Melanie Riley
PETSTOCK Mount Gambier welcomes those searching for a furry friend this month for National Pet Adoption Month adoption day.
The initiative of the Petstock Foundation has been going for 10 years, and has helped find loving homes for 40,000 pets across Australia and New Zealand.
Petstock Mount Gambier, in partnership with Wet Noses Animal Rescue, will host an adoption day on Saturday March 16.
Petstock Mount Gambier owner Jim Priddle said the adoption day is for all animals, but the Mount Gambier store will focus on cat and kitten adoptions.
“We mainly cater to cats here because we are associated with Wet Noses, and probably 95 per cent of their animals are cats,” he said.
The store regularly hosts adoption days with Wet Noses Animal Rescue, and have hosted four successful adoption days this year so far, resulting in more than 20 cats and kittens finding their fur-ever homes.
Mr Priddle said the bond between a person and their pet is something special.
“Everybody gets so much out of their pets and their animals, and the animals get something out of it,” he said.
“It goes both ways.”
He encouraged those looking for a furry friend to choose adoption over giveaways or backyard breeders.
“There’s too many animals out there for adoption and when they adopt all the other things come with it,” Mr Priddle said.
“Everything that legally needs to be done, desexing, microchipping, vaccinations are done.”
Petstock Mount Gambier’s partnership with Wet Noses was formed close to 10 years ago, not long after the store opened.
Mr Priddle stressed the importance of responsible pet ownership.
“The easy part is to stay responsible. If you’ve got a cat or you’ve got a dog, you get it desexed, you don’t let it roam, and if you move, take it with you,” he said.
“Generally, most people we see here are responsible, which is good.
“And there is a cost, I’m not going to say it’s not a cost. If you’re not prepared for that, don’t have an animal.”
Mr Priddle said through a shared love of animals, their support for Wet Noses will continue.
“Animals, they’re pretty special, and it doesn’t matter what sort it is,” he said.
“We’ll continue to do this and give Wet Noses whatever support we can.”
Wet Noses Rescue co-director and volunteer Maxine Spence said that she and co-director Marie Dukalskis were extremely grateful for their partnership with Petstock Mount Gambier.
Ms Spence encouraged people to try and choose adoption over sourcing animals elsewhere.
“To support those lives that have already been born would be morally the right thing to do.
“Buying pets from other people or pet shops is just fostering that industry.
“When there’s already so many lives that need to be cared for, why not look after them?”
A perfect example of how quickly a stray issue can escalate out of control is the case of a cat named Susan, who was recently taken into the care of the rescue group.
Susan was fed, along with another cat by a woman, as strays after regularly visiting her property.
Soon after, Susan gave birth to a litter of three kittens, and nine months later had another litter of two kittens.
Ms Spence then took the cat into the care of Wet Noses, where she has recently been desexed, but was already in early stages of pregnancy at the time at no older than 2 years-old.
“Suddenly that’s ballooned out in a matter of a year,” Ms Spence said.
“That’s an ongoing problem and gets out of control really quickly.
“This example is a perfect one, it’s not rare and people are still not taking responsibility.”
Ms Spence said part of the problem is the lack of education and huge amount of noncompliance still happening in the community.
“We do say to people that female kittens can start going on heat from 4-5 months old,” she said.
“It has been the law to have an owned cat desexed and microchipped since 2018, so we’re now six years down the track.
“There’s still an enormous amount of non compliance with that and unfortunately authorities don’t administer that, they don’t follow up, and they don’t prosecute.”
Ms Spence believed responsible pet ownership should be exercised and it shouldn’t be solely a council’s responsibility.
“I don’t believe that’s fair, because there’s so many people that do adopt from us that are elderly and retired and not necessarily wealthy,” she said.
“But they have planned and they have saved and they know what they’re doing, they manage their money and their life and therefore they manage the kitten and the costs that come with that.”
For anybody wishing to adopt, they can meet their potential new best friend in-store at the Mount Gambier Petstock, on Saturday March 16, from 10am-2pm.
Donations can also be made on the day directly to the Petstock Foundation, with 100% of funds raised during National Pet Adoption Month being donated to local pet rescue charities.
