Rockingham Harrisonburg SPCA is hoping to place hundreds of pets with forever homes before the year’s end.
The nonprofit organization, which currently has about 380 animals in its care, recently announced its “400 Pets in 40 Days” campaign, which aims to place 400 animals in loving homes before Jan. 1, according to Huck Nawaz, RHSPCA’s executive director.
Nawaz said the organization, which relies on a combination of staff and volunteers to provide care for its animals, hopes to lessen the load on its resources for the betterment of people and animals.
“We want to reduce the overall population of animals in care as we go into the holidays,” Nawaz explained. “The primary goal, of course, is to see the animals until they’ve got a family of their own, but also to give staff and fosters some reprieve.”
As part of the program, the organization will work with other partners like the Bissell Foundation and PetSmart to get adoption fees partially or fully waived for certain animals as the event goes on. Barn cat adoptions will be waived through Thanksgiving, while senior pet adoption fees will be waived through Nov. 30. In addition, veterans, active-duty military, and first responders will be able to adopt pets with fees waived through Nov. 30. From Dec. 1 through 15, the Bissell Foundation will waive adoption fees on some animals, according to Nawaz.
Nawaz said the organization cares for nearly 200 animals in foster homes and almost as many in its shelter, with 130 cats and 70 dogs in the shelter and 30 dogs and 170 cats in foster homes. However, in addition to this, the organization takes in several animals daily. In one day, seven new animals entered the organization’s care – four stray dogs, two stray cats, and one owner-surrendered pet – and Nawaz said that was a slow day.
However, Nawaz explained that the organization’s success is measured by the animals taken in and sent to families.
“One of the measures of success that we use is called a population balance count,” Nawaz said. “How many animals came in? How many animals are left? In order for us to get to where we’d like for it to be, based on our anticipated intakes, we need to have a population balance count of about 150%, which means 400 adoptions in 40 days.”
Nawaz said that, as the holidays get closer, RHSPCA will expect to take in more animals as the weather continues to cool due to the danger winter cold can pose to furry friends.
“Especially dogs,” Nawaz explained. “Cats have been outdoors, which we call community cats, and used to be called feral cats. They will do fine, provided they have shelter and access to water. They’re actually pretty good at finding their own food. Of special concern are kittens and senior animals in general, much like humans. Dogs outdoors, it’s a harder life for them.”
In addition, Nawaz said the window to receive an outdoor cat from the organization’s Barn Cat program, which aims to place unsocialized cats in structures like barns or sheds in Rockingham County where they can live purposeful lives hunting mice, rats and other pests, will soon close for the season. Nawaz explained that RHSPCA does not place barn cats in forever homes during the winter, as temperatures need to be warmer for cats to acclimate to a new outdoor home. RHSPCA currently has 36 barn cats waiting to find homes, Nawaz said.
While initiatives like the Community Cat program have helped slow the rate of animals coming into RHSPCA’s care, Nawaz said other factors have led more people to relinquish their pets to the organization.
“I believe the economy in general, this year, some people have had it rough,” Nawaz said. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of cats, and a slight increase in the number of dogs that are coming in, as well. What’s been more noticeable is the number of pets with outstanding medical or behavioral needs that come in, which we feel correlates with somebody’s financial well-being. Surrenders, but more strays, as well. It happens all the time. We had someone who brought in a dog to us not too long ago, and in his case, the dog had had bladder stones. It was his second occurrence, and they paid for the surgery for him to have them removed. And within a year, he developed bladder stones again. They brought the dog into our care. Fortunately, we were able to get him the immediate medical attention he needed, and then we were able to get him transferred to a rescue that had the means to provide the surgery in-house, but it’s a dog that would have suffered a horrible death if he had not come into our care.”
Nawaz said RHSPCA aims to make adoptions as accessible as possible to help get animals placed into forever homes in the future.