I’m an 80s baby, and I founded Into Loving Homes out of a deep passion for finding every animal a loving home. Our approach is rooted in how pets were rehomed before shelters and pounds became prevalent. Though shelters were established in the 1950s, it wasn’t until decades later that they became the norm. Let’s go back to the 1980s, when rehoming was done directly from one home to another.
Into Loving Homes combines the effectiveness of traditional home-to-home rehoming with the power of the internet and social media. This fusion allows us to reach a refined audience and find the perfect match for every animal.
When I was a child, I would bring home animals and care for them until I found them a new one. Did you ever do that? At my first job after finishing school, a coworker asked me a troubling question: “Is it illegal to kill your pets?” I didn’t know the legal answer, but I knew that cat deserved a solution. After work, I went to his creepy home and brought home a pregnant cat named Melrose. She gave birth under my flatmate’s bed. I found homes for two kittens, but I took the rest, including Melrose, to a shelter because, by then, that was what we all did with animals who needed a new home.
At 18, I couldn’t fully grasp what that meant, or I would have taken her home again like I had when her life was in danger before. They were a rescue organization, after all. Was it illegal to kill pets? I left without her—a decision I regret deeply over two decades later because I know what happened to her. I loved her. She was affectionate and a wonderful mother to her kittens, who loved her too.
Our mission at Into Loving Homes is to reduce the stress and trauma animals often face in shelters by matching them directly from their current home to a new one. Sometimes, we need to go back to go forward. At Into Loving Homes, we believe in returning to what worked while embracing today’s advancements to ensure every animal finds the loving home they deserve.
By Donna Wild
Founder, Director, and CEO of Into Loving Homes
