Iams Home for the Holidays Campaign

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Iams Home for the Holidays, one of the most successful pet adoption drives, is now in it’s eleventh year (it’s 5th year in Canada). Our family has two cats. They hate each other, but they love us and we love them.

Hillary Swank is this year’s spokeswoman for the Iams Home for the Holidays campaign. She has rescued many animals throughout her life including cats, dogs and birds. On adopting pets, Hilary says “Every day when I look at Karoo and Rumi, I know they’re thankful I’ve adopted them into my family, and I’m just as thankful they’ve adopted me.“

Last year, more than 1.2 million pets were placed in loving homes throughout North America and this year, their goal is to find wonderful families for 1.5 million more (as of this post, they are at 713,828 adopted). To date, 110 Canadian shelters from coast-to-coast are participating in this year’s program.

Have you been thinking of adopting a pet? You can participate in this drive too. You can click this link to search for a shelter near you. For my American friends, the shelters are listed by state. For us Canadians and international friends, just click on your country under the ‘International’ heading and the participating shelters will appear. If you aren’t ready to adopt yet, you can still make a donation or volunteer at any of these shelters.

Instead of money or time, there are other things you can give. I know my sister always puts together a Christmas hamper for the shelter where her beautiful dog came from. I just heard from her and this year she is taking in cat litter, budgie food, milk bones and cat toys. She is also donating some blankets, towels and office supplies. So for anyone out there who thinks they have nothing to give — how about some old blankets or towels? We all have those!

When you adopt a new pet from one of the listed shelters through the Iams Home for the Holidays campaign you also get an adoption kit filled with helpful tips and information to help make a new dog or cat’s first few days in their new home even better, and to ensure a long and happy relationship with its new family. You can also sign up on the Iams website to receive their newsletter, samples and special offers.

Just as a FYI, in addition to North America, there are also shelters in Australia, Colombia, Great Britain, Guam (USA), India, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Spain, Ukraine and Venezuela.

I also want to remind you that if you are looking to adopt, you owe it to yourself and your future pet to understand the responsibilities needed to provide them with everything they need. Many pets end up in these shelters to begin with because of quick decisions to adopt without thinking about the long-term commitment.

So, if you have been thinking and are about to take that big step, I am proud of you. Every living creature deserves to feel love over the holidays and always.

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