Useful guides about pets
Found an animal? Adopting from a shelter? Cannot read your cat? Start here
Here we have collected what people ask the shelter most often: what to do if you find an animal, how to search for a lost pet, how to understand a dog or a cat, and how to help street animals.
Interactive quizzes
A few minutes and you will understand yourself, or your animal, a little better.
Quiz
Which pet suits you?
7 questions about your daily rhythm — and we will suggest who you will find easiest to live with
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Are you ready to adopt from a shelter?
8 honest questions. There are no "right" answers here — only your real situation
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Do you understand animal language?
8 questions with an explanation after each answer. Most people get at least two wrong
Take the quizUrgent situations
You found a stray animal: a step-by-step guide
A dog or cat near your door is not always a stray. Many of them have a home and simply got lost. Here is what to do in the first few hours.
ReadYour pet is missing: how to search so you actually find them
The first 24 hours matter most. Here is the sequence that actually brings animals home, and the common mistakes that drag a search out for weeks.
ReadA go-bag for your pet: what to pack before you need it
Packing a bag while you are already heading for the door is the worst-case scenario. You have minutes, and a dozen decisions to make. Here is a list you do once and then forget about.
ReadSpotting that your pet is unwell: the early signs
An animal does not complain. It just eats a bit less, sleeps a bit more and comes to greet you a bit less often — and that is already the start of a conversation with a vet.
ReadAdoption and adaptation
Adopting from a shelter: 8 myths that hold people back
The phrases we hear most often: "they are sick", "their minds are broken", "a pedigree is better". Let us take them one by one.
ReadWhy adopt an adult or senior animal
Everyone looks for puppies and kittens. Adult animals wait for years — even though living with them is usually far easier.
ReadThe 3-3-3 rule: how a shelter animal settles into a new home
The most common reason animals get returned to shelters is expecting them to be "a pet" straight away. In reality, adaptation has clear stages.
ReadPreparing your home for a new pet: a checklist
The best way to welcome an animal is with a prepared home, not a trip to the pet shop on the first evening. Here is what to sort out in advance.
ReadIntroducing pets to each other: cat to cat, dog to cat
The most common mistake is "let them sort it out". They sort it out badly, and animals form first impressions that last.
ReadWhen you can no longer keep your pet
Nobody likes saying this out loud, which is exactly why people take the worst option quietly. Let us be honest about it: when the situation can still be fixed, and when it cannot, how to rehome without the animal paying for it.
ReadBehaviour and communication
Dog body language: how to understand what your dog is saying
Dogs talk to us constantly — just not with words. Most bites happen because people missed three warnings in a row.
ReadCat body language: how to understand and not offend
A cat is not a small dog. Its signals work differently, which is exactly why people get scratched "out of nowhere" so often.
ReadBasic commands: training a dog without shouting or punishment
Training is not drilling with a choke collar. It is five minutes a day, treats, and a very simple logic that works with any dog.
ReadWalking your dog: how much, how, and why she pulls
A walk is not a toilet break. For a dog it is the main source of information about the world, and its quality decides the behaviour you get at home.
ReadDog home alone: teaching independence and handling barking
Neighbour complaints, chewed doors, puddles 15 minutes after you leave — this is not revenge or disobedience. It is panic, and panic is handled differently.
ReadCat not using the litter tray: causes and what to do
This is the most common reason cats are returned to shelters. And it almost always has a specific, fixable explanation.
ReadAn indoor cat: how to keep it from getting bored
A cat that sleeps 16 hours and runs up the walls at 3am is usually not strange. It simply has nothing to do with the other eight hours.
ReadA puppy at home: the first months, socialisation, house-training
The first months shape the dog for life. And the most important part is not commands but how much of the world the puppy got to see calmly.
ReadA kitten at home: first weeks, litter tray, play, safety
Kittens settle in faster than puppies, which is exactly why the first weeks get less attention — and the costliest mistake here costs a kitten its life.
ReadWinter walks: how long, and how to protect the paws
In winter owners split into two extremes: some put a husky in a padded suit, others walk a chihuahua for an hour at minus fifteen. Both are wrong — and here is how you can tell.
ReadYour dog lunges at other dogs on the lead
Most of the time this is panic, not aggression. On a lead a dog can neither leave nor go around — so it does the one thing left to it and tries to drive the threat away first.
ReadCare and helping out
First aid for animals before you reach the vet
The goal of first aid is not to treat but to get the animal safely to a vet. A few rules worth knowing before you need them.
ReadWhat to feed a dog: the basics, without brand marketing
No question has accumulated more marketing than "what should I feed". Here is the base that does not depend on any brand.
ReadWhat to feed a cat: why water matters more than you think
A cat is an obligate carnivore and its body works differently from a dog's. That is why "same as for dogs" advice does not apply here.
ReadNeutering pets: myths, facts and what it actually changes
No veterinary topic carries more myths than neutering. Let us go through the most common ones — and what sits behind them.
ReadCaring for a senior pet: what changes with age
Old age is not a disease, but it changes needs. Half of what owners write off as "just age" is actually treatable, or at least manageable.
ReadChildren and pets: safety rules that actually work
Most bites to children happen at home, from a familiar animal, with adults present. And almost always three warnings were missed first.
ReadSeasonal pet safety: heat, cold, fireworks, ticks
Every season brings its own typical set of problems. Almost all of them are predictable — and almost all are prevented by a few simple steps.
ReadMoving house and travelling with a pet: doing it calmly
Animals are not afraid of the journey — they are afraid of suddenness. Almost everything comes down to making change gradual and predictable.
ReadHow to help street animals without doing harm
Wanting to help a street animal is right. But some common ways of helping actually make things worse. Here is what works.
ReadAllergic to your cat or dog: what actually helps
Allergies are one of the most common reasons animals end up in shelters. They are also one of the reasons people act on fastest, often without trying anything else first.
ReadYour pet indoors in winter: heating, shedding and weight gain
Everyone worries about the frost outside, yet most winter problems start indoors — from central heating, dry air, and the fact that there is suddenly nowhere to move.
ReadVaccines and parasites: what every pet needs
This is the part of pet care that is easiest to put off — the animal looks fine, after all. So this covers the logic rather than a calendar: why it is done, and what happens when it is not.
ReadGrooming basics: coat, claws, teeth and ears
Grooming is not about looks. It is the one moment in the week when your hands go over the whole animal and find what you cannot see from across the room.
ReadAbout us
Who writes these guides
SOS Animal Shelter in Pyrohiv is the first animal shelter in Ukraine. We have been working since 1997, and everything we write about comes from daily practice: found animals, adaptation after a shelter, first days in a new home, working through fears.
1997
working since
1000+
dogs in the shelter
200+
cats in the shelter
0
cost to adopt
Our partners
Apps for training your pet
Our partners at Zorya Tech Studio built two free Android apps with short daily lessons based on positive, reward-based training. They work offline and need no account.
Dog Training Cards
Basic commands and good habits in 5 minutes a day: step-by-step cards, a practice timer with clicker, progress tracking.
Open in Google Play
Cat Training & Behavior
Understand your cat and train gently: clicker basics, come when called, carrier comfort, scratching-post habits, play routines.
Open in Google PlayThis is not paid advertising — just useful free apps made by people who support the shelter.
Want to help for real?
The best help you can give an animal is a home. And if you cannot adopt right now, there are dozens of other ways to support the shelter.