It’s not so much finding the right pet for an owner anymore at the Friends in Need Animal Shelter.

It’s about finding the right owner for a pet.

The role reversal at the Mower County Humane Society is necessary, according to Jane Roden, president of the MCHS board of directors.

Roden has been a long-time volunteer at the shelter located at 1010 10th Dr. S.E., and she still relishes the opportunity to help abandoned pets.

It’s the owners who bother her.

“I become frustrated with the people, who adopt pets,” she admitted. “They don’t seem to understand the responsibilities they are undertaking with a rescued pet.”

People like the woman who adopted a cat from the shelter only to return the pet within a week complaining, “She doesn’t come to me when I come home,” Roden said.

Obviously, that was not a match made in heaven.

The mismatches between a hopefully well-intentioned pet-owner and a vulnerable rescued pet have caused the MCHS to pay closer attention to adoptive counseling … for prospective owners.

“I have become more involved in the screening of the adoptive owners, because of situations like that,” Roden said. “We need to be more careful.”

The process involves trained volunteers who are present at the shelter’s open houses to answer potential adopters’ questions about a cat or dog.

When an adopter chooses a pet — Roden would prefer the pet choose an adopter — the applicant is thoroughly screened to make sure there is a good fit for both the animal and the applicant.

The screening process will take a few days to complete.

According to Roden, the MCHS will not release a pet prior to the completion of the process, and fees are paid. Mistakes do happen: Witness the adopter who complained her rescued pet did not show her enough, immediate attention.

However, Roden said the MCHS strives to make sure the matches are compatible.

At present, the shelter is full and the MCHS president has issued the advisory that no more pets can be taken.

That edict, of course, evaporates when pets are “dumped” at the shelter.

“We’ve got four cats at Austin Veterinary Clinic waiting right now for a spot at the shelter,” Roden said last Thursday.

The economic downturn has produced a new source of unwanted pets: The unemployed and homeowners, who lose their homes to foreclosure.

“Just last Wednesday we got a call that a cat had been found in a repossessed house in Austin,” Roden said. “It’s happening more often all the time.”

“We’ve had people come to us with their pets who said they had lost their jobs and could no longer afford to keep the animals,” she added.

The MCHS is in the midst of a cat spaying/neutering project once again with AVC. The intent is, of course, to reduce the population of unwanted cats.

“We think this will help us in the long-run and really appreciate what Austin Veterinary Clinic is helping us do,” she said.

Until (If?) the population of unwanted pets does decrease, the MCHS volunteers go about their ignoble, but necessary business: Caring for cats and dogs abandoned by the people who once said they loved them.

Topping the Friends in Need shelter’s wish list is, of course, volunteers.

“We need them for both the cats and dogs we care for,” Roden said. “But we need them to work when there is work to be done and not just when they please.”

Operating an animal shelter is a 24/7 responsibility and cleaning the shelter is the greatest area of need.

There are also volunteer opportunities fundraising, transporting animals, adoption counseling, record-keeping and filing, building maintenance, community outreach, and socializing and exercising the animals.

Always, donations are welcome. The MCHS is a private, not-for-profit organization. Despite its name, it is not affiliated with Mower County or the city of Austin and depends solely upon donations or its own fundraising for financial resources.

Thus, it has an honest-to-goodness wish list of items it needs: Heavy duty buckle collars for dogs (16 to 21 inches), Iams lamb meal and dry rice meal for dogs and Iams dry cat food, bleach, paper towels, high efficiency (HE) style laundry detergent, Frontline or Advantiz flea preventative, garbage bags — kitchen and trash can — 40-gallon size or more and kongs and rope toys for big, strong dogs.

Last on the list, but first on the minds of MCHS board members: Cash.

Coming soon, according to Roden, is a new fundraiser to replace the spaghetti dinner formerly held at Holiday Inn of Austin.

The new MCHS fundraiser is tentatively scheduled Saturday, March 18 at the Austin Knights of Columbus Hall and will be a chili supper. More details will be announced later.

Animal viewing (open houses) takes place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday and 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

For more information or to volunteer, call the MCHS answering line at 437-9262 or go online www.mowercountyhumanesociety.org.