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written by Lori Wildrick on October 30th, 2011 | 
  All Dressed Up by Petco Associate Lisa Farber If you’re like me, Halloween is a noisy, fun-filled evening featuring a lot of trick-or-treaters, a pumpkin carving mess and, most important (for my kids, anyway), candy! However, for your pets, it can be stressful. Here are some ways I make it fun for our cats and dog:
- Know your dog. Halloween is filled with noise, commotion and costumes. If the constant doorbell ringing is going to bother your pup, put him in a quiet room in the back of the house. Give him a Kong filled with his favorite treat or another favorite cuddle or chew toy to keep him/her busy.
- If your dog is like mine and loves everyone, great! However, no matter how friendly your pooch, Continue reading »
written by Lori Wildrick on October 28th, 2011 |
  Balrog, taken by Petco Associate Lucas A. Richter Starting Oct. 30, Petco customers across the country will have the opportunity to help us help feed needy pets and keep them with the families who love them. Our second annual National Pet Food Drive was inspired by the number of pets being relinquished due to the economic turndown, foreclosures and joblessness. By providing food, Petco hopes to help families facing the consideration of relinquishment or abandonment the chance to keep the pets they love.
“Our national food bank program makes it easy for people to help keep pets well-nourished and with the families who love them in tough economic times,” said Paul Jolly, the Executive Director for the Petco Foundation and a Petco Vice President. “We believe that no one should have to give up their pet companions due to financial distress, and our associates and customers agree. During this year’s two-week national drive, we’re asking the communities we serve to give a little extra, both in food donations and by volunteering, to help raise awareness for this important year-round program.”
This year’s goal is 400,000 pounds of pet food–and since 100 pounds of food can provide between 40 and 400 meals for one pet, depending on pet size, age and activity level–we have the potential to help a lot of pets. And, to help us along Hill’s Science Diet will match, pound for pound, every bag of dog and cat food donated at Petco stores during the drive–up to 100,000 pounds! Continue reading »
written by Lori Wildrick on October 23rd, 2011 |
 Sookie is quickly getting accustomed to her new forever home …and so do the rescues–and rescuers–who work tirelessly to help get pets out of shelters nationwide.
Petco’s recent National Adoption Reunion (held Oct. 8 and 9 at Petco stores nationwide) was my first national Petco event. Just recently joining the Petco team, I was quickly initiated with the whirlwind of activities that surrounded this special weekend. What immediately struck me was how invested and involved everyone in the Petco family was with the adoption theme—everyone was so hopeful that hundreds of pets would go home to warm, happy, loving homes.
The National Adoption Reunion Weekend itself was exceptional with (drumroll, please) 4,453 dogs and cats finding their fur-ever homes. It took the work of hundreds of people to achieve that number–from in-store Petco associates who encouraged people to come to the event to the hundreds of volunteers who helped during the event to the rescues who brought the thousands of cats and dogs to our stores. And, most important, it took you. Continue reading »
written by Lori Wildrick on October 23rd, 2011 |
 While many guinea pigs have been adopted, many more await their forever homes. How far would you go to save hundreds of small animals? I was recently at Petco corporate headquarters and heard this amazing story that involved many Petco associates who worked together to help in the rehoming process.
The story begins with 150 guinea pigs being surrendered at a Los-Angeles area animal shelter by an apparent hoarder. The shelter sent out an SOS and several rescure groups jumped to help. But the bigger question was where to foster 150 guineas? Continue reading »
written by Kim Smith on October 18th, 2011 |
As told by Executive Director of the Petco Foundation, Paul Jolly
 Rescue work can be heartbreaking (and heartwarming), but a real low moment came for me in February of this year. I was dealing with some personal and very terrible health news when I received a call from an acquaintance of mine requesting assistance in placing his Pug. The story was all too familiar: the owner was moving to an apartment with a no-pet policy, and apparently nothing could be done about it. Originally he said I had ten days to place his dog and later that changed to seven. But the real gut wrencher was this: the dog was 14 years old. 14 years old!! My mind could not stop repeating, “14 years old!!” (I learned later that she was actually two months short of 15.)
Surely the landlord could make an exception for such an old dog? No. Sorry, no exceptions. Surely, the owner has a family member who could take the dog? Someone the dog knows? No. They’re all too busy raising their families. Surely the owner has a friend with a heart who could help. No. They’re too busy with their own lives. Surely the owner wouldn’t desert his best friend at the very time when she needs him the most? Ah, but the lease was signed and the money transferred. An apartment had become more important than a life-long companion. In a word, “Fern” had become disposable. Continue reading »
written by Jim Myers on October 17th, 2011 |
Today, we’d like to update the Johnson City community on our local efforts and plans for our Johnson City store, which was flooded last month.
Community Support
Flood recovery efforts continue in the area, and Petco and the Petco Foundation are supporting those efforts.
After last month’s flood and the related accident at our local store, we said we would donate $25,000 to five local nonprofit agencies to aid in flood relief efforts benefiting humans and animals.
Each of the five agencies – Food Bank of the Southern Tier; Broome County Humane Society; South Central Region American Red Cross; Animal Aid and Relief Foundation; and Flutterbyes Animal Rescue – received $5,000 to help recover and rebuild.
In addition, the Petco Foundation continues to be in touch with local partner groups to understand and fill the need for pet food and supplies.
Our Johnson City Store and Team
With major floods occurring twice in just the last five years, we Continue reading »
written by Don Spaeth on October 15th, 2011 |
  You might be wondering what makes an aquarium interesting. While it’s true that you can’t hold, pet or interact with fish in the same way as most other pets, one of the most fantastic things that an aquarium can offer is true relaxation.
Did you know that studies going back to the 1980′s have shown that owning an aquarium can lower stress levels, reduce high blood pressure and help with insomnia? With that kind of affect I don’t understand why everyone wouldn’t want an aquarium. Every time I look at mine I discover something new: a branch forming on a coral or a creature emerging from the live rock, which sends me into a state of euphoria. I can look into my tank for hours and get lost in a world of color and tranquility. Before I know it, I’ve forgotten about anything that may have been troubling me. The stress really does melt away!
Continue reading »
written by Valerie Rosplock on October 14th, 2011 |
Editor’s note: Following last month’s flooding in Johnson City, N.Y., and the accident at our store there, Petco – through the Petco Foundation – donated $25,000 to five local nonprofit groups to help both humans and animals recover and rebuild. Here’s an update from Valerie Rosplock, Corporate and Foundation Manager – Food Banks of the Sourthern Tier, of how one group used those donated funds to help the community.
Most of us associate hurricanes and tropical storms with fierce winds that leave trees toppled and buildings destroyed. But when Tropical Storm Lee barreled into the Southern Tier of New York State with massive amounts of rainfall, waters from the nearby Susquehanna River rose to heights never before witnessed by most generations living in this area.
 The rains from Tropical Storm Lee left a path of flood destruction in the areas served by the Food Bank of the Southern Tier between Elmira and Binghamton, N.Y. Because our food bank was not affected by the storm, we were able to increase our operations and bring food and supplies directly to those in need while assessing the damages incurred to our affected food pantries and soup kitchens served by the Food Bank. See video and pictures of our efforts.
The support from individuals and community partners was inspiring. And as a member of Continue reading »
written by Kim Smith on October 13th, 2011 |
  Currently there are 15 purebred Labrador Retrievers at our local shelter. One of them, Molly, is the sweetest 8 month old adolescent who looks amazingly like the yellow lab I had when I was a young adult. She leans in to your hand and gazes up at you with these adoring chocolate colored eyes. When I visited her yesterday, she lifted a paw in my direction and then squished up against the bars of her kennel for some soft pets. I know she’ll be adopted quickly by someone who specifically wants a lab and who is savvy enough to know that they will find one at the shelter. Additionally our local Lab rescues have an abundance of every age and every color of labs that have been rescued through the county shelters over the years. There are three Lab rescues in our city – that’s how many labs end up in shelters here! Yet, when I mention to an avid animal welfare zealot that a specific breed seems a good fit for their family, they generally get this horrified look on their faces and assume that I’m recommending that they purchase a dog from a breeder. Often they look down their noses at me, snort “I will take a rescue, thank you very much” and storm off in the opposite direction, muttering how the Petco Foundation certainly is misguided. Their assumption is that rescues are only mixed breed dogs.
Unfortunately shelters and rescues today do not Continue reading »
written by Lori Wildrick on October 10th, 2011 |
 We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Reed Howlett, the CEO of Nature’s Variety, the manufacturer of Instinct and Prairie holistic pet diets, to learn more about the inspiration behind Nature’s Variety and what pets–and pet parents–love about their products:
PETCO: If you could only tell consumers one thing about your brands, what would it be?
HOWLETT: “The one thing that I would tell them is that our brands are raw-inspired. As the leaders in the raw frozen category nationally, we believe pets are at their best when they are eating raw or our raw-inspired foods. Raw pet food is high in the animal protein that pets need and is minimally processed so the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals have not been cooked off. In short, raw mirrors the ancestral diet that dogs and cats ate in the wild for thousands of years.”
PETCO: Every product you offer is raw-inspired?
HOWLETT: “Pet parents can feed our raw frozen diets, which are the purest Continue reading »
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