2014 Shelter Appreciation Week Contest

In 2014, 1-800-PetMeds Cares™ began the National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week Contest for U.S. animal shelters and rescues. The winning shelter received a $1,000 credit to 1-800-PetMeds, and the two runners-up received flea prevention to keep their adoptable pets parasite-free.

To involve the community, the contest was open to the public for voting. The winning group was Indianapolis Animal Care & Control from Indianapolis, IN. They used the $1,000 credit to buy de-wormer for their adoptable pets, as this is not something they can typically afford.

Runners-up Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary and the Golden Paw Society both won flea prevention for their pets.

The winning entry:

We are an open-admission municipal shelter. We cannot turn any animal away — just this year we’ve had a camel and a 5-foot alligator in our care, in addition to thousands of other animals. We are striving to get our “save rate” as high as possible, despite the fact that we take in more than 16,000 animals yearly. What makes us unique is the very active animal welfare community here in Indianapolis. We are supported by an active volunteer program, an active foster program, and a very active rescue program. We have more than 100 rescue partners that we work with yearly to save as many lives as possible! In August, one of the busiest months of the year for us, our save rate (number of animals leaving the building alive) was 70%! Each year, we are striving to save more and more animals, and to make that number get higher and higher. We also work with several local low-cost spay/neuter groups to reduce the number of unwanted litters in our city, which in turn reduces the number of animals coming into our shelter.- Indianapolis Animal Care & Control