Fresh Step Teams Up with ASPCA for Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month!
The ASPCA® and Fresh Step® litter are working together to provide shelters with the tools and resources they need to offer fee-waived cat adoption programs—a groundbreaking way to help find loving homes for shelter cats! The emphasis on fee-waived cat adoptions comes on the heels of ASPCA research that found that fee-waived adoptions boost adult cat adoptions overall. The research found that there is no significant difference between the value adopters place on their cats, whether they pay for them or get them free.
Adopters don’t think shelters that waive fees care less about their cats, either. In fact, there is some indication that the opposite is true—they believe the shelters value their cats more because they are willing to forgo adoption fees in order to find them good homes.
The ASPCA is thrilled to be joining forces with dedicated partner Fresh Step litter to promote this innovative program. Fresh Step has enlisted pet lover and co-host of The View Joy Behar as the project’s national spokesperson. Behar will help support the program with national public relations and social media efforts, and will also appear at the kick-off event at the ASPCA Adoption Center in New York City on Friday, June 3.
To help spread the word and encourage similar programs, Fresh Step litter will donate $1 (up to $100,000) to the ASPCA for every “like” received on its Facebook page from June 1 through July 31, 2011 at www.facebook.com/freshstep. The money will help support this program and other cat care initiatives.
The shelters listed on our Partners page have already signed on to offer fee-waived adoptions in June. Fresh Step is generously donating a total of $25,000 in product coupons to certain qualifying shelters as well as $10,000 in grants. We encourage you to support these shelters as well. Adopt and donate to allow them to continue to offer fee-waived adoptions all year long and help find loving homes for cats.
ASPCA Responders Rescue Animals in Flood, Tornado Areas
When tornadoes and floods hit states across the Midwest and South, the ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team kicked into gear, dispatching teams to those areas to help rescue and shelter animals.
In Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, ASPCA responders have been working to provide shelter for pets whose families were evacuated from their homes, as well as perform water rescue operations to save stranded or abandoned animals.
"We see entire communities flooded—animals are stranded on dog houses, in trees and other small patches of dry space," says Tim Rickey, ASPCA Senior Director of Field Investigations and Response. "For many of these victims, rescue is their only hope."
In addition, we were able to send crucial supplies to other flood- and tornado-ravaged locations. Through our partnership with PetSmart Charities, the ASPCA is coordinating efforts to provide supplies like food, crates and blankets to animal groups in Alabama and other hard-hit areas.
We’re also assisting affected communities through grants; last week we helped the Greater Birmingham Humane Society obtain a transport vehicle that will allow the group to rescue animals throughout the state.
And through our exciting new Animal Relocation Initiative, we’re transporting homeless animals from overcrowded shelters in the disaster areas to regions of the country that can accommodate these resilient pets. In turn, overburdened shelters will be able to house even more local animals.
Earlier this month, 46 dogs traveled from eastern Arkansas shelters to facilities in Kansas and Colorado. Then, 70 dogs from parts of Georgia and South Carolina devastated by tornadoes were transported to New York and New Jersey. Several transport companies stepped forward to help move the animals to their new shelters, where they’ll soon be available for adoption.
Says ASPCA Senior Director of Community Outreach Sandy Monterose: “A natural disaster like flooding creates immediate hardship in a community. By collaborating with other groups and using our resources strategically, we can respond to shelters and animals in need, creating a safety net. It’s part of the fabric of animal sheltering.”
PetArmorTM Partners with ASPCA through Facebook Pledge
As an official flea and tick product of the ASPCA, PetArmor shares the ASPCA’s commitment of providing all pets with access to quality health care, helping ensure they live healthy, happy lives. Launched last month at the ASPCA’s New York City headquarters, PetArmor is a generic fipronil product available on retail shelves nationwide.
Now you can show your support for the ASPCA by simply logging on to Facebook and visiting PetArmor’s page to take the PetArmor Protection Pledge, which will result in a donation to the ASPCA! Then, follow these easy steps:
1. Select “Pledge” on the left hand side of the page. Then click “Like” to view the Pledge.
2. Read PetArmor’s Pledge to protect all pets, then click the green box that says, “Join Us, Take the Pledge.”
3. Read your Pledge to protect your pet with safe and effective treatments and regular vet checkups. Then click the green box that says, “Yes, I Pledge.”
4. FidoPharm, the maker of PetArmor, donates $1 (up to $100,000 total) to the ASPCA.
Please spread the word about the PetArmor Protection Pledge to help drive donations to the ASPCA!
ASPCA Happy Tails: Foxy Lady
Many of the most heart-warming happy endings follow some of the most heart-wrenching beginnings. For Sloan von Spiessbach’s dog Foxy, that beginning was as rough as it gets.
Says Sloan: “When I went to the ASPCA on March 5, 2010, I wasn't looking for the most adoptable puppy. I wanted a dog who was going to be more of a challenge—one that had had a really rough start in life. That's what I found with Faye (now Foxy).”
Foxy, an underweight American Eskimo mix with bald patches, anemia, 10 missing teeth and GI problems, came from a puppy mill. The ASPCA had raided a mill in Holly Springs, Mississippi, a month earlier, and more than 95 dogs were rescued from deplorable conditions. The dogs were transferred to various shelters for adoption, and a lucky 32—including Foxy—were transported to our headquarters in New York City.
As a puppy mill survivor, Foxy was unused to basic doggy activities like walking on a leash, running and stretching, and experiencing new sights and sounds. Because of that background, Sloan discovered, Foxy’s “physical issues were nothing compared to her paralyzing fear. She was literally frozen stiff and would ‘hit the deck’ if you moved too quickly around her. She didn't even know what to do when given a toy.”
Ten months of love and encouragement later, not only does Foxy know what to do with a toy, she keeps dozens. “The furious squeaking of her toys can be heard all day long,” Sloan says. “At night she collects all of the toys strewn throughout the living room and carries them back to her room one by one. She puts them in her bed before jumping into bed with me. She has to have everything in order.”
Foxy is flourishing with her new family, including her 80–pound “boyfriend” Walker. (“It was love at first sight!” Sloan jokes.) A true clotheshorse who owns tons of sweaters, Foxy splits her time between New York and New Jersey and enjoys meals cooked specially for her each day.
Although Foxy is still jumpy, she’s getting a little less fearful every day. And the lifestyle she’s enjoying—that of an extremely pampered pooch—can’t hurt. As Sloan says, “Not bad for a dog who didn't even have her most basic needs met for more than five years!”