Local pet stores help find homes for shelter’s animals

Efforts often save felines from premature death

By Patrick Cooley, pcooley@mariettatimes.com
In addition to selling their own animals, two local pet stores are encouraging patrons to adopt cats and dogs from the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley.

We Lov Pets offers cats from the humane society for adoption, while Petland posts a bulletin board with pictures of puppies located at the society’s shelter.

“Since we’ve opened we’ve done this,” said Adam Johnson, an assistant manager at We Lov Pets. “Since the beginning of this year we’ve had 18 cats adopted through the humane society.”

Johnson explained that his store takes cats which the humane society does not have room for and displays them in a cage at the store. The number the store has varies.

“Sometimes there are four or five. Last time we got cats in there was nine, and the humane society was full, so we just brought them here for them,” Johnson said.

Cheryl Byers, the manager of the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley, said this often saves the felines from a premature death.

“The cats that are at We Lov Pets are all of the ones that would be put to sleep because we don’t have enough room for all of the cats that we receive on a monthly basis,” she said.

According to their reports, the humane society took in 90 cats in the month of April.

“Usually what we try to do is get the older cats,” Johnson said. “They’re the ones who have been there the longest.

“We try to showcase them, but sometimes we have kittens, too,” he said.

“We don’t charge anything (for the shelter cats), but there is a donation fee to the humane society which is usually around $40,” he said.

Johnson said this is part of a tradition for his store.

“We’ve always been a big supporter of the humane society, and we prefer to help cats that need homes over selling them,” he said.

Petland has been helping the humane society since its Marietta store reopened in January.

“The main goal is to get as many pets adopted out as possible,” said Dana Collins, the manager of Petland. “We try to help them give away as many as possible” so the animals aren’t euthanized.

Collins said they try to get new pictures every month if possible.

Byers said the humane society has been considering starting a program where local businesses would each adopt a pet.

“Local businesses agree to take one dog or one cat to keep in their store to keep until it is adopted,” she said. “That is a program we are going to be working on in the very near future to see if they will just help us with at least one pet.”