Five Reasons to Adopt a Four-Legged Family Member Well Before the Holiday Season

PetSmart® and PetSmart Charities® to Host National Adoption Weekend
Nov. 11-13 at PetSmart Stores, Hoping Potential Pet Parents Will Adopt
Before the Holidays

PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pets often rise to the top of the holiday gift lists for children and
grown-ups alike and many families across North America will get a new
puppy or kitten for Christmas, yet experts from PetSmart Charities say
adopting a four-legged friend before the hectic holiday season could
help ensure a more successful new pet transition and enriching holiday
celebration with the new family member.

“From school concerts and social engagements to holiday shopping and
overnight stays from out-of-town guests, the holidays make our lives and
our homes more active than usual,” said Steve Kaufman, a certified
animal welfare administrator and center of excellence manager, adoptions
for PetSmart Charities. “If a new pet is on your family’s wish list,
adopting before the holiday season will allow pet parents to develop a
routine with their pet ahead of the holiday rush, making the transition
easier for your family and your new pet.”

Together with PetSmart Charities, PetSmart Charities™ of Canada and more
than 3,000 animal welfare organizations across North America, PetSmart,
The Adopt Spot™, has helped find forever homes for more than 7 million
adopted pets since the in-store adoption program began in 1994.

Leading up to PetSmart Charities’ National Adoption Weekend on Nov.
11-13, the pet adoption leader offers five reasons to adopt a pet before
the holiday season officially hits:

5.			You’ll be a holiday hero before you’ve even started shopping. Now that you’ve knocked off one of the most wanted items on your family’s holiday gift list by adopting a new pet, the rest of your holiday shopping will be a breeze.
4.			You’ll have more time to transition your new pet. It’s important when transitioning a new pet into your home to spend as much time with them as possible. By adopting prior to the holidays, your pet will get focused attention and will already be feeling right at home before the busy holiday season begins.
3.			You can involve your new four-legged family member in all the cherished holiday traditions. Pets enrich our lives. Including a pet in special family events and holiday traditions like enjoying treats, opening stockings, sniffing and shaking gifts under the tree, caroling or going for snowy walks after dinner can bring even more joy to your family, not to mention increase the cuteness factor of holiday photos.
2.			You can get a head start on your New Year’s resolutions! The over-abundance of baked goods, lavish family meals and dinner parties during the holidays makes us all worry about our increased calorie intake. Playing hide and seek with a new kitten around the house or taking a new dog for a walk can help pet parents – and kids – develop healthy habits ahead of New Year’s resolutions while bonding with your new pet.
1.			Because thousands of pets need a forever home right now. Thousands of healthy, loving, adoptable pets are currently in shelters across the country. By adopting one from PetSmart, The Adopt Spot, you’ll be giving the ultimate gift of saving a life! Visit your nearest PetSmart store from Nov. 11-13 for PetSmart Charities’ National Adoption Weekend.

“While it’s fun to imagine your loved ones opening up a carefully
wrapped holiday box with a new pet inside, the adopted pet may have a
hard time adjusting to his or her new home during the most wonderful,
yet hectic, time of year,” said David Haworth, D.V.M., Ph.D., president
of PetSmart Charities and PetSmart Charities of Canada. “Adopting ahead
of the holidays gives families an opportunity to spend quality time with
their new pet, transition them into their new home, and involve them in
the festive spirit of the season.”

Expand your family through adoption at November National Adoption
Weekend – Nov. 11-13.

What:			PetSmart Charities’ National Adoption Weekend
Where:			PetSmart stores across North America
When:			Fri., Nov. 11 and Sat., Nov. 12, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
			Sun., Nov. 13, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Contact:			Find the PetSmart store nearest you at PetSmart.com or call 1-877-473-8762.
Share:			Show us your adopted pet using the hashtags #iadopted or #adoptlove on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

A Gift for Those that Adopt:

For every 30 seconds a PetSmart store is open, a pet’s life is saved,
totaling about 1,400 lives saved every day. As a gift to those that give
the gift of adoption, PetSmart offers its free Adoption Kit, which
provides important content on how to integrate a pet into the family and
true value – with more than $450 in real savings – to the adoption
parent. Included are coupons for a free bag of dog or cat food from
Simply Nourish™, Authority® or Good Natured™, half off on a grooming
service, a free veterinarian visit, a complimentary private training
session with an accredited trainer, a free Doggie Day Camp session and a
free overnight boarding stay. Also included are savings on all the
essentials for a new pet including beds, crates, gates, brushes, feeding
bowls, collars, leashes, toys and treats, as well as solutions like pet
calming products and stain and odor remedies for any mishaps that may
occur.

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 53,000
associates, operate 1,477 pet stores in the United States, Canada and
Puerto Rico and 203 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 pets in need by making donations directly to
PetSmart Charities on a pin pad at the registers in PetSmart stores.
PetSmart Charities administers and efficiently uses 90 cents of every
dollar of the generous donations by issuing grants and providing
additional support to help pets in need. 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.

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 $9 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.

Contacts

Golin for PetSmart Inc.:
Danielle Bickelmann, 469-680-2503
dbickelmann@golin.com
or
PetSmart
Media Line:
623-587-2177