The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society is seeing an increase in the number of older pets in our Adoption Center. These are animals that come to us because their guardian has become too sick or elderly to care for them or they may have been discarded because a family decides they want a younger, more energetic animal. For a variety of reasons, these older, "golden year" pets find themselves in our shelter waiting to find another chance for a loving home.
Sometimes mature animals are more difficult to adopt to new families because they are deemed "too old." Finding homes for them is one of BEBHS's biggest challenges.
Look for this symbol 
on the Adoptable Dogs and Adoptable Cats pages
An older pet has several advantages:
• Older animals will often bond with you quicker than a younger animal and give you loads of non-judgmental love.
• Most senior pets have been house-trained. They know what the litter box is for, and that the out-of-doors is where you pee and poop.
• A mature pet (over 7 years old in most cases) has a stable personality.
• Older animals are generally less rambunctious and destructive, but they still have lots of energy to play, take walks, and jog with you.
To encourage the adoption of more senior pets, BEBHS started the Golden Paws Program. Any qualified person who chooses to adopt a dog or cat over the age of 7 years old will be entitled to some very special benefits.
Golden Paw participants receive:
• Starter Food
• A toy (or two)
• Senior animal vet check
• 20% off vaccines for the life of the animal (at the BEBHS Hospital only)
• An in-depth profile of the animal (that includes likes, dislikes, toy preferences, etc.)
If you are a Senior yourself (65+) and want to adopt a mature pet from BEBHS, you are eligible for half-priced adoptions! By offering this service to the community, and to mature pets, BEBHS hopes to encourage adopters to experience the joy of an older animal. At the same time, we hope that more senior citizens will adopt a mature pet for excellent companionship during their golden years.
For more information about the Golden Paws Program, please call our Adoption Center at (510) 845-7735, ext. 0.
A portion of this program is funded by
The Mark Ross Foundation
