In this article:
- PetSmart is hosting Pet Adoption Week at the end of February 2022.
- The company’s charity organization is partnering with shelters to connect people with animals for adoption.
- With its adoption events, the retailer gains and retains customers.
It’s raining cats and dogs at PetSmart.
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The pet supply store chain’s charity organization, PetSmart Charities, is hosting National Adoption Week from February 28 to March 6, 2022. PetSmart is working with animal welfare shelters across the country to bring dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, and other small animals into their stores for the week. Hopeful pet parents can go into almost any PetSmart in North America during Pet Adoption Week to find a furry friend to take home.
Throughout the year, PetSmart organizes National Pet Adoption Weeks and Weekends at its stores to promote adoption. During one adoption weekend in 2020, PetSmart found homes for a record 32,985 pets across North America. PetSmart first started throwing National Pet Adoption Weekends 25 years ago, once PetSmart Charities was founded. Potential pet owners can search for animals on its online platform, but the adoption events give people the opportunity to meet animals in real life and spend time with them before they adopt.
Adoptions have surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, as more people work from home and seek companionship. Despite the pet adoption rate increasing 83% from 50% over a decade, shelters still have five million animals without homes every year, according to a press release from PetSmart.
More than two thirds of homes in the U.S. include pets, and 88% of those homes say that their pets are integral members of their families. PetSmart claims that having a pet is beneficial to their owners, offering companionship, stress relief, exercise, and a sense of responsibility. One survey from the American Animal Hospital Association found that most pet owners think that their pets improve their quality of life. Almost a third of respondents said that having a pet improved their physical fitness, and 76% of those surveyed said their pet reduces their stress level.
“National Adoption Week is a great time to connect with our animal welfare partners who’ll help people make the perfect match. Think of it as giving back – and there is no better return on that investment,” said Aimee Gilbreath, the president of PetSmart Charities, in the company’s press release. The adoption events are an opportunity to do something positive for the animals, but it also creates and maintains customers for PetSmart. When someone goes home with a new dog or cat, they’re also likely to go home with pet food, beds, and toys.