A few plaintive whines and intense stares later, and it wasn’t long before the little critter was getting the scritches she so desired.
The local pet shelter is hoping to see many of those interactions with their current stock of dogs and cats — ranging from tiny puppies and kittens to old souls looking for a new home — during the province-wide Empty the Shelter Day running from Thursday, Aug. 15 through Saturday, Aug. 17.
“We’re joining with the Saskatchewan SPCAs in an attempt to, as a province, find 400 pets homes this weekend,” said Dana Haukaas with the Moose Jaw Humane Society. “So we’re hoping we can be a big part of this weekend and get that up there for them.”
The shelter currently has around 39 cats and 15 dogs in care, including Hunter the Springer Spaniel/Border Collie mix, a six-year-old medium-sized adult who can’t get enough of hanging out with people but has issues with other animals in his vicinity. An active dog who’s quick to run up and say hi to strangers, he’s one of the shelter’s longest-termed denizens now that Rainbow the cat has been adopted.
In order to see pets like Checkers and Hunter adopted as part of the special event, the Humane Society has lowered their adoption fees to $25 for adult and junior cats and $150 for adult and mature dogs, with kittens ($125) and puppies ($300) seeing their prices remain the same.
MJHS adult adoptions include spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, microchip, complimentary veterinary exam and 30 days of Trupanion pet insurance.
“This is our third or fourth year that we’ve participated and we’ve had great success with it” Haukaaas said. “It’s really important for not just us but for shelters all over the province to make room this time of year for the fall when the weather turns cold. That’s when we tend to see a big increase in stray cats that come in, people start to feel sorry for them when the weather turns cold, so it’s important that we find as many pets home as we can this weekend to make space in the fall.”
Adoption hours all three days are from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., with patrons welcome to check out what the Humane Society has to offer at those times.
“It’s good for shelters to have promotions throughout the year, but this is a chance for everyone to band together and show the importance of finding homes for these pets,” Haukaas said.
