Petco Love Invests in SQSPCA Programs

COOPERSTOWN—The Susquehanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has received a $5,000.00 grant investment from national nonprofit Petco Love in support of its lifesaving work on behalf of animals in Otsego County.

Petco Love is a national nonprofit leading change for pets by harnessing the power of love to make communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since its founding in 1999, Petco Love has invested $375 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. And Petco Love helps find loving homes for pets in partnership with Petco and more than 4,000 organizations—like the SQSPCA—across North America, with 6.75 million pets adopted and counting.

“Our investment in the SQSPCA is part of more than $15 million in investments recently announced by Petco Love to power local organizations across the country, as part of our commitment to create a future in which no pet is unnecessarily euthanized,” said Susanne Kogut, president of Petco Love. “Our local investments are only part of our strategy to empower animal lovers to drive lifesaving change right alongside us. We launched Petco Love Lost, a national lost and found database that uses patented image-recognition technology to simplify the search for lost pets.”

SQSPCA objectives for this lifesaving investment involve two distinct programs: 1) shelter-to shelter services for other animal welfare organizations throughout the region, and; 2) public wellness clinics to assess pet health, provide nail clipping and ear cleaning services, dispense educational materials and advice on general pet care, and to provide follow-up recommendations as warranted.

“We are grateful for this continued partnership and investment in our organization by Petco Love,” said Stacie Haynes, SQSPCA executive director. “This investment will better enable us to offer much-needed services for neighboring shelters and rescue organizations, and for area pet parents who don’t have the means to pay for wellness care, or who perhaps don’t understand why regular veterinary visits are important.”

Haynes said her team has already begun the shelter-to-shelter clinics.

“Our intent is to expand access even further beyond our walls in meaningful ways by providing services for shelters whose pets would benefit from access to the lifesaving diagnostic equipment, surgical suite, dental tables, and full-time veterinarian that we would make available,” Haynes explained. “One of the key factors in our ability to consider this type of expansion in services is having a full-time veterinarian, who was brought on staff last year. Not only does our veterinarian expand capacity of care here with our own shelter pets, their availability also allows for us to conceive of programming that would provide access to vital veterinary care outside of our walls.”

The shelter’s wellness clinic program is currently in the development stage and, to kick things off, people can bring their dogs to a free wellness clinic the SQSPCA is hosting at Neahwa Park on Saturday, May 4 from 9 a.m. to noon. Dogs can receive free rabies and distemper vaccines and free microchipping. Dog owners can also register beginning at 9 a.m. to participate in a community dog walk that starts at 10 a.m. and loops up to Main Street and back to the park with free Pup Cups for participating dogs.

“We recognize the need for a proactive approach to animal health in the public sector and consider this to be a valuable component of care for pets in our communities. Providing preventive care and access to well visits and resources, as with humans, can mean earlier detection of medical concerns and promotes long-term health in pets,” Haynes said.

“Both of these programs fill particular gaps in access present in our region and help to meet our animal welfare goals for alleviating suffering, promoting humane treatment, and preventing cruelty through education, awareness, and access to direct care,” Haynes went on to say. “The lifesaving investment from Petco Love assists in offsetting costs associated with these programs, thereby providing services that impact greater numbers of pets needing care.”

In 2021, the SQSPCA transitioned to a new, state-of-the-art animal care facility and has purposefully introduced public access to lifesaving veterinary care as the shelter has grown and added services for underserved populations in Otsego and neighboring counties.

For more information about the SQSPCA, visit sqspca.org. Learn more about Petco Love here: petcolove.org.