Adopting a Pet During American Heart Month
Won’t Just Warm Your Heart, It Could Help Protect It
In this Month of Love and Heart-Health, PetSmart® & PetSmart Charities® Host National Adoption Weekend Feb. 17-19; Shares Heart-Warming and Heart-Protecting Reasons to Adopt a Pet
Feb. 6, 2017—PHOENIX, AZ – It’s well known that adopting a new pet and saving a life will warm the heart, but now scientific evidence is showing that owning a pet could help ward off heart disease, too.
During American Heart Month, PetSmart and PetSmart Charities are celebrating the heart-warming and heart-protecting reasons to adopt a pet during their first National Adoption Weekend event of the year. Taking place in nearly every PetSmart store across North America Feb. 17 – 19, National Adoption Weekends feature the widest array of adoptable pets and there’s no shortage of great reasons to bring one home.
Mounting Evidence for the Heart-Protecting Power of Pets
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), owning a pet could help protect you from heart disease. A scientific statement issued in 2013 by the leading cardiac health organization notes, “numerous studies have explored the relationship between pet (primarily dog or cat) ownership and cardiovascular disease, with many reporting beneficial effects.” Just a few of the heart-health benefits seen in pet parents are increased physical activity, lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and even improved survival rates following a cardiac event.
Data from the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to gathering, funding and sharing research on positive health impacts of companion animals, further supports the healing power of pets. In a 2014 survey of 1,000 physicians, HABRI found that 60 percent of doctors have recommended getting a pet as part of a patient’s treatment plan, while 88 percent reported that they’ve seen a patient’s physical condition improve as a result of human-animal interaction.
“It’s reasonably well understood that adopting a pet quite literally saves a companion animal’s life, but it’s a lesser known fact that pets can have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of pet parents,” said David Haworth, DVM, Ph.D., the chair of HABRI’s research working group and president of PetSmart Charities. “Through a growing body of scientific research, we know that pet ownership can not only warm our heart, but its cardiovascular benefits can also help to protect it. During American Heart Month and our first National Adoption Weekend of the year, we are giving potential pet parents even more compelling reasons to consider adopting a pet.”
The Heart-Warming Reasons for Pet Adoption Remain Strong
Pet homelessness remains a serious issue across North America. There are millions of healthy, adorable and adoptable pets currently in shelters and rescue facilities just waiting for a lifelong, loving home.
Feb. 17 – 19, many of these adoptable pets will be looking for their forever families during PetSmart Charities’ signature National Adoption Weekend events hosted at nearly every PetSmart store across North America. PetSmart, The Adopt Spot, has helped to facilitate over 7.2 million adoptions to date, more than any other brick-and-mortar facility. From dogs and cats to rabbits, chinchillas, ferrets and more, PetSmart Charities’ National Adoption Weekend invites more than 3,000 animal welfare organizations to bring a wide array of adoptable pets to nearly all 1,500-plus PetSmart stores to help match them with potential pet parents. For every 30 seconds a PetSmart store is open, a pet is adopted, totaling 1,400 pets lives saved every day.
PetSmart Charities’ February National Adoption Weekend
- Date: Feb. 17 – 19, 2017
- Time: Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Location: Nearly all 1,500-plus PetSmart stores across North America. Visit www.petsmart.com to find the store nearest you.
About PetSmart®
PetSmart, Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection, PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their pets so they can live more fulfilled lives. This vision impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 55,000 associates, operate approximately 1,500 pet stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and 204 in-store PetSmart® PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products and offers dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart Doggie Day Camp day care services and pet adoption services in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents – including PetSmart.com, PetFoodDirect.com, Pet360.com and petMD.com – offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in the U.S. Through our in-store pet adoption partnership with independent nonprofit organizations, PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, PetSmart helps to save the lives of more than 500,000 homeless pets each year.
Follow PetSmart on Twitter: @PetSmart
Find PetSmart on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PetSmart
See PetSmart on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmart
About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that saves the lives of homeless pets. Each year nearly 500,000 dogs and cats find homes through our adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and sponsored adoption events. Each year millions of PetSmart shoppers contribute to PetSmart Charities to help pets in need by making donations on a pin pad at the register. PetSmart Charities efficiently uses 90 cents of every dollar to support its mission of finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets. PetSmart Charities grants more money to directly help pets in need than any other animal welfare group in North America, with a focus on funding adoption and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve pet overpopulation. PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization, independent from PetSmart, Inc. PetSmart Charities has received the Four Star Rating for the past 13 years from Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofit that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization.
Follow PetSmart Charities on Twitter: @PetSmartChariTs
Find PetSmart Charities on Facebook: Facebook.com/PetSmartCharities
See PetSmart Charities on YouTube: YouTube.com/PetSmartCharitiesInc
About PetSmart Charities™ of Canada
PetSmart Charities of Canada is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that saves the lives of homeless pets in Canada. Each year more than 20,000 cats and dogs find Canadian homes through our adoption program in nearly all PetSmart stores across Canada and our sponsored adoption events. A leading funder of animal welfare, PetSmart Charities of Canada has granted more than $10 million to help pets in need with a funding focus on adoption and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve pet overpopulation. PetSmart Charities of Canada is a registered charity, independent from PetSmart.
