During the COVID-19 outbreak, Pet Placement Center will be using guidance and protocols for the facility provided by American Pets Alive!, a national animal welfare education and outreach non-profit. The AmPA! COVID-19 Animal Shelter Preparedness Guide is designed to help shelters like ours be prepared and create proactive plans in case of citywide quarantine. For now, we will still be operating with the intent to be available to the public as best we can while still keeping our staff and pets safe.
Updated Hours and Donations
We are now closed to the public until further notice. We will reassess our situation continuously over the next few weeks. Staff will still be present during our standard hours to care for the animals as usual. We will continue to take donations. Please leave all donations inside the aluminum can or next to the front door if there is no space. We understand resources are limited at this time, but if you have any cleaning supplies that you would like to donate, we are always in need of paper towels, toilet paper, bleach, laundry detergent, Swiffer dry pads, and drawstring trash bags. We will also accept toys and enrichment items to provide to our pets to keep them occupied during the day.
Adoptions and Visitation
We will continue to move forward with adoptions as best as possible. All of our available pets can be found on our PetFinder page (here). If there is an animal you are interested in adopting, please complete our adoption application available on our website. If approved, an adoption counselor will set up an appointment for adoption. Hand sanitizer stations and sink stations are available around the facility for your safety. Unfortunately, because we are closed to the public, we are not allowing guest visitations.
Surrender Intakes and Lost/Found Pets
Because of COVID-19, shelters across the nation are seeing a large increase in surrendered animals and a decrease in adoptions. We are still accepted owner-surrendered pets, however, we ask that you please be patient with us as our facility has limited capacity. Information on surrendering your pet can be found (here). Per the most recent report from the World Health Organization and AmPA!, there is no evidence that companion animals have been infected with the virus and could spread it to their owners. If your need for surrender is not an emergency, we highly recommend holding on to your pet during this time to help all of the shelters in the area with overpopulation. If you are looking to rehome your pet due to the need for supplies, we may be able to help keep your pet at home. Please call the facility (423) 877-0738 if you need dog or cat food, pee pads, towels, blankets, carriers, collars, leashes, litter boxes, or bowls. We, of course, have limited quantities, so please be prudent when asking for what you need. We want to help as many people as we can.
If you have found a stray cat or dog, please refer to our Lost and Found page (here) for the correct resources on where to take this pet. Please make sure you contact any shelter before arriving with that pet to confirm their current intake policies during this time. If the animal is not in need of emergency care, the shelter may ask you to hold on to the animal until they are able to find a foster or a free space in their facility. Please understand that we cannot take in any strays or found pets as we do not have an animal control to hold the animal for the allotted stray-hold period to look for the owner.
Fostering and Volunteering
We are always accepting new fosters however, we are suspending volunteer services until further notice. This will also pertain to community service hours for school projects, TN Promise, and court-ordered hours. If your representative needs to contact us for verification, please have them email our volunteer coordinator at volunteer@thalppc.com.
As usual, with Spring comes the start of "kitten season", which is a very difficult time for shelters across the nation. We are always in need of fosters during this time to help with the overcrowding of kittens while they grow big and strong for adoption. Please consider opening your home to become one of our new fosters, especially while most people are stuck at home with not much to do. Our Foster page (here) has all of the information about fostering, as well as the questionnaire you can submit to start the process.