if your pet was adopted from an animal shelter, and you can spare just 5 minutes of your time to make the world a little happier, do me a favor and email the shelter you adopted from with an update on how your pet is doing!
it doesn't matter if you just adopted recently or adopted a decade ago. it doesn't matter if you can only write a sentence or two, or "don't have anything interesting to say". and it doesn't matter if you've already sent an update in the past. shelter workers fall in love with our animals the same as forever-home pet owners do, but unfortunately when they leave our care, they essentially disappear overnight and without a trace! even those of us with access to adopter information only see things like your name or address, there's no reassurance that our pets ended up in a good home.
so please just write an email letting us know how loved your pet is, what their favorite toys are, if they like to play or go on hikes. you don't have to sugarcoat it if they're facing challenges either, just promise us that you're doing your best by them. and I promise you that these updates get shared around and they make our days so much better.