Posted: Aug. 5, 2009, 3 a.m. EDT
Free Cat Wednesdays resulted in the adoption of 25 cats over two days; the only fees required are for microchipping and a pet license. |
The Everett Animal Shelter, in Everett, Wash., started a new program in July called Free Cat Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, all cats 6 months and older are available for adoption for free, including spay and neuter services. The only fee associated with the adoption is the required microchipping, which is $5 and a pet license, which is $10.
After the first two Wednesdays, Kate Reardon, the city’s public information officer, had positive reports.
“We have had great success,” she said. “We have adopted 25 cats in just two Wednesdays. In addition to that, because we brought in more people we adopted nine other dogs on the same days. We also adopted an additional three guinea pigs and two rabbits. On those Free Cat Wednesdays, we also saw revenue increase several hundred dollars.”
The idea for Free Cat Wednesdays came from the desire to get more cats into good homes, Everett said. She noted that the shelter sees several cyclical “cat seasons” throughout the year when there are more than the usual number of cats arriving at the shelter.
“We want to increase adoption rates for those adoptable animals,” she said. “We want to place good animals in good homes and so instead of having our cats sit around in cages, we’d rather get them adopted.”
The shelter houses and cares for lost and unwanted pets from Everett and much of Snohomish County, where it is located.