Petsmart Adoptions

[sneakymom]

I've seen that several of you work with non-profits that hold adoption clinics at Petsmart.  Got a couple of questions. 

  We just lost our 2nd animal in 6 months.  I'm thinking it was heart failure that took her.  We can't find her right now and she was doing the "hiding thing" that Jasper was doing back in August before we had to put him down- we think it was cancer.  Both animals were older. 

I don't want an older animal.  Yes- we took Jasper in when he was 11.  But like I said- we've had to deal with losing 2 animals in 6 months AND we lost both of them when my oldest was away at college (the 3 hour ride home with her on Thursday isn't going to be a whole lot of fun b/c we're waiting to tell her until after she's finished finals.) 

I know the family's going to want another animal.  Poor Holly is wandering around the house looking lost.  It's been quite a while since we've gone to a shelter to adopt.  And I was thinking of doing that again until I remembered the adoption clinics I've seen at Petsmart. 

How do they generally work?  If you want to adopt that day- can you, or do we have to fill out an application and wait?  It's something I'd like to include the dtr who is away at college- I feel so bad that she wasn't here to say good-bye to either one we lost. I know they have older animals- but they take in kittens too right?  I think Holly would do better with a cat younger than her anyways. 

Thanks for your input!

Cheryl

 

[katachtig]

PetSmart works with local shelters and rescues so the policies tend to vary.  I've adopted 3 at a nearby one. I had to fill out applications and wait for a rescue approval.  But I also volunteer at another one which has shelter staff onsite so the animals go home the same day.  Check with your local one to see what policies they have.
 

ETA: There are usually animals of all ages.  We just went through a bunch of kittens and many are now between 1 and 4 years.

 

[sneakymom]

Thanks for your reply.  That helped to answer my questions.

It's not something we're going to do right away anyways.  Not until after the holidays.  Dd is home until the middle of January so we've got time

Cheryl

 

[Willowy]

Right now there are kittens about 3 months old. So young kittens may be hard to come by in mid-January. . .not very many litters born Oct-Feb. Usually kittens are born March-September. But an older kitten should work out just as well, and may not be as pesty as a baby kitten :lol3:.

 

[sneakymom]

I'd take an animal a bit older.  Maybe in the 1-3 year age range- Holly's 3. 

But not an elderly cat. 

 Jasper was an incredibly nervous cat.  And we had no idea he had a huge spraying problem until he got into the house and it smelled like cat pee.  Sigh.  I did the best I could.  It was worse when I wasn't home, or when we went away (and we never boarded him, we had the neighbor kids come feed him and he still wasn't happy).  But I can bet if I went through a rescue site- they could probably give me a heads up on any kind of issues that an animal we're looking at could have.

Jasper didn't come from a rescue.  We took him in from a neighbor who had brought him here with his owner.  She didn't want to give him up- the only apartment she could afford didn't accept cats, and there was no way they wanted to have her give him up to a shelter where he'd probably just get put down.   Not when he was 11 years old.

Cheryl

 

[binkyhoo]

Just a suggestion. You may want to fill out an application early and get 'pre-approved'.  Then when that right kitty selects you,  you will be good to go.

 

 

[stephanietx]

We adopted our last cat through an organization that did their adoptions at PetsMart.  I actually found Daisy online through Petfinder.com and read about several of their cats who were available for adoption or could be seen at PetsMart.  Most of the groups have a way to contact the organization for more info on a particular kitty and/or tell you where you can see the kitty (adoption event or in the kitty room at PetsMart).  So, start looking online at Petfinder for a rescue group in your area.  http://www.petfinder.com/index.html   Even though Daisy wasn't at PetsMart when we adopted her (she was in a foster home), we conducted the adoption at the store so the rescue group could receive a donation from the PetsMart Foundation. 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

When we adopted Bunny (my cat who lives with my Mom) we had met her at the local SPCA when Mom was adopting a kitten.  I connected with her and we both couldn't get her out of our minds and since I couldn't have a cat at the time Mom decided to adopt her too. But when we went back she had been moved to Petsmart (Mom had called that morning so we knew she was coming).  We were able to fill out the application right then and then just go pick her up at Petsmart.  

From what I can tell now; our petsmart has a local no-kill shelter bringing them there now.  They expanded their adoption center so I guess both places could have animals there.  But I know the kitties I visited were all from the No-kill place.  I just didn't go into the separate room they have now.  We adopted Bunny in 2003; so it's been quite some time.

 

[duckdodgers]

A friend of mine was looking into adopting a young cat from our local petsmart.  It was a regular day (not an adoption day) so we went and asked one of the employees if we could play with the cat in question, and he said that he was not allowed to let us interact with her without one of the representatives from the rescue present.  That was kind of a bummer- we weren't going to harm her in any way, just wanted to get an idea of her personality!  Either way, she called the number listed on the cat's card, the guy wouldn't give us permission to look at her without him there, but he wouldn't be able to get there for a couple of days.  Then they required a home check amongst other things.  It ended up being a pain, so she adopted a cat elsewhere. 

On the other side, the petsmarts in my hometown are much more relaxed about adoptions.  It's more of a grab-n-go type thing- if you show up on an adoption day you fill out the application, get approved, and take your cat home in the same day.  I guess it just depends on your store and the rescue group doing the adoptions.  On one hand the really strict people ensure that their cats go to a suitable home, but on the other hand they can scare away a suitable home with all of the hoops you have to jump through.
 

 

[sneakymom]

And I can fully understand having to "go through hoops" sometimes to adopt an animal.  They sometimes come from less-than-desireable homes, and I can understand the volunteers (there was one I looked at this morning that is all volunteer) wanting the best possible situation for everyone. 

We are in no hurry at all.  Yeah- I'd like the oldest to be home but if she's not- she's not. 

Our first 2 cats came from the local humane society.  We got another kitty from a no-kill shelter.  Sneaky came from my inlaws- they found a kitty who brought in kittens and they wanted them to go to a good home.  Holly came from a friend who found a pregnant momma as well.  And Jasper was from the neighbor. 

There's been a couple of things local animal control (including building this very pretty shelter, but it's WAY over budget and a year late in opening and we needed the new shelter yesterday AND the city is taking money away from other things that are just as important as the animals for this over budget and late shelter) that's kind of not wanting me to go there and adopt, which is why I'm considering a non-profit.  I want to give my money to something that's going to help the animals

.  Not something that's plastered all over the opinion page in the paper and giving people who are running animal control in the city a very bad rap.

Sorry.  Didn't mean to make this into a political rant.

Cheryl