As many of you will be aware, there is currently a lot of media and discussion regarding The Lost Dogs' Home.
Unfortunately a lot of people are confused, thinking Lort Smith and The Lost Dogs' Home are the same organisation. We would like to clarify that while both organisations are based in North Melbourne, Lort Smith is a completely separate and independent organisation to Lost Dogs' Home. Lort Smith has been situated at 24 Villiers Street for nearly 80 years. Lost Dogs' Home is at Gracie Street.
We have also received a few emails requesting information on euthanasia at Lort Smith and would like to share this with everyone.
Lort Smith Adoption Centre is not a pound, so we do not have a licence to take strays. The animals that come to our shelter are surrendered by their owners with our commitment to find them a loving new home regardless of time or space constraints. We will never put an animal down because it is taking too long or because we have run out of room. For example, this week we celebrated the re-homing of Hugo, a dog who had been with us for 112 days.
We also partner with other rescue groups such as Blue Cross, Geelong Animal Welfare Society (GAWS) and NSW Pound Rescue Group to assist with re-homing their animals, especially when they are full to overflowing.
We are very fortunate at Lort Smith to be supported by a truly wonderful network of foster carers who provide loving care to our animals in their homes. They help in so many ways, including preparing animals for surgery, rehabilitating animals after surgery, ferrying animals back and forth for health checks, or just providing time out of the Adoption Centre and TLC for 'long termers'.
It is a sad fact that many of the animals surrendered to us have serious medical issues. Those that can achieve a positive outcome are provided all the medical attention they need by Lort Smith, at our cost, and then rehabilitated in foster care until they are ready to be re-homed. In addition to the costs of desexing and microchipping, Lort Smith spent around $386,000 in 2014 on surgeries and medical care bringing sick and injured surrendered animals back to health. In some cases animals are too sick to be adopted but can be placed into permanent foster care; this means they can live out their days, pain free, in a loving home with all of their medical care provided by Lort Smith, at our cost. Whilst in other cases, animals are so sick they would have a poor quality of life and it would be unfair to prolong it.
In the event that a surrendered animal has serious behaviour issues we will provide them with guidance and training to try and resolve the problem. Unfortunately, a small percentage of animals with severe behaviour issues cannot be safely re-homed, and these are regrettably put to sleep.
In addition to our work in the Adoption Centre, Lort Smith also operates the largest animal hospital in Australia. Here we aim to provide exceptional veterinary care irrespective of a person’s circumstances, offering discounts for health care card holders and pensioners as well as payment plans. In 2014 we provided over $1 million worth of discounts to marginalised people in Victoria. Injured wildlife are also assisted at Lort Smith and in 2014 we spent around $100,000 providing medical care to many different species of wildlife. We are also very active in the community coordinating bushfire animal rescue activities, running a Pet Therapy program, Pet Bereavement programs, and Emergency Boarding for animals belonging to owners experiencing severe hardship.
Lort Smith does not receive Government funding or income from local councils to pay for the animals in our care, so we rely on the generosity of animal lovers in the community to help us continue our unique work. We are so appreciative of the wonderful support we receive from our donors, many of you who follow us on Facebook.
If you would like more information about Lort Smith, how to become foster carer, or to make a donation or sign up for regular giving, please visit our website at www.lortsmith.com | 
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