Let me be direct: it isn't easy to find animals homes. About 20,000 animals in the multi-county Southern Illinois area are euthanized yearly. About half are puppies and kittens. This is a growing problem with little hope in sight. Good homes exist, but they are few and far between, and it takes time and effort to find them. We have very little kennel space and usually cannot take in animals. We will, however, post pictures up on Petfinder, include your animals in adoption events, and if possible, arrange transport to Chicago area shelters (usually they will only accept puppies, kittens, and small dogs).

Sometimes animals wander up to your home and you want to help them, and we appreciate your willingness to help them. However, if you are considering giving up your own, personal pet, please take some time to try and find solutions. If you have behavioral issues, please examine the links on our Behavior page.

If you have allergies, please consider taking steps to see if you can manage your allergies. Look over these pages from about, netdoctor, and acaai. In our experience, weekly water baths, high efficiency furnace filters, room air filters, carpet/stuffed furniture removal, and generally avoiding any other allergens has been very effective for some individuals with allergies. While we normally discourage keeping animals outdoors, most pets would rather live outside than lose their owners.

If you simply feel that you don't spend enough time with your pet, take a moment to assess your life. Let me assure you that your pet wants to live with you more than anyone else in the world. You are her people, and she will be happiest with you. Is your busy work schedule going to last forever, or is there a possibility that it will change in a year or two? A year really isn't that long. Keep in mind that it takes usually takes our shelter over 6 months to find homes for adult dogs, over 1 year for adult cats. During that time the animals spend most of their time in cages, with very little direct human attention. Chances are you can provide a better life than that.

Steps for getting help placing an animal:

1). We need you to hang onto your pet.Please understand that we have VERY little space to house animals. In our zoning, we are allowed 2 adult dogs and 2 adult cats and that is ALL. We can take in unlimited amounts of puppies and kittens, but unfortunately we are also limited by the amount of animal care we can do. We normally do not care for more than one litter of puppies or of kittens at one time, to prevent spread of disease. If you have an urgent timeline for getting your pets into a new home, let us know; we may be able to arrange transport to another shelter, but in all cases we normally need a few weeks notice. We are not magicians, we cannot magically wave a wand and create a home for your pet. On the other hand, sometimes miracles do happen, so it never hurts to ask for help. Just be prepared to hear "sorry".

2). Email us pictures. This allows us to get the animals placed on petfinder.com, one of our best resources for adoption. Pictures also help with getting other rescues to take a pet. If you have to, send us pictures by mail and we will digitize. If you live near Carbondale, we might be able to come to your property to take pictures.

3). Keep in Contact! Call us every few weeks to see how things are going, if there are any adoption events planned, or if there are any transports. We lose numbers all the time, so we may want to reach you but be unable to.

4). Bring your pet to adoption events. These events often find pets homes, so make sure to give your animals the best opportunities to find a home!

5). Keep your animal in good health. We cannot adopt out unhealthy animals. Puppies must be vaccinated and wormed as early as possible (if you have problems gettting this done, please let us know). All animals should be current on vaccinations, up to date on heartworm treatments, kept on appropriate parasite prevention programs, and generally kept in good condition.