‘No More Homeless Pets’ Conference Reignites My Passion for Animals

By Laura Fulda, VP of Marketing

I recently returned from the Best Friends ‘No More Homeless Pets’ Conference in Las Vegas where I was one of 1,150 guests from 50 states and nine countries. The conference was a hit and a big energy boost to everyone who helps animals.

Everyone had his/her own reason for attending. I wanted to learn how to creatively find more homes for cats and kittens since our community always has an oversupply of them. Not an easy task, but I came back full of ideas I am eager to try and implement.

HSSV is currently offering a reduced adoption fee of $10 to qualified adopters who adopt a cat or kitten in November. We’re hoping the reduced adoption fee will get people who have been thinking about adopting a feline friend off the couch and into our shelter. Other shelters have found this approach to be successful so I’m hoping this will work for us, too.

A fun highlight at the conference occurred when was a woman who helps feral cats through her shelter’s trap-neuter-return (TNR) program sang an acapella version of the song “Fever” but changed the words to relate to feral cats. I will never forget this woman belting out: “I fixed my feral…feral! Ferals every morning and night!” Hilarious, but her message was clear. TNR saves lives and feral cats deserve our compassion and help. I am thankful that HSSV has a robust TNR program that helped save more than 800 feral cats in 2009.

All in all, it was truly inspiring to share stories with other animal lovers and learn new ways to help our furry friends. One woman asked me: What’s your organization’s mission? I replied: “HSSV’s mission is to save and enhance lives, both four-legged and two-legged.” “It doesn’t get much better than that,” she said. I couldn’t agree more.