The companionship of a pet can be priceless and the Penticton SPCA is offering adopters the chance to name their own fee to adopt any adult cat in the province.
“The B.C. SPCA takes in more than 17,000 homeless cats and kittens each year, and summer is the peak season where our shelters are filled to capacity,” said Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the BC SPCA.
The promotion is running from Aug. 23 to 25 and Chortyk said people who adopt cats from the SPCA are getting exceptional value, even without a special promotion. On average, the SPCA pays $784 to care for a cat. This includes vaccinations, spaying or neutering, an identification tattoo, preventative treatment for internal and external parasites, any medical care or rehabilitation required, daily welfare monitoring, sheltering and feeding. Chortyk said a homeless cat can stay anywhere from a few days to more than year before finding a family. All of the usual adoption criteria will apply. As an added bonus all cats are also covered by six weeks of pet insurance courtesy of Petsecure.
If you can’t take a pet into your home but still want to help the SPCA, there are some steps that can be taken to help the animals. Registration for the 2012 Scotiabank B.C. SPCA Paws for a Cause walk is now open. This year participants in 34 B.C. communities will walk to raise $1 million for abused, injured, neglected and homeless animals. The Penticton event will be held at Gyro Park on Sept. 9 starting at 10 a.m. and the walk beginning at noon.
“This is the largest single event supporting animals in B.C.,” said Farrah Rooney, manager of fundraising events at the B.C. SPCA. “Participants are already signing up and will be fundraising in their own communities all summer long. The creativity and passion that people show in their fundraising efforts each year is absolutely inspiring and the walks are always so much fun for both the two-legged and four-legged participants who attend.”
Registration is $25 and participants will be able to enjoy entertainment and activities for them and their dogs. Youth participants, 17 and under, register for free and are automatically entered to win a Playstation Vita console. Individuals or teams can sign up and be eligible for prizes for top fundraisers including an Okanagan trip (courtesy of See Ya Later Ranch winery), an X-Box Kinnect bundle and a group gift basket from Bosley’s Pet Food Plus valued at $1,000. For every $100 participants raise before Sept. 8, they will get one new entry for an iPad. Visit spca.bc.ca for more information on Paws for a Cause or for the special promotion on adopting a cat.