Microchipping

The Cheyenne Animal Shelter takes in dozens of lost dogs and cats each week with no way of finding their owners. Choosing to microchip your pet is an inexpensive, responsible and often life-saving decision. The Cheyenne Animal Shelter will microchip your pet for just $25. Just bring your pet to the shelter between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. The process only takes a minute, and no appointment is necessary.

Microchips work like an identification tag. But unlike tags and collars, microchips cannot fall off, get lost or be forgotten. They are tiny, harmless devices that are implanted between an animal’s shoulder blades. They transmit a signal with a number that can be detected by special wands that the Cheyenne Animal Shelter’s front desk, animal control officers and many veterinarian clinics use. The number corresponds to a number in a database, linking the animal to its owner’s contact information. If an animal gets lost, anyone with a wand can link the microchip to the owner’s contact information and get him or her home quickly.

Without a microchip, the animal has to stay at the shelter, hoping for a new home. That’s how microchips can be life-savers.

Every animal that is adopted or transferred from the Cheyenne Animal Shelter is microchipped before it leaves, and that microchip is registered in a national database. All new owners have to do is update their contact information when they adopt so the animal can easily be linked to his or her new home.

The Cheyenne Animal Shelter microchips animals that already have homes as well. Pet-owners can bring their animals to the shelter, where we will implant and register the microchip for $25. It only takes a few minutes, and no appointment is necessary.

Community Room

The Cheyenne Animal Shelter has a beautiful, spacious community room that is available to the public for dog training classes, educational classes, parties, and for other needs.  Included in the rental fee for the room is the use of our tables and chairs, and the use of our kitchen.  For availability and rental fees, please call 307-632-6655.

Dog Park

Right next door to the Cheyenne Animal Shelter is the Nancy Mockler Community Dog Park, a wide open (but fenced) park for dogs to romp and play.  The park includes a separate smaller area for small breeds and older dogs.  The Nancy Mockler Community Dog Park is open from sunrise to sunset daily.  Pick-up bags are provided at the park.  Dogs should be wearing their current rabies tags and should be dog and people friendly.

Fostering

The Cheyenne Animal Shelter is looking for foster caregivers to provide temporary homes for cats, kittens, dogs and puppies in need of special care. The shelter receives many animals needing more than the shelter may be able to provide, these animals may be injured, have treatable illnesses, be un-weaned or be even mothers with litters of kittens or puppies. These animals need temporary housing until they are well enough, old enough, or ready to be altered and adopted.

If you are interested in becoming a foster caregiver for the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, you must be at least 18 years or older, have the ability to keep foster animals separate from your own pets, and must be available for at least 2 weeks at a time. In order to keep your animals safe, all animals that you currently own must be current on their vaccinations.

The shelter will provide all the materials that you need to be a successful foster parent (except kitty litter) all you need to provide is love and attention!

Many foster parents fall in love with their foster animals, do not worry, if you can not live without your foster baby, you have first option to adopt them.

For more information on fostering for the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, call 307-632-6655.

Feral Cat Program

Cheyenne is a community with many feral cats.  These animals are not accustomed to contact with people and are too wild to be handled.  These felines are often cared for by concerned citizens who have taken it upon themselves to feed these animals.  Often, these caregivers do not have the financial recourses to provide veterinary care for their feral community.

In an effort to reduce the overpopulation of cats in our community, and to help the caregivers of feral cat colonies, the Cheyenne Animal Shelter offers an affordable program to help neuter and vaccinate feral cats. Through the Feral Cat Program, feral cats are neutered, vaccinated, tested for disease and then are released back into the wild by their caregivers.  These cats are free of deadly diseases, can no longer reproduce and are vaccinated against rabies.

The cost per animal to participate in our Feral Cat Program is $30.  This fee includes neutering, testing for FIV and FeLuk, and administering vaccinations, including rabies.

To make an appointment to have a feral cat neutered, call 307-632-6655 ext. 24.  Appointments fill quickly, so make sure to call at least one day ahead of time.  A limited number of humane traps are available at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, call first to ensure availability.

Pet Loss Support

When a person you love dies, it's natural to feel sorrow, express grief, and expect friends and family to provide understanding and comfort. Unfortunately, the same doesn't always hold true if the one who died was your companion animal. Many consider grieving inappropriate for someone who has lost "just a pet."

Nothing could be further from the truth. People love their pets and consider them members of their family. Caregivers celebrate their pets' birthdays, confide in their animals, and carry pictures of them in their wallets. So when your beloved pet dies, it's not unusual to feel overwhelmed by the intensity of your sorrow. Animals provide companionship, acceptance, emotional support, and unconditional love during the time they share with you. If you understand and accept this bond between humans and animals, you've already taken the first step toward coping with pet loss: knowing that it is okay to grieve when your pet dies.

Understanding how you grieve and finding ways to cope with your loss can bring you closer to the day when memories bring smiles instead of tears.

The Cheyenne Animal Shelter offers a Pet Loss Support Group the third Tuesday of every month at the Laramie County Library at 7 p.m.  No appointment is necessary.

The Big Fix

The Big Fix, a proactive program of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, offers low-cost neutering to income-eligible families in our community.

Each month 15-30 animals are altered through the Big Fix, slowly reducing the number of unwanted animals that are turned in to the shelter each year.  The program targets low-income families and individuals that do not utilize veterinary services because of economic barriers and offers financial assistance for neutering of cats and dogs.

The Cheyenne Animal Shelter would like to thank the following Veterinary Clinics for helping with the Big Fix program:  Avenues Pet Clinic, Cat Clinic of Cheyenne, Cheyenne Pet Clinic, Dell Range Animal Hospital, Frontier Veterinary Clinic and Tri State Veterinary Clinic.

For more information about the Big Fix program, call 307-286-0177.

Click here for a Big Fix application.