Jul 17, 2008

Ready, set, adopt

Humane society offers incentives to take home a pet

By Mark Abramson / Daily News Staff Writer

Peninsula Humane Society officials are pulling out all the stops to help people adopt a pet this weekend.

The humane society is holding an Adopt-a-thon on Saturday - they'll be open from 11 a.m. until midnight - and offer deals to encourage pet lovers to take home a cat, dog, rabbit, rat, guinea pig, bird or reptile. The shelter usually stays open to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

More than 80 cats and 50 dogs are available for adoption.

"Every shelter should think outside the box and get people to come in and adopt," said humane society vice president Scott Delucchi. "What I think will happen is
we will see adoptions in the evening hours and people will get excited and they will want to do it again (at the shelter)."

Volunteers will staff the event. A volunteer cat behaviorist will offer advice from noon to 4 p.m., and a dog behaviorist will be on hand from noon to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The advice will range from tips, like how to get a cat to use its litter box and stop scratching furniture, and advice to deal with disobedient dogs. The behaviorists are volunteers for the shelter's help line, which takes 1,000 calls a year. About 75 percent of those calls are related to dogs.

Cats five years and older will be available for free because the shelter gets a lot of kittens this time of year, and the older felines tend to be overlooked by people who want to adopt, Delucchi said. Adoption fees for the older cats will be waived through August.

"We are trying to make (older cats) harder to pass up. They will get adopted eventually, but we don't want them to sit there for seven or eight months," Delucchi said.

Animals available for adoption can be viewed online at www.PHS-SPCA.org. The humane society is located at 12 Airport Blvd. in San Mateo.



E-mail Mark Abramson at mabramson@dailynewsgroup.com.