Meet Our Staff:Rebecca Smart, LVT

​For our very first blog post, we thought it might be fun to get to know some of our staff and their pets!  This month, we are focusing on promoting the adoption of shelter pets from shelters everywhere!  A large number of our pet families have come from different animal shelters all over the country. A sad fact of the industry is that many shelters do not give pets very long to be adopted, and ultimately euthanize about 1.5 million pets a year that didn't have an opportunity to find their forever home.  In addition, while 6.5 million animals enter shelters each year, only 3 million of those are adopted yearly.  We are proud to work closely with our local animal shelter, Chippewa County Animal Control Shelter, on a regular basis.  They are a no-kill shelter that works very hard to give all their foster and adopted pets great lives and wonderful new families.  We always love hearing the stories behind each new shelter pet, whether we are seeing them at the shelter ourselves, or seeing them with their new families at their first visits. 
The first staff member we will meet is Rebecca, our clinic's Licensed Veterinary Technician.  Rebecca currently has 3 pets, all of whom came from shelters!  You can read their stories here:

An animal shelter is an important resource for every community.  I have personally benefited from our local shelter.  All 3 of my current fur-children were adopted from Chippewa County Animal Shelter.  I love that I was able to provide a home for 2 dogs and a cat whose lives were in limbo.   All 3 of my fur-children have similar adoption stories.

Josie

Josie came into my life when I wasn't planning, looking, or even thinking of bringing another pet into our family.  She also came into Chippewa Animal Clinic for a spay.  She is a red Miniature Pinscher who was 6 months old at the time.  She was so well behaved for the day.  I told my husband alllll about her, (still with no intent of bringing her home).  Just sharing a story of a good girl.  I talked too much about her and the next day, my husband went to the shelter and adopted her.

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Kipsy

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​Kipsy was our latest adoption.  Our household was ready for a new dog at this point, and Kipsy came along at the right time.  Keeping with the trend, she also came to Chippewa Animal Clinic for a spay.  She was a good girl all day and following her surgery, she vomited, A LOT!  Those sad puppy dog eyes of feeling bad for what she had done sealed the deal for me.  She is a Doberman and Pit Bull mix.  The next day my husband and I went to the shelter to pick her up and bring her home.

Verti

​My 1st adoption was a cat.  Verti is a domestic short hair cat whom has a mild form of Cerebellar Hypoplasia.  She came into Chippewa Animal Clinic for an exam to see why she had balance issues.  She was a kitten, and who could deny a home to the playful girl, who ran sideways and couldn't jump?  My husband happened to visit me at work that day, and couldn't say no to my own pleading “pretty please” request to bring her home.

​For those of us that are looking for a good heart, and don't really care about pure breeds, papers, or perfect pasts, a shelter adoption is the greatest resource for those looking for an addition to their families, and the greatest thing that has happened for those pets awaiting homes.  The shelter does an amazing job providing for them, but nothing can compare to having a home and a family for these fur-children.  I am happy to be an adoptive mom.
 
Let us know how you got your fur babies in the comments below!  We love hearing your stories!  Stay tuned for more shelter pet updates and blog posts from the Cosmopawlitan!