Highland Knolls

Veterinary Hospital

Adoptions & Missing Pets

What to do when you find a pet

1. Check with your neighbors, make sure their pet did not just escape.

2. Have the pet scanned for a micro-chip. Most Veterinary facilities or shelters will scan the pet for you. Do not expect a Veterinary facility to take in the pet. Veterinarians are Doctors, not shelters. By taking in a stray animal they greatly increase the risk of spreading diseases to other pets in their facilities. Even an apparently healthy stray may be a carrier of a life threatening infection.

3. If there is no micro-chip, put up signs (with a picture is best). Contact all local Veterinary facilities & shelters.

4. If after a reasonable amount of time you have not been able to locate the owner, you are stuck with a difficult decision. Keep the pet, or turn them over to a shelter or local animal/rabies control. Animal/rabies control is the legal authority, however, most pets get turned into local shelters and are usually adopted out faster at local shelters.

Thinking about Adoption?

Adoption has several advantages, primarily being that the pet population is controlled a little better with every adoption. It also costs less to adopt a pet versus purchasing from a breeder.

Due to state law, all pets adopted from a shelter are spayed or neutered prior to adoption and usually have a micro-chip implanted at the time of their spay/neuter.

Unfortunately, because most pets in shelters come from less than desirable places they also have their fair share of health problems.

Because, the pets are all kept in close proximity, there are high instances of respiratory infections. Sometimes these infections are minor and clear up on their own, others are quite serious and can be life threatening (Distemper, Canine Influenza or Feline Calici Virus).

Also, the spay or neuter performed on the pet is not done with the same level of care that you should find with your family Veterinarian. Shelter pets are often times spayed and neutered in an assembly line and do not receive proper monitoring or pain management. The surgeries are often done at a very young age, which according to some studies, may lead to further health problems later in life.

Shelter Exam Policy

Highland Knolls Veterinary Hospital will provide a no charge, wellness exam for pets adopted within the last 72 hours. If the pet is ill, there will be a fee for the exam and any associated diagnostics, treatments and medications.

It is highly recommended that all pets coming out of a shelter have an Intestinal Parasite Screen performed at a national laboratory. The dewormers given by most shelters only cover a couple of parasites that are most dangerous for humans. There are many other parasites that can either be transmitted to people, or cause severe illness in our pets.