Operation Kindness’ Community Initiatives team joined 20 other shelter agencies for Petco Love’s Mega Adoption Event in Houston last weekend. Over 900 pets were adopted during the event, which is one of the largest in the country.
Lifesaving Care for Animals in Houston
Once in Houston, the Operation Kindness team coordinated spay/neuter surgeries for animals from under-resourced shelters. Thanks to our help, shelters that did not have surgery suites, surgeons and/or medical teams for spay/neuter surgeries were able to provide the needed surgeries for their animals to participate in the event.
Surgeries began on October 9 and ended on October 20, with 869 total surgeries from 10 shelters across 4 cities – Houston, Freeport, San Antonio and Edinburg – performed under Operation Kindness’ coordination. A total of seven surgeons and 14 vet techs made everything possible, with one veterinarian and three vet techs coming from the Operation Kindness Community Initiatives team.
Operation Kindness’ Chief Community Initiatives Officer, Meredith Jones, shared more about the experience.
“Coordinating spay/neuter surgeries for an event like the Houston Mega Adoption Event is a huge honor and we appreciate the support from Petco Love, Brandywine Valley SPCA and Montgomery County Animal Shelter. The national vet shortage is hitting Texas hard,” Jones said. “As we saw at this event, shelters have so many amazing animals available, but many of them do not have the surgery suites, veterinarians and/or medical teams to get these animals ready for adoption. The benefits of coordinating events like this extends to the shelters but also the medical teams.”
Jones added, “Working in new environments exposes our teams to new places, shelters, funders and teams, and we often learn so much and can bring back what we learned to implement with our work locally. We are always trying to respond to community need, increase our operational efficiencies, and improve our implementation of the practice of medicine, so being exposed to different experiences like Houston Mega Adoption Event helps us to achieve all of that! Community need and innovation in veterinary medicine are always evolving, so this helps us stay on the forefront of both, so that we can be the best resource possible to our local communities.”
The Results
The Mega Adoption Event was a testimony of what is possible when agencies partner together to create change. In the end, 579 dogs and 32 cats went into loving homes after receiving the care they needed to be ready for their new lives. We were thrilled to be a part of such an uplifting, impactful event! It was another rewarding day at work making the world a kinder place for animals and the people who love them.
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