And They Call It Puppy Love

by Tara Chills and Taylor Kamnetz 

Ross Hogancamp, Senior at Ole Miss, decided that he wanted a cat, and he wanted it now. Upon arriving at the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society, he learned that adopting a pet was not a fast process.

“I walked in thinking I would grab the cat, pay the money, and leave,” Hogancamp said.

In order to adopt an animal from the Humane Society, one must fill out a two-page application. However it is not completing the application that is time consuming.

Jenn Petermann, Executive Director of the OLHS, said there are various other steps that employees must take prior to finding animals their forever homes.

“Since we are in a college town and a lot of people rent, we have to call different landlords and different facilities to see what their rules are,” Petermann said. “We don’t want to facilitate a bad adoption.”

For college students that are interested in adopting from OLHS and are under the age of 21, a phone call will be made to their parents to ensure they will be responsible pet owners.

“We just don’t want to see the animal returned to us in six weeks or six months because mom and dad said, ‘we didn’t agree to this,’” Petermann said.

When someone adopts from the Humane Society, many benefits are included in the price they pay for the adoption. If adopting a cat, the fee is $100, and if adopting a dog, it is $125. Included in these prices are spay and neuter surgery, micro-chipping (a way to track your animal), one month of flee and tick preventatives and a complimentary vet visit.

On a monthly basis, it is typical for OLHS to handle 10-12 cat adoptions. Clara Lee Arnold, a volunteer at OLHS who has been working in the humane industry for twenty-five years, said that with their new promotion, the rate of cat adoptions has increased.

The promotion, called You’ve Gotta be Kitten me Right Meow, allows anyone interested in adopting multiple cats can adopt the first one for fifty dollars, and the second one for twenty-five dollars.

“We’ve found sponsors to cover the costs of these extra kitten adoptions,” Arnold said. “With a little motivation I think we can really increase the number of animals that are being adopted and walking out the door.”

When someone decides to adopt from OLHS, they are doing more than bringing home a cute and loveable pet.

“When you adopt, you save 2 lives,” Petermann said. “You save the life of the animal you’re adopting and by taking that animal away from here, you allow a place for another one to come in.”

Though OLHS is only open to the public from 12 pm to 5 pm during the week, Petermann said they are always looking for more volunteers before and after public hours. All ages are welcome to volunteer, but they require that if someone is under the age of sixteen, that they come with a parent.

“Even if you have 30 minutes to come by and take maybe one of our dogs over to the dog park, let them play, let them swim in the baby pools, that’s so great for us,” Petermann said. “We’re so involved with the day-to-day runnings, and feeding and cleaning…it’s great if somebody could let them just go and have some fun.”

If you’re interested in volunteering, there’s a form on the OLHS website that you can fill out and turn into them during their business hours of 12 pm to 5 pm. Volunteers are welcome anywhere from 9 am to 6 pm.

–Taylor Kamnetz tkamnetz@gmail.com and Tara Chills

Photos by: Taylor Kamnetz

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