Animal welfare organisation TASSO:
Older animal welfare animals are great companions
Sulzbach/Ts. Even older animals from animal welfare organizations deserve a chance at a new family. The animal welfare organization TASSO, which operates Europe's largest free pet register and is committed to strengthening the culture of adopting animals as part of responsible animal ownership, explains why they are by no means “second-choice animals” or should only be taken in out of pity.
Although the prejudice “There are only old animals in the animal shelter” is not true (because there are also many young animals and even puppies and kittens to be found there), However, it is still natural that older four-legged friends are waiting for a new chance in animal shelters or at animal welfare organizations. For various reasons, they often have fewer chances of being adopted than their younger counterparts and are looked at with pity. TASSO would like to change that. “Older animals are valuable,” says Heike Weber, Head of Animal Welfare at TASSO. “They often end up in the animal shelter through no fault of their own and deserve a new chance in a home where their needs are recognized and accepted.”
Even older animals still enjoy learning new things and enjoying their lives. But above all, they can do something that is often denied to them: even older rescue animals can still bond with new people very well. “Bonding requires security and trust, and older dogs and cats can do that just as well as young animals. Maybe sometimes they need a little more time, depending on what they have already experienced in their lives, but when they get involved with their new people, they do it completely and then it is forever and an indescribable feeling,” reports Weber, who herself lives with three rescue dogs and three rescue cats.
Of course, health issues can come into focus with older animals. However, young animals are not always necessarily healthy and they too grow old. “Anyone who is afraid of this responsibility and expense should perhaps not take in an animal at all,” says Weber, pointing out that unforeseen things can happen to any living creature, which can cause the costs of medical care to rise to unexpected levels.
“Of course it is understandable and OK if someone really wants a young dog or cat to accompany them throughout their life and therefore ultimately decides to get one,” says Weber. “But if you ask yourself beforehand whether an older animal would be suitable and think about the reasons for it, you would have already achieved a lot for the animals. Many of them were simply unlucky and had to be taken in by animal welfare services in the second half of their lives through no fault of their own.”