Petco Love and Animal Friends Alliance Aim to Stop the Spread of Deadly Preventable Diseases Through Free Pet Vaccinations

As Part of Petco Love’s Initiative to Provide 1 Million Free Pet Vaccines, Animal Friends Alliance Distributed Free Vaccines to clients in need from September to November 2021 in Fort Collins

Over the last two months, Animal Friends Alliance provided 300 free vaccinations for Fort Collins area pets. The free vaccines were made possible through Petco Love’s new national vaccination initiative, which is providing 1 million free pet vaccines to its existing animal welfare partners, including Animal Friends Alliance, for family pets in need.

Parvovirus and distemper in dogs, and panleukopenia in cats, are some of the most prevalent deadly diseases impacting pets that are preventable with a simple vaccine. An estimated 30% of pet parents do not take their pet to a veterinarian annually for preventative care. To address this critical need, Animal Friends Alliance and Petco Love partnered to make pet vaccines free and accessible in an effort to ensure the health and wellness of our beloved pets.

Animal Friends Alliance vaccinated 300 pets through this effort. The vaccines were made available through the Alliance’s public subsidized spay/neuter clinic to clients who were enrolled in the Prevent a Litter+ program (PAL+). The PAL+ program provides financial assistance to community members with demonstrated financial need for spay and neuter surgeries for kittens, cats, puppies, and dogs, as well as special pricing for vaccinations and microchips.

Vaccines distributed through the Petco Love initiative included the DAPPv Canine and HCP Feline vaccines.

“Thanks to Petco Love, we were able to offer these important vaccines at no cost to pet families,” said Sarah Swanty, Executive Director of Animal Friends Alliance. “The PAL+ program helps hundreds of community members each year to keep their pets healthy and in their loving homes, and helps prevent pet homelessness in our community. Being able to serve these clients thanks to Petco Love’s generous support is a dream come true for us as an organization.”

“It is heartbreaking when any pet suffers or dies from a disease that could have been prevented. It is further exacerbated when unvaccinated pets come into busy shelter kennels, where these deadly diseases can spread quickly, resulting in multiple deaths, skyrocketing expenses, and hindering saving pet lives,” said Susanne Kogut, Petco Love President. “By creating greater awareness and making this crucial preventative care more accessible to pets not currently receiving these lifesaving vaccines, we can prevent the dangerous spread of disease.”

For more information about vaccine distribution and the PAL+ program, contact Animal Friends Alliance at 970-484-8516. To learn more about Petco Love’s lifesaving impact, visit PetcoLove.org.

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About Animal Friends Alliance

Animal Friends Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing comprehensive companion animal resources, services, and education to the community to prevent pet homelessness and promote the human-animal bond. Animal Friends Alliance’s services include a limited-admission, adoption-guarantee shelter for cats and dogs, subsidized sterilization and vaccination clinic, and kibble pantry for pet guardians in need. Since its founding in 2006, Animal Friends Alliance has found homes for more than 33,000 cats and dogs and the clinic has performed over 77,000 spay/neuter surgeries. More information can be found at SavingAnimalsToday.org.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a nonprofit changing lives by making communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we’ve empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $300 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We’ve helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Today, our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Visit petcolove.org or follow at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we’re leading every day.

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