Animal Welfare Professionals

Currently, Petsmart has it in their guidelines for their Everyday Adoption Centers that FIV+ cats are not allowed. With current research on this disease, it seems to me that this policy is outdated.

Would any other shelters be interested in joining me in contacting them to request they rethink this policy?  I feel like, if there are more of us pushing for this change, they might reconsider.  I am going to draft a message to them.  If anyone would like to use it to join me, feel free to edit, or compose your own message.

Please let me know if anyone has a contact there who might be sympathetic and influential, or any other thoughts on this topic.  Thanks!

Kerry

The other oddity is that they do not require testing for adoption center housing.  So if you don't test, you can house positive cats.  Makes no sense.

I'm not really sure how responsive they are. We've tried reaching out to them before both at the corporate level and to the store's management. We partner with an old store, and the cages are the old stainless steel with four cages way too small, however we have to keep the cages filled in order to continue the partnership, so we are forced to house cats in those cages. They are perhaps 2.5ft wide/deep. Incredibly small, and we sometimes have to put adult cats in those cages. We presented the research and standards developed by the ASV asking them to update the housing for the cats. This was about a year ago. We have heard nothing. Not a no, not a yes, not a "we'll get back to you," absolutely nothing.

I have a feeling the only thing that will actually motivate them to respond to anything is public pressure. 

We have the same problem with one of the stores we partner with. One of the problems is that the person in the management position changes so often. Also, the store managers are under so much pressure from corporate for more sales volume that they don't really care that much about the adoption partners any more. One group at our store was told that, on Saturdays when they have dogs there for adoptions, they have to go out the loading dock overhead door to walk them because them going in & out the front doors is decreasing the store's ratio of customers to sales. I think the only way change will happen in any PetSmart store is if someone in a very large, influential rescue group can get though to someone sympathetic in the corporate higher-ups. 

Are you sure that your Adoption Partner Agreement is current, meaning that you're operating under the most recent revision issued from Petsmart?  I know that the older agreements specifically said that FIV+ cats weren't allowed, but I'm not sure that's the case with the newest version of the agreement.  

The current manual reads :  Feline Leukemia-positive, FIP, and FIV-positive cats are considered “special needs” and may not physically be in the store for adoption. However, they may be displayed in a photo book or other electronic device.

We do not require testing or vaccination for Feline Leukemia, but we strongly recommend that testing be done prior to or at the time of adoption to avoid potential infection of other cats after adoption.

I would love to see this change! We have so many awesome FIV cats and because of this they cannot go to our multiple PetSmart stores where I know they would get adopted almost instantly.