LOUISA, VIRGINIA – The Louisa County Animal Shelter is currently operating at a critically full capacity and is requesting the community’s assistance in fostering, adopting, and retrieving lost animals. Without space available for any incoming strays, Louisa County is offering free adoptions on all animals.

The Shelter aims to reunite animals with their owners, which is critical to ensuring space at the Shelter. If a pet owner is missing an animal, the owner should check online images of strays at the Shelter and contact 540-894-4219 as necessary to make arrangements for pick up.

In the past, it was standard practice for lost pets to be brought into the Shelter. However, it is now known animals have a much better chance of getting back home if some actions are taken in the neighborhoods where they’re found, before they are brought to a shelter. In fact, the typical reclaim rate nationally for lost pets is only 17% when a pet comes into a shelter. But when a pet is kept in a safe place in the neighborhood where they were found, that rate jumps to 70%. For area residents that have a found an animal and when possible, Louisa County asks that the animal not be removed from its neighborhood. Instead, the Report a Found Animal Form should be completed.

Louisa County also encourages owners to rehome their own animals. The following sites are recommended for finding a new home for an animal: Rehome.adoptapet.com, Getyourpet.com, Rehomeyourpets.com, and Home-Home.org.

For those able to care for Shelter animals, several flexible foster programs are available. Fostering can be for just one week, one month – all the way to Foster to Adopt. More information may be found at https://www.louisacounty.gov/3268/Foster-an-Animal.

Adoptions are currently free for all animals. Images of adoptable animals are available on louisacounty.gov/animalshelter. Adoptions are same-day, and the shelter invites the public to meet the animals at 18 Sacred Heart Avenue, Mineral, VA 23117 anytime Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12pm to 5pm. 

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