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Pet Adoption Fair – 5th Annual Home For The Holidays

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The 5th Annual Home For The Holidays Pet Adoption Fair at the Irvine Animal Care Center is right around the corner.  Every year I remember this event because it almost always coincides with my birthday (December 5th for all you well wishers out there).  We try our best to make it out to this event every year as it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump away from our house.  One cool thing about this pet adoption is that you’re allowed to bring your fully vaccinated, well-behaved, leashed dog if you so choose.

So, if you’re looking for a dog, cat, rabbit, or other pet (yep, we’ve even seen pigs at the irvine animal care center) then come on down to the Home for the Holidays Pet Adoption Fair this Saturday, December 3rd from 10am to 3pm.  You’ll probably see us down their snapping a few pictures of the adoptable puppies and dogs.

Adorable Puppy And Kitty

Here’s some more information on the event:

Home For The Holidays – 5th Annual Pet Adoption Fair

WHAT: Home For The Holidays – 5th Annual Pet Adoption Fair
WHEN: Saturday, December 3rd from 10am – 3pm
WHERE: Irvine Animal Care Center, 6443 Oak Canyon Road, Irvine, CA

DIRECTIONS:

From the 405 Freeway, take the Sand Canyon exit and turn inland;
turn left into Oak Canyon; the Shelter will be the second driveway on the right.

From the 5 Freeway, take the Sand Canyon exit and turn right;
turn right into Oak Canyon; the Shelter will be the second driveway on the right.

Home for the holidays pet adoption fair

What To Do At The Pet Adoption Fair

We’ve gone in the past and it’s mainly about pet adoption gathering many different pet rescues to show their dogs, puppies, cats, and kitties to the public.  We’ve heard that in the past the Home For The Holidays Pet Adoption Fair has been very successful in getting pets adopted just in time for Christmas.

Here’s some more information on the Home For The Holidays.

  • 400+ Adoptable Animals
  • 70+ Vendors and Exhibitors
  • Food Court and Bake Sale
  • Ask the Vet and Trainer Booths
  • Silent Auction and Drawings
  • Low-cost Microchip

Cost for admission into this event is $1 and as I mentioned earlier they allow you to bring your fully vaccinated, well-behaved, leashed dog.

Here’s a link to the Irvine Animal Care Center main page where you can see and FAQ section and a list of the Animal Rescues, Vendors, and Exhibitors.

Linus my first puppy was adopted from the Carson animal shelter and we’ve also volunteered as foster parents for dogs and puppies so we very much support pet adoption. If you’re considering getting that next dog or puppy please consider pet adoption and by all means visit this years Home For The Holidays Pet Adoption Fair.  We’ll be there this Saturday…How about you?  Have you been in the past or do you plan on going this weekend.  Let us know if you’ve adopted a puppy from this event in the past or this Saturday.  We’d love to hear about your new adopted pet!

Irvine Pet Adoption – Home For The Holidays

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Are you located in or around Orange County, CA and looking into Pet Adoption?  If so you should come out to the 4th annual Home For The Holidays Pet Adoption Fair! We wrote a little bit about last year’s Home For The Holidays, but unfortunately we weren’t able to attend.

We’re going to do our best to make it out to this years pet adoption.  However, we’re going to leave the boys at home (sorry, Dublin, Stetson and Linus).

Irvine Pet Adoption – Home For The Holidays 2010

What: Home For The Holidays 4th Annual Pet Adoption 2010

When: December 5th, 2010 from 10am – 3pm

Where:
Irvine Animal Care Center
6443 Oak Canyon
Irvine, CA 92618

By the way, here’s some Q and A directly from the City of Irvine website:

– Where is the event located?
The event will take place at the Irvine Animal Care Center’s facility located at 6443 Oak Canyon Road, Irvine, CA 92618.

-What is the price of admission?
Admission is $1 per person. Please bring cash for admission.

– Where do I park for the event? Is there a charge for parking?
Event visitors may park in the parking structure along Oak Canyon Road. Do not park on the street or you will be towed. Handicapped parking will be available in the IACC’s parking lot. There is no charge for parking.

– How much is the adoption fee to adopt an animal at the event?
Every rescue group and animal shelter present at the event will have their own adoption fees. Please check with the rescue group or animal shelter to find out their adoption fees, what is included in the fee, and what requirements the organization has to adopt the pet.

– Is the IACC offering an adoption discount on their shelter pets for the event?
Yes. The IACC will be offering $20 off dog, cat and rabbit adoptions completed on event day.

– Is there an ATM machine at the facility?
Yes, there will be an ATM on premises. However, since the many vendors’ and animal groups’ adoption fees vary and there is so much different merchandise to purchase it is recommended you bring checks and plenty of cash. Some rescue groups and vendors do not have the capability to charge a credit card.

– Will there be food at the event?
Yes. Lunch, snacks, baked goods and beverages will be available for purchase.

– May I bring my dog to Home for the Holidays?
Absolutely. We welcome you to bring your fully vaccinated, well behaved, leashed dog(s) to the event. There will be activities designed just for your dog, including professional pet photos and low-cost microchips. For safety reasons, we ask that you do not bring cats or other animals to the event. In addition, please do not bring any dogs in heat.

– How do I volunteer at the event?
The Irvine Animal Care Center is currently looking for volunteers age 15 and older to help with set up and tear down, maintenance, parking and videography. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Crystal Nettles at cnettles@cityofirvine.org by December 3.

– How to I get to your facility?
From the 405 Freeway, take the Sand Canyon exit and turn inland;
turn left into Oak Canyon; the shelter will be the second driveway on the right.

From the 5 Freeway, take the Sand Canyon exit and turn right;
turn right into Oak Canyon; the shelter will be the second driveway on the right.

For more information visit the City of Irvine website.  They also show all the different Pet Rescues and organizations attending this year’s Pet Adoption.  We noticed our favorite rescue Cuddly Canines will be there this year.

How about you?  Are you planning on visiting this years Home For The Holidays Pet Adoption?  If you do please leave us a comment and let us know what you thought.

It’s Be Kind To Animals Week

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We’re a day late, but we had a busy day yesterday attending the Guide Dogs of America graduation.  Yesterday was a special day because Derby’s brother, Dexter graduated and is now a working Guide Dog.  We took lots of video and pictures of Dexter and posted a few pics to our Facebook Fanpage.

Here’s one of Dexter looking handsome in his new harness:

Anyways, back to our message:  Starting yesterday, May 2nd it’s “Be Kind To Animals Week”

Be Kind To Animals Week

So what is Be Kind To Animals Week?  Well, here’s a short quote from the American Humane Society Website:

…we commemorate the role animals play in our lives, promote ways to continue to treat them humanely, and encourage others, especially children, to do the same.

Can you believe this event has been celebrated every year dating back to 1915?  That’s 95 years!  Of course we should be kind to animals all year round and the American Humane Society website points out several way we can help out throughout the year.

One I’d like to point out that rings true to me is to adopt your next pet from the animal shelter.  It’s estimated that over 3.7 million pets are euthanized each year at our nation’s animal shelters.  If you’re not in the market to adopt a pet you can also help shelters and rescue by volunteering.  In the past we’ve volunteered as foster parents for puppies.  We raised several litters and helped place them in good homes.  It’s a great experience and if you’re up for the challenge I highly recommend fostering dogs or puppies to help alleviate the burden on our local shelters and rescues.

So what are you waiting for?  Get the word out and let everyone know that it’s Be Kind To Animals week.

Home for the Holidays Pet Adoptions 2009

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Check out Irvine Pet Adoption – Home For The Holidays 2010!

We just noticed that the Irvine Animal Shelter is having their Home for the Holidays Pet Adoption this Sunday.  If you’re looking to adopt a pet this holiday season then we highly recommend you visit the Irvine Animal Shelter this weekend.  Here’s some more detailed information:

Home for the Holidays Pet Adoptions 2009

Home for the Holidays

What: Home For The Holidays Pet Adoption 2009

When: December 6th, 2009 from 10am – 3pm

Where:
Irvine Animal Care Center
6443 Oak Canyon
Irvine, CA 92618

Go straight to the Irvine Animal Care Center Home for the Holidays website to see all of the participating rescues.  We noticed our friends at Cuddly Canines will be there and we also hope to drop by and support our local animal shelter.  By the way the Cuddly Canines website says that they will have We will have many wonderful dogs & puppies available for adoption! (Cuddly Canines will be in the back area).

We hope to see you all there.  If you do attend leave us a comment and let us know about your experience.  By the way, we attended the Irvine Animal Shelters Super Adoption last summer and they had some great raffle prizes.  Hopefully we’ll see the same at the Home for the Holidays pet adoption.

Should We Discount Price On Dog Adoptions?

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Do you think our shelters should discount dog adoptions?  The question arose (in my head) when I was reading an article about Animal Shelter has dogs for half-price adoption. My initial reaction is “that’s great…hopefully we can get more dogs and cats adopted by discounting the adoption fee.”  However, on second thought I’m not so sure it is a great idea.

Discount Dog Adoptions

Image By Gore Fiendus (Jerry Frausto)

After further review of Discounting Dog Adoptions I’ve come to the conclusion that there are good and bad things that may result from discounting.  Lets start out with the good:

The Good of Discounting

  • Discounting may be that final incentive someone needs to adopt a dog.
  • A discount gives a person more money to spend on dog toys, veterinarian bills, etc.
  • Marketing your discount program brings in more prospective adopters.

The Bad of Discounting

  • If there is a discount the shelter receives less money.
  • Okay, lets be honest…if you can’t afford the full adoption fee ($75 from the article) then should you really be adopting a pet. – my point being that the adoption fee should be the least of your monetary concerns when adopting a dog.

Shelter adoption fees are probably one of the smallest expenses you’ll spend on your new dog.

Here is an example of some of the fees you encounter during dog adoption: I brought Linus home from the shelter for somewhere in that price range of $35-40 adoption fee.  We then proceeded to spend approximately $200 on supplies including dog food,kennel, dog toys, treats, grooming supplies, etc.  When we got him home we noticed he was sluggish, infested with fleas (he had encrusted blood in his ears), stomach virus, worms, and was very anemic.  We took him to a self grooming shop, purchased a flea comb, medicated shampoo, and proceeded to clean him up – that was another 50 bucks.

The next day we took Linus to the veterinarian for a checkup.  He got his regular vaccinations, medication for his stomach virus and worms and we got another bill for about $200.  Finally, the shelter offered to neuter Linus at no charge…no thanks…Instead of bringing him back to the shelter we used our veterinarian.  When all was said and done another $250.  All of these fees piled up to nearly $1,000 in the first few weeks after adopting Linus.

On a positive note, Linus did receive his initial vaccinations from the shelter and they did offer to neuter him free of charge.  My fear of bringing him back for neutering was that he’d end up with fleas, worms, and another stomach virus.

Dog Adoption

A question I often get asked is what would I do today if I were to adopt a dog?  After all my experience with dog adoptions, rescues, shelters, fostering, guide dogs, puppy raising my first choice would be to establish a relationship with one of the our wonderful local dog rescues like Cuddly Canines and over time be patient and select a dog that would fit my personality and energy level.  I believe most rescues charge somewhere in the neighborhood of a $200-300 donation.  However, that usually includes spay/neuter which most rescues will do before you take home your dog, up to date vaccinations, de-flea and de-worm.  Also, dogs and puppies usually stay with a foster for at least 14 days for health and temperament evaluations.

Of course every dog rescue is different and I’d check with your favorite rescue volunteers to see exactly what their rescue has to offer before adopting.

How about you?  What kind of experience do you have with dog adoption?  Do you think discounting is a good way to “sell” adoption?

Three Out Of Four Animals Euthanized At Shelter

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It’s an amazing statistic, but a common one at many shelters these days. This morning I read an article Las Cruces Sun News today about Animal Shelter Euthanasia Rates Remains High. They mention some alarming statistics including the one stated in the title of this article: “Three out of four of the roughly 1,500 animals taken in per month are killed.” That means that approximately 1,050 out of 1,500 animals are killed each month…that’s SHOCKING!!!

Animal Shelter Euthanasia Rates Remains High

Despite a goal by officials to move toward a no-kill animal shelter, the pet euthanasia rate at the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley is more than 70 percent.

I won’t pretend to know all the details going on at the Animal Services Center of th Mesilla Valley, but if 6 months ago the shelter director announced a goal of becoming a no-kill animal shelter then 70 percent euthanasia rate makes me believe that at this point the shelter is failing miserably.

The article does mention several possible issues and obstacles keeping the animal shelter from improving their numbers and moving towards the goal of a no-kill policy including:

  • Lack of a full-time veterinarian
  • The current directors outdated approach to tackling the euthanasia and pet overpopulation problems
  • A “throw-away” mentality prevalent among county residents that places little value on pets’ lives and well-being.
  • The shelter’s unfriendly atmosphere toward the public

The article brings to light some of the issues going on with one of Las Cruces’s local animal shelters and hopefully at some point in time the Animal Services Center of The Mesilla Valley does achieve its goal of becoming a no-kill shelter. However, at this point it does appear that they might be moving in the wrong direction.

Are You Ready For Pet Adoption?

If you’re interested in pet adoption do not take it lightly. As mentioned in one of the points earlier do not have the “throw away” mentality. You pets life is valuable and requires a long-term commitment.

One of the most important points I’d like to make when adopting a dog is to focus on their training. Your friends and family will enjoy your dog if he understands basic obedience. You and your dog will feel more comfortable on any outings whether it be to the dog park or to a friends home (you will be welcome to more peoples homes if your dog is well-behaved). Also, training your dog is a great bonding experience for you and your dog.

I did a little research in hopes of finding a database of animals from the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley, but was only able to come up with a link to the City of Las Cruces website with information contact information and hours of service. After a little further research I found their adoptable pet list on the Petfinder.com website. Here’s a link directly to their adoptable list: Animal Service Center of The Mesilla Valley.

The two pictures I included in this article are from the Las Cruces Sun News website. There are several other pictures at the following link: Animal Adoption Pictures.

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