Animals Need Love at the SPCA

I own a retro clothing store called Cats Like Us, and I was really surprised at all the people that take our name literally! When we first opened we'd get phone calls almost weekly asking if we sell cats, board cats, adopt out cats, sell clothing for cats etc. Nope, the "cats" in our name represents slang for cool cats. Definition ~ a stylish and admirable person. HOWEVER that doesn't mean we don't like cats. We LOVE them and here's the proof...

Since there was so much confusion, we decided to complicate things a little more. Just down the street from our store front is the SPCA Serving Erie County and we were trying to figure out ways to work with them to raise awareness for both of our businesses, after all, our kitties Ginger and Vicktor came from there too. I knew that in the springtime when the kittens are running rampant is when the SPCA is desperate for donations. So that narrowed down the time frame to do an event. We call it Cats Like Treats! and this marks it's seventh year running. It always takes place the second week in March. You can read about it here. Basically we collect cat treats, dog treats, and anything from the SPCA Wishlist. The wishlist has everything on it from towels and blankets to pens and stamps. Depending on how much a customer brings in, they can get a discount up to 25% off everything in our store. We like to say 'Gather your kibble and save some scratch." This event has been beneficial to our shop sales and we've collected boxes and boxes of items for the needy animals.

Pictures of everything donated from Cats Like Treats 2016.

Cats Like Us is also an official off-site adoption location for the SPCA Serving Erie County. Now that doesn't mean we have animals running around, but a simple digital frame with the current animals that are up for adoption is on our front counter. New pictures get emailed to us almost every week and all we have to do is update the frame. It's exciting to have a customer look at it and say, "That's the cat I just adopted!" ~ It's happened more than once! Or "I should check out what animals they have." The frame more like a subtle reminder that there's lots of animals that need love.

The frame on our counter that features about 25 animals at a time.

We still wanted to be MORE involved because we love animals, so just last year we took some Cats Like Us accessories to the SPCA for a photoshoot with all the pretty kitties. The cats were really amazing, and the people that volunteer there are angels. They know every cats personality, what they like and don't like and how to get them to pose. It was really a heart warming experience that we hope to do again this year. Here's some of the pictures we used... and me in the kitten room.

Sadly for me the SPCA is moving to the southtowns in about a month, so instead of being a 10 minute drive it'll be 20 minutes away. That being said, they are moving into a GIANT new facility that looks state-of-the-art from the outside. We hope to have a new photoshoot in their new space.

Even if you don't have an SPCA near you, please consider supporting your local animal shelter whether it's though a monetary donation, volunteering, or simply collecting something from their wishlist. It doesn't take much to change an animals life. Be kind to animals, all they want is someone to care for them. (And in our Vicktor's case, food. All the food.)