The Covid-19 lockdown has led to furry friends finding a new home more than ever.
It comes as the Cranbourne Lost Dogs Home launches a virtual adoption program.
Since the first lockdown period in March, the Home has adopted 2046 cats across its Cranbourne and North Melbourne sites and is now looking to build on that with the new program.
Those numbers are an increase of more than 20 per cent for the same time last year.
Jessica, who is working on the Covid-19 frontline as a psychiatric nurse, is among those to add a pair of feline brothers to her home.
She and her partner had their dream wedding planned in Ireland for 17 June when Covid-19 abruptly put their dream day on hold.
Although leading a busy life, something was missing. “We had so much love to give,” Jessica said.
This is where feline brothers Simon and Garfunkel came into the save the day.
“When we saw Simon and Garfunkel we were in love. I am a registered psychiatric nurse at the Royal Melbourne Hospital that case manages homeless mental health consumers in the inner west area,” she said.
“Our work has become very different and has its own set of challenges. Providing psychiatric treatment to this vulnerable population is difficult in a normal world without trying to overcome infection control issues in the current climate.”
Jessica said she was impressed at the efforts of the shelter by reducing the time they spent there and their methods to manage cross contamination.
“I really felt that the staff went over and above to ensure that we had the tools to care for the animal. They seemed just as excited as we were, everyone was so passionate about the animals and provided so much guidance.”
Lost Dogs Home spokesperson Suzana Talevski said the virtual adoption experience would allow people to see cats interacting with animal attendants and to ask questions via video.
“The virtual adoption process remains just as thorough in terms of making sure our animals are going the most suitable and the very best new homes, if not more so, as our face-to-face process,” she said, adding extra support would be provided if needed.
