Have you been considering adding a new pet to your household? Perhaps you’re just an animal lover and genuinely enjoy spending your time helping unadopted pets in need. If either of those are the case, check out the Arlington Animal Services website! You can give your next best friend his furever home or volunteer time at the Arlington Animal Shelter.
Adopt a new best friend!
The Arlington Animal Services webpage offers information about the pets that are available for adoption such as their age, breed, and gender. There is normally a $50 adoption fee, although you can often find holiday specials or reduced prices for “VIP” animals which can be based on the animal’s age, time in the shelter, or the shelter’s capacity. Adopted pets will already have certain necessary procedures taken care of before they are taken to their new home, including:
- Core vaccinations
- Spay/neuter surgery
- Heartworm test for dogs
- FIV/FELV test for cats
- Microchip
Volunteer with Arlington Animal Services!
If you would like to donate your time and skills to helping Arlington’s animal shelters, their webpage offers information on how to become part of the volunteer program, such as a direct link to the necessary application and new volunteer orientation videos.
Golden PAWS
Animal Services also works with organized volunteer groups such as Golden PAWS (Golden People are Willing and Sharing), a senior volunteer group that helps the shelter’s animals by offering hand-crafted items such as blankets, dog toys, and catnip toys. The Heritage Team Program is another organization of volunteers, which focuses on getting minority middle school and high school students involved in volunteering. This program offers incentives such as scholarship opportunities and experience that they can then use for college applications. If interested in joining the organization they can email animalservices@arlingtontx.gov, or call 817-459-6269.
Foster Pet Program
When filling out a volunteer application you can also state that you are interested in the foster care program. This is a new service offered through the shelter. Animals in the foster program are those that are considered to be “special needs”, including:
- Animals too young/immature for adoption
- Injured animals or animals recovering from surgery
- Other “special needs” animals
This program is in place to help increase the survivability and adoptability of these pets, thus hopefully helping them find permanent homes. The shelter also provides necessary supplies such as the animal’s food to help ease the process for the volunteer as well.
Friends of Arlington Animal Services
The FAAS is an independent non-profit organization that helps the shelter by “promoting adoptions, marketing, encouraging volunteerism, supporting rescues, decreasing birth rates, and engaging the community”. They also provide a wishlist on their website where you can find what items are needed for donations such as food, beds, and toys for the animals. Drop-off locations for donated items can be found by emailing info@faastexas.org.
So if you are an animal lover and have been looking to donate your time to a good cause, our local animal shelter may be a great way for you to help those in need! All forms of volunteering help keep these animals taken care of while they await their permanent homes. And if you think it may be time to bring a new furry friend into your life, adopting is a great way to bring that new best friend into your home!
