Monday, May 16, 2011

The Next Big Step

Another big step in my rescue has been completed!  I am so excited to have an opportunity to become an Adoption Partner with Petsmart.  Beginning immediately, we're able to put kittens and cats in their adoption centre and are available for adoption.  This particular store is the #1 store for sales and adoptions in Canada!  We'll be there 2 months, then off for 1 month - then back again for 2 months, and so on...  I feel like this is such an amazing opportunity.  We already had an adoption on our first day there!!!

What people don't know is that there are steps to becoming an Adoption Partner.  Steps that involve the store manager coming to my home for a "site visit" to insure I'm not a hoarder, and my home (rescue) is well kept.   NONE of this would've been possible without the help from my friends at Ninth Life Rescue who recommended us.  They will be partnering with us at the store.  This store is so big they have TWO adoption centres.  They'll take one - we take the other.  Their volunteers are currently helping us by cleaning our cages and kissing our cats!  They're awesome ladies and I'm so grateful.

I've always had mixed unfounded feelings about cats at Petsmart.  When you're primarily a foster-based rescue, it's not easy to encourage foster parents who have loved their cats to put them back in a cage to be adopted.  But I KNOW that this is an incredible way for more cats to find their Forever Homes.  If I didn't do it, what would I "tell" the cats dying at the shelter?  "Sorry, but I'm too big of a coward to put you in Petsmart, so you'll have to die in a cage here instead."  See what I mean? 

I sent out an email today begging  asking for a volunteer to be The rescue's Petsmart Coordinator to (help me) keep track of the cats and volunteers there.  I'm hopeful somebody will come forward.  I can't do it all.  I can't. I can't. I can't.  I wonder if emails have a "desperation sensor"? 
 
The stress of coordinating all this while my daughter was here left me practically sick to my stomach.  I was up at 5 or 6 am every day just to do paperwork, answer emails, and normal rescue stuff before she woke up and our day together started.  I even did a rescue on Sunday morning before the shelter opened!  Gratefully, one of the staff members unlocked the door for me and let me in to rescue the cats.  It's been CRAZY.

Without further ado....I'm pleased to announce Forever Home Cat Rescue at their new adoption facility hosted by:  Petsmart @ 2501 Hyde Park Gate, Oakville, Ontario.

(yay!)

15 comments:

Faith J. said...

Congratulations! When I lived in Chicago, I volunteered at a PetSmart, cleaning their 8 shelter cages and talking to the public almost every Saturday for five years. It was hard to see some cats there months before being adopted, but I knew that they had people to watch and interact with. It was very rewarding and I think highly of PetSmart due to my experiences.

I think you will be able to save a lot more kitties this way. I'm so excited for you!

Darling Magpie said...

Congrats!

House of the Discarded said...

Faith: None of our cats will be there for months. If they aren't adopted within a reasonable amount of time, they'll be placed into a foster home. :)

Kea said...

This is great news for you and your rescues, Beth! I hope the adoptions will be very successful! :-)

Brian's Home Blog said...

I think that is a great thing! Me and my sisters Sascha, Gracie and Zoe all were adopted from our Kitten Action Team which operates out of one of our PetSmarts!

Deb said...

That's awesome. Good for you and all your hard work.

Yidchick said...

Yay Beth!! that is wonderful news!!! :) I find that the cats fostered at the petsmarts get noticed more and tend to be adopted out relatively quickly.. so this is definitely amazing news!! :) Congrats again :)

Sparkle said...

A rescue my human (very) occasionally volunteers for has kitties at a nearby PetCo and my human always visits with them when she does her shopping there. And yes, it's a WAY better deal than being stuck in a kill shelter cage!

Devon said...

Hurray! You're little rescue is growing at tremendous speed! Happy to be a part of the ride!

Josie said...

Congrats! I'm sure this will do even more great things for you :)

crystal said...

Yay!!!! I am so excited for your rescue and for all of those kitties you get to save as a result of this incredible partnership. That is truly AWESOME News:) A huge congratulations!!

Tina said...

Yea Beth....that's great news! Even more kitties saved. I love it :-)

Unknown said...

Wonderful, Congratulations and we wish we lots of success.

Random Felines said...

We love the adoption centers at Petsmart. Wish we lived closer so mom could volunteer to help you!! We know it can be hard to take a cat that has been living in a house and put them in a cage, but it is so much easier to get them adopted - seeing a face in a window is a greater incentive than a picture online. GOOD LUCK and CONCATS!!!

CanuckPet said...

Congrats!

As much as it is hard to put them in a cage, the ones at petsmart are much nicer than animal controls and if it raises awareness of your rescue and gets some more homes...

I am still set up for fostering but if there is anything I can do volunteer related that is paperwork/email/phone based I am happy to help