Thank You BISSELL Pet Foundation!

We want to take this time to give a huge THANK YOU to our partner, BISSELL Pet Foundation. Through two of their programs, we have been able to help pets find their forever homes and pet owners get the spay and neuter surgeries their pets need. Ultimately, both of these programs help end pet homelessness! 

The first week of October was BISSELL Pet Foundation’s “Empty the Shelters” quarterly event. 10 kitties are in their forever homes this week thanks to Cathy Bissell and the Bissell Pet Foundation. Their “Empty the Shelters” effort helped sponsor reduced adoption fees for $25 or less at over 200 shelters and rescues across the country, including Planned PEThood of GA. 

Bissell began the “Empty the Shelters” event in 2016 as an effort to encourage more families to adopt a pet into their home. Since then, BISSELL Pet Foundation has expanded its “Empty the Shelters” reach to organizations in 47 states and Canada with over 500 partners. 

Below is a list of the adopted cats and pictures of a few of the adopted animals! We still have lots of cats and kittens in need of homes so view our adoptable cats here!

Happy life to Caramelo, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Ryder, Ebon & Estra, Fred, Babesita, Smokey, and Gretel! We are so glad you all found your forever homes! 

Through BISSELL Pet Foundation’s Spay/Neuter Grant, Planned PEThood has been able to help local pet owners safely spay and neuter their pets at a low cost or no cost. This helps end pet homelessness by preventing unwanted litters and decreasing the number of pets entering shelters. They have awarded grants in all 50 states and over 5,600 partner organizations. BISSELL Pet Foundation awarded Planned PEThood of GA $6,875 in funds to help more than 200 pets with free or reduced spay-neuter procedures.  Thanks to BISSELL Pet Foundation, pets, like Halo and Orianna, were able to get spayed and neutered. Thank you, BISSELL Pet Foundation and Cathy Bissell, for helping these pets in need! Remember, every Bissell product helps a pet in need. 

Bissell Empty the Shelter Event

Smokey
Johnny Cash
Hank Williams
Gretel
Fred
Ebon & Estra
Caramelo
Babesita

Bissell Spay/Neuter Grant

Orianna
Halo
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Newton County Residents and Their Pets Get the Help They Need!

 

This past Saturday, 224 pets received much needed assistance in Newton County. Planned PEThood’s outreach team, Go Fix Georgia, teamed up with Newton County Animal Control to provide free vet care and supplies to pet owners in need. In total, we were able to help 171 dogs and 53 cats and provide:

 

  • 194 rabies vaccines
  • 206 distemper vaccines
  • 193 microchips
  • 130 spay/neuter vouchers
  • 2,000+ lbs of pet food, leashes and collars

 

 

The need for outreach events like this was obvious. Hundreds of people lined up early in the chilly morning, some getting there hours before the event started. Owning a pet right now is hard. Vet care might be the last thing you can afford. These events help ensure the wellness of pets in the community and reduce overpopulation through free spay/neuter. We plan to continue working with Newton County and other counties to host outreach events like this in the future.

There were so many amazing organizations and volunteers that came together to help make this event successful. Without their support this would never have been possible. THANK YOU ALL!

Event Sponsor:

HALO (Hospice and Love Organization) – Newton County-based animal welfare agency 

Other Assistance Provided by:

Newton County Animal Control

Banfield Pet Foundation 

Atlanta Humane Society 

Petco Love 

Bissell Pet Foundation

GA Department of Agriculture

 

Free distemper vaccines were provided thanks to Petco Love and the vaccination campaign. The free vaccines are made possible through Petco Love’s national vaccination initiative, which is providing 1 million free pet vaccines to its existing animal welfare partners, including Planned PEThood of GA. An estimated 30% of pet parents do not take their pet to a veterinarian annually for preventative care. To address this critical need, we have partnered with Petco Love to make pet vaccines free and accessible in an effort to ensure the health and wellness of our beloved pets.  #VaccinatedAndLoved

 

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Kittens Stuck In Drain……AGAIN!

Our Feral Cat Manager, Amy, is at it again, rescuing kittens from storm drains. But this time, it was a bit tricker. 

A kind lady reached out to Amy asking for help. She had found a kitten laying in her backyard, asleep in a nice sunny spot. While this kitten was safe, another was in trouble. The lady heard the cries of another kitten coming from a storm drain. The kitten had somehow stumbled into the storm drain with no way to get out. Amy searched for the mama, but she was nowhere to be seen. 

With the kitten stuck down there and no way to get into the storm drain, Amy had to get creative to help the kitty out. Thankfully, with her quick thinking, Amy was able to put together a net using rope, a lingerie washing bag, and some metal wiring to catch the kitten. Amy had to meow to the kitty to get her to move toward the net. After several minutes of meowing, the kitten finally crawled her way into the net and Amy was able to lift the kitten to safety. 

After rescuing these kittens, we brought them into our foster program, hoping to find a foster who had the knowledge and skill to bottle feed these 2-week-old babies. One of our amazing, long-time fosters, Zarya, stepped up and took them home. Now, several weeks later, these kittens are living happy and healthy lives at their foster home. Once they are big enough, they will be microchipped, vaccinated, and spayed/neutered, before becoming available for adoption and starting their journey to find their forever homes. 

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Celebrate National Feral Cat Day!

October 16th is National Feral Cat Day. It’s the perfect day to celebrate these kitties and learn what you can do to help them!

You’ve probably seen a feral cat roaming near you. They are found all over the country – around neighborhoods, apartment complexes, work, shopping centers, gas stations, schools, highway rest stops, warehouses, and any little hiding place you can imagine.

They often get a bad reputation and are labeled as mean, aggressive, and even unadoptable. In reality, they are just misunderstood. 

These cats live outside and fend for themselves. They fear and hide from people because they’ve never been properly socialized with humans. They may have been born outside, abandoned, or just wandered away. Often, they don’t want to be a pet and just prefer an outdoor lifestyle. No matter where they came from, they deserve a chance at life! Whether a cat’s home is in our houses or in our communities, they deserve our care, our support, and our love!

Without getting spayed or neutered, these cats can quickly multiply and become unmanageable with kittens, kittens, and more kittens. Just one female can have up to 24 kittens a year and 100 in her lifespan. 

The statistics can be overwhelming sometimes – how many cats are euthanized in shelters, how many kittens one unaltered cat can have, how many cats must be spayed/neutered before we can see a positive change in our community – it goes on and on. BUT – the best thing you can do to help these kitties is Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR)!

TNR is the most humane and effective method known for managing these feral cats and reducing their numbers. During TNR, cats are trapped and brought into a veterinary clinic, such as Planned PEThood, where they are spayed/neutered, vaccinated for rabies, and ear-tipped. After they’ve recovered from their surgery, these cats are returned back to their original outdoor homes. When left unaltered, these cats can reproduce, and before you know it, there will be dozens and dozens of cats living in your neighborhood. 

We strongly believe in TNR and we want to help you help these feral kitties! This is why at Planned PEThood of GA, we offer a variety of ways to help these community cats. We offer humane trap loans at NO CHARGE to the public plus we can teach you how to set up the trap and tell you some of our tips and tricks for TNR. We want to help you go out there and help these feral and community cats.

These cats deserve the world. TNR is the most loving thing you can do to help a feral kitty live their healthiest outdoor life. We hope you will TNR to help these kitties!

MAKE A GIFT TO HELP FERAL CATS

For additional questions, visit our TNR resource page or email communitycats@PEThoodGA.org

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About Planned PEThood

2860 Buford Highway
Bldg F, Suite 2
Duluth, GA 30096
678.561.3491
info@pethoodga.org

Planned PEThood of Georgia, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. EIN: 90-0516757

 

Our Mission

Helping pets and the people who care for them by providing innovative programs and affordable services that save lives.

 

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