PetBridge

🐶 📊 The ASPCA reports that approximately 6.3 million pets enter animal shelters each year in the United States. Each year approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized. You can help fight overcrowding by being a responsible pet owner and spaying/neutering your pet and ensuring they have updated IDs including on collars and microchips.

🐾 ☃️ It’s cold outside! Winter safety is important for pets to stay healthy and happy. Here are some winter safety tips for you:

❄️ Bring your pets inside in the cold weather. Pets left outdoors can freeze to death or take shelter in an unsafe location such as a car engine.
❄️ Protect paws from ice and ice-melt products such as salt or other chemicals.
❄️ Keep antifreeze out of the reach of your pet.
❄️ Use space heaters with caution. Pets can easily get burned or knock over space heaters and cause a fire.
❄️ Take care of itchy winter skin by wiping your pet off with a towel when they come back inside and limit baths while it’s cold.
❄️ Remove snow or ice from between their toe pads.

🐱 😺 Cats make wonderful companion pets! Cats don’t require as much room and space in your home, they are happy indoors, they are independent, quiet, and if a cat loves you, it’s because they’ve chosen you! Find adoptable cats at your local animal rescue or shelter.

📅🎉 📊 Each year, PetBridge and the shelters we support save literally thousands of animal lives. Our software has been linking potential pet adopters to pets in need since 2012. Shelters and rescues save thousands of hours each year in staff and volunteer time as PetBridge seamlessly connects shelter software to the front-facing website and hundreds of national websites. We’re excited for 2024!
https://web.petbridge.org/

🎁🐶 Holiday baking and cooking are fun activities for the whole family. In addition to cookies for friends and family, you can make safe holiday treats for your pets! These recipes are fun to make and delicious (for your dog). Visit their site to see the recipes!

9 Christmas dog treats with recipes Whip up some festive joy for your furry friend with these simple and delicious recipes for Christmas dog treats. Perfect for making the holiday special for your pup!

The Kansas Humane Society has a donation event happening to help shelter pets! Check out the details below!

🎅🐾 🎄 It’s tempting to adopt animals as a gift for a loved one. However, unless you are fully prepared to be committed to a pet for the rest of their life, get a stuffed animal instead. The holidays are a stressful time to bring a new pet into a home.

A great alternative is to put together an “adoption kit” as a gift filled with toys, pet bed, leash, collar, and other pet supplies and information about your local shelter or rescues. This allows the person receiving the gift more time to choose a pet that fits with their lifestyle and ensures their pet match is purr-fect!

🤝 🎁 Giving Tuesday is today! Animal shelters and rescues need financial donations to provide food, medical care, and shelter to unhoused pets. Support your local animal shelter or rescue with a financial donation today and consider recurring donations throughout the year.

Thanksgiving feasts are sure to catch the attention of your dog or cat. It’s important to keep human food away from animals. Here are some safety tips to keep your pet safe this holiday:

🦃 Turkey or turkey skin can cause pancreatitis in pets. Don’t give them this “treat”.
🧅 Toxic foods often found at Thanksgiving dinners include onions, raisins, and grapes.
🍞 Yeast dough from rolls can cause bloating and digestive issues.
🥧 Pie is not for pets. Desserts including chocolate, or anything sugar-free are highly toxic to pets.
🚮 Secure your trash can. Take out the trash often to keep it from being a temptation for your pet.

Animal surrenders are common, and these types of cases contribute to the exploding shelter populations. PetBridge offers a Rehoming feature that allows owners to list their pets on your shelter’s website. The pet profiles feature photos and detailed information about the pet along with contact information. This service keeps pets from being surrendered to the shelter while allowing them to find a loving new home.

👴🐕 👵 November is National Senior Pets Month! Older pets are often the last to be adopted in shelters. People may not understand that senior pets are great companion animals! Here are reasons you should consider adopting a senior pet:
✅ Senior pets often have better manners and are often housebroken.
✅ Older pets are generally less destructive than puppies who chew on and get into everything.
✅ Senior pets are full-grown so there is no guessing how large they will be. What you see is what you get!
✅ Older pets tend to be more snuggly than young pups and kitties. Enjoy the love!

🤟 November 5-11 is Animal Shelter Appreciation Week and words can’t express the gratitude we have for the animal shelters and rescues across the country who work tirelessly to save animal lives every day. Tag your favorite shelter below with words of thanks.

🎃 🧙‍♀️ Halloween is coming! Keep your pets safe this spooky season with tips from PetBridge.
🍬Avoid purchasing sugar-free candy containing xylitol or keep it out of reach of your pets. Xylitol is highly poisonous to dogs and cats and can be fatal even in small amounts.
🏠 Keep pets inside on Halloween. Some people target pets for pranks and abuse.
🎃 Watch your décor as pets can chew and get tangled in electrical cords.
😱 Install a baby gate on your front door to keep anxious pets inside when you open the door for trick-or-treaters.
🦮 Make sure your pet’s ID and microchip are up to date in case they do get out of the home.
👻 Pet costumes should be easy to move in, and not interfere with their vision or going to the bathroom.

The Kansas Humane Society has a blog post about the 3-3-3 Rule when adopting pets. Keeping these rules in mind will help adoptive families understand what their new pet is experiencing and will hopefully keep them from returning the pet.

3-3-3 Rule to Adopting Learn more about our Wichita animal shelter with KHS news & events. Click here to learn about pet adoption, animal care, veterinary services & more!

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month! Shelter dogs are strays who have been picked up or animals who have been surrendered by their owners. These sweet dogs are just looking for their forever homes. Can you help? If you are considering adopting a pet this month, contact your local shelter or visit their website to see dogs available for adoption. Your new best friend is waiting!

🖥️ 🔍 PetBridge offers fantastic features for animal shelters and rescues including pet display, pet alerts, lost and found poster generator, rehoming feature, rabies database, and options for digital kiosks, electronic kennel cards

Tour - PetBridge Pet Display connects the information in your shelter management software to your website, displaying pet details (age, s*x, breed, etc.) for potential adopters to review.

The Kansas Humane Society Society's largest fundraiser, Woofstock is happening on Saturday, Oct. 7th! You can support the Kansas Humane Society by creating a team and raising money. Visit their website for more information! https://give.kshumane.org/event/2023-woofstock/e493322

We're living for this Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce moment and as usual, the Kansas Humane Society social media team nailed it. We ARE ready for it!

Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce, we reserved a room for you if you wanna make it serious and get Taylor’s 4th cat together 💁🐱

Available Cats: http://bitly.ws/yN4G 🐱

The Wichita Animal Action League (WAAL) has their major fundraising event on Sunday, Sept. 24th! You can get your tickets to support this wonderful organization on their website. https://waalrescue.org/ww/

🚨September 17 is Puppy Mill Awareness Day. 🚨 According to the Humane Society of the U.S. there are around 10,000 puppy mills in the United States. Puppy mills relentlessly breed dogs without breaks and veterinary care. Often these breeding dogs are caged for their entire lives. Puppies born in puppy mills are more likely to have health issues as well. Adopt, don’t shop for your next companion animal! Check with shelters and rescues in your community to find an animal in need of love and a forever home.

Pet overcrowding in shelters is at an all-time high. The Wall Street Journal contacted us about PetBridge and how it helps shelters. PetBridge displays pets online, in-app, and through digital kiosks. PetBridge also allows potential adopters to set up Pet Alerts, has a rehoming feature, Lost & Found poster generator and more to help increase pet adoption rates. Our friends at the SPCA Monterey County as well as the SPCA of Wake County also offered the shelter perspective in the article. Read the article here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/overwhelmed-animal-shelters-look-for-solutions-125a7d8f

🐶 🐈 September is National Responsible Pet Owner Month! We’re sharing some ways you can be a responsible pet owner.

🦮 Spay and neuter your pets! Overpopulation is the main reason animal shelters and rescues are overrun with stray and unwanted animals.
🐈 Regular vet visits are a must! Pets deserve preventative health care. Vaccinations, regular teeth cleaning, and medications such as heartworm pills are essential to your pet’s health and can help prevent more serious medical issues.
🦮 Make sure your pet’s ID is up to date! Microchip your pet and keep that information updated if you move or get a new phone number. Make sure your pet has a collar with identification in case they are lost.
🐈 Provide adequate exercise and mental stimulation.
🦮 Commit to the pet for their lifetime. When you adopt a pet, it’s a serious commitment. Make sure you are prepared to care for the pet for the remainder of their life. Select a pet that fits in with your lifestyle and home. Consider your family, your space and your available time before you adopt a pet.

We love happy endings when pets find their forever homes. It's literally why we created PetBridge for animal shelters and rescues! When potential adopters can see the pets available for adoption, and it shows available animals in real time, more pets are adopted. We're so happy for Alfredo and his family!

Do you live in an area with foxtails? Our friends at Emergency Pet Clinic of Temecula have safety tips for your pet about these dangerous weeds. https://epicvets.com/foxtails/

Foxtails - Foxtail Injury | Emergency Pet Clinic of Temecula Foxtails injure hundreds of pets each year. Learn where to look for foxtail injuries and how to avoid. Contact EPIC for foxtail injuries.

For our Kansas friends, especially those in the Wichita Metro area, check out this class from Wichita Animal Action League!

Hurry and register for our Pet CPR & First Aid Class on July 30th! You will learn skills that may save the life of your pet or someone else's! Every animal rescuer, shelter worker and animal lover should have these skills. This is a hands-on course with animal dummies - no personal pets allowed.
Get details and register here: https://www.facebook.com/events/612089767522583

It’s No Pet Store Puppies Day! Adopt, don’t shop for your next companion pet. According to the ASPCA, there are 6.5 animals that enter shelters each year, but only 3.2 million of those are adopted. There are shelters and rescues in your local community that can help you find the right pet for your family. Visit their websites to see pets available for adoption and avoid pet stores.

Want to help Kansas pets? Register for the annual Woofstock event to benefit the Kansas Humane Society! Grab your friends and family and favorite dogs and start a team. https://give.kshumane.org/event/2023-woofstock/e493322?c_src=WO0623WB&_ga=2.60991980.138327204.1689611174-1265767253.1673300501

Next week is National Feed a Rescue Pet Week. It takes a lot of resources to safely house rescue pets before they can be adopted. During this week, reach out to your local shelter or rescue to see how you can help!