Celebrate National Adopt a Senior Month by visiting your local shelter or rescue

Roscoe is an 11 year old, beagle/rottweiler mix who is active and loving but would do best in an adult only home. He is a medium-sized dog who is available at Satchel's Last Resort.

Tuesday, November 1st begins National Adopt a Senior Month. Although I believe any adoption from a shelter is the correct way to go, senior animals have my heart.

Being an animal lover, I cannot imagine caring for an animal seven or eight years and then discarding them like garbage because you want___________. I have met dogs and cats whose owner wanted a younger animal, a different breed, a smaller or larger animal and the list goes on and on. Any excuse you want to use can be put in the blank.

When an senior enters the shelter world, they are confused and depressed. They wait for their owners to come back and you can sometimes watch them pacing in their kennels, watching the door with expectation, only to have their hopes dashed when a stranger walks past their kennel.

After a week or 10 days, sometimes longer depending on the animal, they begin to realize their owner is not coming back. The person who they loved and trusted with their life has just broken a bond.

Sometimes the bond is harder to establish with these seniors, but most of the time they are simply looking for someone to love again.

Senior animals are normally calm, housebroken, and loving. They have graduated from all those puppy behaviors. Even younger dogs have boundless energy which may not fit into your lifestyles.

Senior pets are euthanized more often in shelters because of their age, even though many still have a lot of years left. They are overlooked because people believe they will die sooner than a younger dog. Some adopters mistakenly believe they are not trainable when they get older.

On petfinder.org this morning using my zip code, there were 5,015 senior animals up for adoption. Over 5,000 senior animals who had a home at one time. Senior animals who would like nothing better than to be able to rest their heads on a comfortable bed instead of concrete, greet their new owners with a wagging tail or soft purr and curl up beside you while you are relaxing in your easy chair.

They don't take up much space or eat too much. They come in all shapes and sizes and there is sure to be one out there who fits your lifestyle.

Please consider adopting one of these special animals this month. I hate to think of the alternative for these loyal, loving creatures.