National Adoption Week

National Adoption Week is here again! Each year, PetSmart gives shelters and rescues all over the United States four chances each year to find loving furever homes for as many orphaned fur-kids as possible. Being that the Humane Society of Imperial County literally has hundreds of homeless cats and dogs in our care, we intend to take full advantage of this super-awesome adoption event.

For us to be able to help easily place more cats and dogs into loving homes, we have decided to slightly lower our adoption fees for the adoption event: All dog and puppy adoptions will only be $100, and all cat and kitten adoptions will only be $40! To help more cats and kittens get adopted, if the adopter decides to adopt two kitties the adoption fee of the second one will be only $20.

Although adoption fees will be lowered, standard adoption policies and procedures will still be in place. This means that all adopters will be subject to pre-adoption screening.

Our pre-adoption screening process requires that all adopters show proof of whether they own or rent their homes. If the adopter owns their home, our adoption specialist will need to see a mortgage statement or property tax statement that has the adopter’s/homeowner’s name and address that matches to a current form of state issued identification. If the name and address on the state issues ID does not match to the mortgage statement or property tax statement, then the adopter will need to show a current utility bill that matches to the mortgage statement or property tax statement.

If adopters rent, we must see something in a rental agreement that states if the adopter/ renter is allowed to have any pets where they reside. If their rental agreement does not state whether a pet is allowed in the residence, then a handwritten or typed letter from the landlord must be presented to the adoption specialist. The letter from the landlord must state the landlord’s name and contact number, and that they are giving permission to the renter to have a pet at the residence. The landlord must also state whether there are any breed or size restrictions in the letter.

Lastly, for adopters wanting to adopt a dog or puppy and already have a dog or puppy in the home, we do require a meet-and-greet with the dog or puppy that the adopter already has. We understand that this might seem like a lengthy process, but this protocol is in place to ensure that the adoption is a permanent solution for the animal, and that the adoption process is a positive experience for the animals and the adopters.

All adoptions from our shelter through PetSmart’s National Adoption Weekend include the pets being up to date on vaccinations for one year; the pets being spayed and neutered and microchipped with a lifetime registration; provision of one free bag of dog or cat food, a coupon booklet with over $400 in PetSmart purchase savings and 50 percent off the adopted pet’s first instore grooming, and one free wellness check with Desert Veterinary Group in Imperial. All that is literally the definition of the word “bargain.” You cannot find a better deal anywhere else.

For this adoption event, we intend to have more cats and dogs available at PetSmart than we usually do for our weekly Saturday adoptions. Because this adoption event will be on a slightly larger scale, we are looking for a small handful of volunteers to help us on both days of the event. Volunteering those days will consist of loading and unloading, putting adoption pens together, walking dogs, filling water bowls, and cleaning up after the pets.

To sign up as a volunteer, please shoot us an email at ivhumanesociety@gmail.com.

We will have cats and kittens at PetSmart from Nov. 8-14 all day long, and dogs and puppies from Nov. 12-14. The adoption weekend schedule is as follows:

• Friday, noon to 4 p.m.

• Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

If you are looking to make an extra special addition to your furry family, this weekend event at PetSmart is the perfect opportunity.