dogs who have been waiting quite a long time for their forever homes, since senior dogs are difficult to place, like the larger breed ten-year-old Sass.
"Young, smaller dogs are the most popular," Mõisamaa said. "Dear Sass ended up at our shelter because his owner unfortunately died. Sass is a very calm dog. He has been waiting for a new home since this summer."
Eight-year-old Reks likewise ended up at the shelter following the death of his owner. "He's a very active dog for his age, and needs plenty of activity and walks," the communications director noted.
The most energetic dog at the shelter, meanwhile, is Beti. "She's about 11 months old, and has unfortunately been abandoned twice in her life already," Mõisamaa acknowledged.
"One reason was because her previous owners couldn't handle such an active dog," she explained. "If she's left home for a couple of hours, she'll end up chewing on something. So she'd be best suited for someone that has time for her – and ideally, someone who could even take her to work with them. She's a very people-friendly dog."
In Varjupaikade MTÜ's experience, dogs that have had a hard time finding a new home and have already had to go through being abandoned more than once will shower their new person with unconditional love.
"No one has ever regretted adopting a senior dog from us," Mõismaa added.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Aili Vahtla
