About PetPromise
GETTING TO KNOW PETPROMISE
​Basic information
PetPromise (one word!!!)
Tag line: Life for Pets. Pets for Life.
Mailing Address
PetPromise
PO Box 14802
Columbus, Ohio 43214
petpromise.org
614-738-2149 (voicemail only)
Tax ID 31-1690791
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PetPromise Origin and History
In 1996, the founders of PetPromise began rescuing, providing vet care, and finding homes for homeless dogs and cats in central Ohio. The founders, along with a network of volunteers interested in the welfare of homeless companion animals, formed PetPromise in 1999. PetPromise, Inc. was incorporated in Ohio on February 4th, 2000 and it’s story officially began. The heart in the PetPromise logo and the “Promise” in our name are symbols of the love that we have for all animals in our care and represents our promise to each that we will do everything that we can to change their world for the better. (Detailed organizational and financial information about PetPromise is available at GuideStar.org.)
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PetPromise Mission, Vision and Values
PetPromise is dedicated to helping to create a world where there are no more homeless pets through rescue, education, spay/neuter, and adoption.
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PetPromise is a non-profit, tax-exempt, 501©3 organization.
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PetPromise does not support euthanasia as a method of pet population control.
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PetPromise does not have a shelter or sanctuary so its rescue programs are currently foster home based but we are working to change that statistic.
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PetPromise receives no governmental funding and our work is supported solely by public and private donations and volunteer fundraising.
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PetPromise helps many pets that other shelters and rescues would consider "unadoptable" due to age, medical condition, or breed.
What We Are Doing:
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rescuing stray dogs and cats (and sometimes other animals) from the streets and from animal shelters where they are on death row and often minutes away from euthanasia;
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working to secure a community adoption center no-kill sanctuary where rescued pets can be safely sheltered until we can find them adoptive homes;
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providing medical care to neglected, abused, and injured animals;
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rescuing hard-to-adopt animals that are elderly or special needs that other rescues or shelters may reject and finding them loving homes;
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providing spay and neuter services for community and feral cats and pet owners with financial need in order to reduce the number of unwanted pets in our community;
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providing food, medical care, and other assistance to pet owners in financial need, who may otherwise surrender their pets to shelters;
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educating children and adults in our community on the seriousness of the pet overpopulation problem and the importance of spay and neuter and responsible pet guardianship.
Why we do what we do: More than 920,000 dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each year. That is 75,000 a month 106 dogs and cats being killed each hour because there aren’t enough homes for them all. PetPromise is working tirelessly to decrease this statistic.
Over 50% of the cats and dogs surrendered to shelters have not been spayed or neutered. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, Vol. 1, Number 3, pg. 213.
Sadly 71% of all cats and 55% of all dogs entering shelters are killed. National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy Shelter Statistics Survey, 1996
Leadership: PetPromise is operated by a Board of Directors and several program Coordinators. All positions are volunteer and unpaid so that more of every dollar goes directly to care/food for the animals rather than salaries. Members of PetPromise leadership hold full-time jobs and devote much of their free time to help animals through PetPromise. Board meetings are held monthly, on the second Saturday of each month and are open to the public.
Our Vision for the Future: The PetPromise Community Adoption Center
Our goal is to begin our journey toward a cageless/semi-cageless community adoption center for cats (and eventually dogs). After years in the making PetPromise is back on track to launch a fundraising appeal to establish the future PetPromise Community Adoption Center. Our goal is to start by securing a leased retail space where we can provide a cageless "Cat Campus" where cats and kittens can live while they wait to be adopted and where member of the public can visit, spend time with, and adopt PetPromise cats and kittens, volunteer, and learn about ways to help end the homeless pet crisis in our community and our country. The PetPromise Community Adoption Center will be a cageless animal care and adoption center designed specifically to house homeless cats and kittens in an environment that is comfortable, home-like, safe and happy for them and for the people that visit the center.
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PetPromise Programs
What sets PetPromise apart from other rescues groups in central Ohio is our comprehensive, expansive breadth of programs which impact local homeless animals, local residents and the community at large. While many rescues are a “cat rescue” or a “dog rescue” only, PetPromise has FOUR major “pillar” programs, all of which could stand alone as significant programs.
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Our four main programs include:
1. The PetPromise City Kitty Trap-Neuter-Return Community Cat Program
Like many other cities in the U.S., central Ohio has a large overpopulation of unowned community cats. According to one study from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 43% of respondents from Ohio reported seeing cats in their neighborhood at least weekly and 26% reported feeding community cats. And 23% of respondents reported that they had seen litters of kittens born outside in the previous year. 55% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that “Free-roaming cats are a problem in Ohio”. The over-population of community cats is a real concern in central Ohio, whether in urban areas, suburbs or even rural areas. Cats can go into heat at 4 months, thus a kitten giving birth at 6 months happens all too often. Cats can as many as 4 litters in a year, with each litter producing more and more breeding females, thus exponentially compounding the problem, in a very short period of time. In addition, Ohio has no laws that require the maintenance of free-roaming cats. Ohio law only mandates that each county have a dog warden that deals with dogs at large. There are no statutes regarding the control of community cats.
In response, PetPromise created the City Kitty program in 2008. This program focuses on the spaying/neutering of unowned, community cats across central Ohio. We work with individuals in the community who are caregivers of the cats, instructing them on how safe methods of trapping the cats, and facilitating the process for the caregivers to take the cats to our partner veterinarian programs to get the cats spayed and neutered. After the cats have recovered from their surgery, they are re-released to their outdoor home, no longer reproducing and adding to the cycle of homeless cats and kittens.
Since 2008, the City Kitty program has facilitated the spay/neuter of over 7,000 cats and kittens. Exponentially, this has prevented potentially millions of homeless kittens from being born. PetPromise views this process as an excellent tool for prevention.
PetPromise Pet Food Pantry
The PetPromise Pet Food Pantry is another program that sets us apart from the pack.
This program provides assistance through the provision of donated pet food to families who are struggling to feed their pets, and might otherwise would surrender the pets to a due to financial issues. This program is another way PetPromise plays a role in prevention of pet homelessness, by keeping pets in a home where they are loved. Since 2008, the PetPromise Pet Food Pantry has provided over 80,000 pounds of cat and dog food to hundreds of families in central Ohio.
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2. The PetPromise Cat Foster and Adoption Program
Since 2000, the PetPromise Cat Rescue Team has rescued more than 3,000 cats.
Where do the cats come from? Each week, PetPromise receives dozens of requests for cats that are homeless, being abandoned, no longer wanted, etc. Our focus is on the cats that are in the most danger, either from human harm, injuries, being born outside, etc. We have several foster homes that focus solely on “special needs” cats such as blind, deaf, injured, FIV+ cats, paralyzed or shy cats.
Each cat that PetPromise rescues costs on average $300, just for basic care that includes testing for communicable diseases, spay/neuter surgery, rabies vaccines, FELV vaccines, distemper vaccines, microchip, deworming medication and flea medication.
The length of time that a cat/kitten stays with PetPromise varies greatly. Kittens are often adopted quickly once they are spayed or neutered. However, other special needs pets may wait for months – even years – for the perfect home. PetPromise does not put a time limit on a time for adoption. We firmly believe that there is a home for every cat in our care; it is only a matter of time.
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The PetPromise Dog Foster and Adoption Program
The PetPromise Dog Rescue Team operates in the same manner with foster homes housing the puppies/dogs while they are waiting for adoption. Since 2000 PetPromise has rescued, rehabilitated and rehomed over 1,700 dogs. Each dog that PetPromise rescues receives heartworm testing, rabies vaccinations, deworming, microchip, spay/netuer surgery, basic vaccines and flea prevention. PetPromise often takes on special needs dogs. Past cases have included a Great Pyrenees with a club foot fitted with a prosthetic device, a puppy from Kentucky with a club foot, an elderly, blind and diabetic Jack Russell terrier, as well as others.
Our Volunteers
PetPromise has no paid staff, period. We specifically pride ourselves in being an all-volunteer organization so that funds raised are used directly for the pets in our care. Given our extensive programs, it is easy to assume that PetPromise has a large volunteer base. We are actively looking to recruit volunteers for specific roles in the organization. Volunteers are well trained, supported and celebrated in our organization. PetPromise values our volunteers’ time, energy, skills, and never forgets that without volunteers, we couldn’t do the important work we do.
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Local Focus
PetPromise keeps our focus local, and uses local businesses for many of our veterinary partners. The majority of our veterinary partners are locally-owned veterinary practices, often small business owners. The majority of our donors and volunteers are local to central Ohio. The money that we raise through fundraising has an immediate, local effect on the local economy. Whenever possible, our preference is to support the local providers here in central Ohio.
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We feel strongly that we are a partner with local groups in central Ohio and believe that thru teamwork, cooperation, compromise and partnership, greater things can be done for homeless animals in central Ohio. We work closely with local organizations such as Columbus Humane, Franklin County Dog Shelter, as well as other rescue groups and organizations. We are often called for “expertise” on situations such as feral cat trapping, situations with rescues, advice on behavior problems and “best practices”.
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What sets PetPromise apart from all the other groups?
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ALL VOLUNTEER 501(C)3 ORGANIZATION
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Foster home-based organization. We do not have a shelter.
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We receive NO governmental funding
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4 Distinct Programs
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Cat Adoption Program
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Dog Adoption Program
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Pet Food Pantry – We support people too!
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City Kitty Trap-Neuter-Return Program to reduce community cat populations
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Focus on those abandoned on streets or on “death row” in shelters.
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