Throughout time animals have been kept as pets and companions in homes with families. While some animals get lucky enough to be with a family, some others are not as lucky and are put into pounds, shelters, or adoption centers for families to adopt. During the holiday season, there are many opportunities to volunteer at a shelter near you to help the poor animals in need.

“Mostly volunteers take the dogs out to walk around and play with them in a fenced off area. We tend to clean the dogs cages too when it’s dirty so the dogs doesn’t have to sit with poop in their kennel. And sometimes if the shelter is short staffed or there are a lot of people we’ll show people around to see which dogs they want to take out or adopt,” said volunteer and junior Casey Galloway.

Volunteers help make sure animals can be adopted and they spend some of their time with the animals, making sure they are ready to leave the kennels. While some animals are adopted regularly throughout the year, there is always a big spike of adoptions during the holiday season. Volunteers work diligently to keep up with the families and people wanting to adopt pets and make sure as many pets as possible go home with a new family. Volunteers who work with the pets vouch that adopting pets through shelters are the best way to get a new pet.

“Adopting pets instead of buying from breeders is 100 percent the way to go. These dogs go through so much and all they want is a comfortable place to call home with a family that cares about them,” said volunteer and junior Kaitlyn Bryant.

There are pet shelters around the Fort Bend area near Katy. Galloway and Bryant volunteer at the Fort Bend Animal Shelter and the Rosenberg Animal Control. Those are just two around the Katy and Fort Bend area.