KC Pet Project had another tremendous year of lifesaving in 2017 with thousands of pets who were saved and many records broken. We’re so proud to release these numbers to you and some additional statistics of those pets who were saved:
2017 in Review
In 2017, we provided care for 10,319 dogs, cats, and other small pets. New families adopted 6,619 pets from KC Pet Project this past year – the largest number of pet adoptions in the history of Kansas City’s animal shelter — and we returned 2,222 additional pets to their homes or found placement for them through another shelter or home-based rescue group. We ended the year with 528 dogs, cats and other pets in our care. This allowed us to achieve a record-setting 95.7% Live Release Rate for 2017!
Despite a 6.6% increase over last year in pets surrendered by their owners and a nearly 4% increase in the number of pets that arrived this year, we were still able to decrease euthanasia to a record low number while saving 9,459 pets – the largest number of dogs, cats and other pets saved in Kansas City’s history.
Our partnership with the Petco Foundation and local Petco stores continued to be a key component in our lifesaving model. We added a new store for our Petco Cat Habitat program in Liberty, MO and 733 cats were adopted out through our 6 Petco stores where we have those habitats.
From neonatal kittens, puppies with ringworm, or pets with injuries and medical conditions – to small companion pets like rabbits and rats, and adult dogs and cats needing an environment other than the shelter – hundreds of foster families opened their hearts and homes to thousands of pets from our shelter this past year. Not only did they provide care, socialization and love, but our foster families found new homes for 663 of those pets through KC Pet Project’s Foster Ambassador Program in 2017.
71 feral cats entering our shelter in 2017 were sterilized, vaccinated and placed in the care of responsible caretakers with horse barns, farms, or nontraditional homes such as warehouses or businesses.
Our adoption numbers were the highest we’ve ever had, and in fact, more cats were adopted from KC Pet Project than dogs for the first time in the shelter’s history! We found homes for over 500 more cats in 2017 than 2016, and were able to transfer 314 cats IN to the shelter this past year from other local shelters and municipalities that were full.
Other Program Successes:
- Our program, SNAP (Safety Net Assistance Program), provides over 50,000 meals a year to pets and their owners who can’t afford or do not have access to proper food for their animals.
- We launched our Bottle Baby Squad, a group of volunteers who provides support for neonatal kittens and had dozens of people sign up to be a part of this team.
- Our KC Rescue Runners running team had its inaugural year and ended with over 60 new members and raised $6,700 to support our pets in 2017.
- Our new program, Snuggle Service, raised thousands of dollars to support our pets and brought joy to many local businesses, schools, etc.
We’re incredibly proud to share this 2017 update with all of you. We’re so grateful for our amazing and dedicated staff, board of directors, volunteers, adopters, donors and community supporters that help us save more lives every day. We continue to be committed to being a lifesaving organization and a safety net for both people and pets from right here in our own community. We’re looking ahead to bigger and better things in the coming year and hope you’ll share our stories, follow us through social media, and support KC Pet Project in 2018.
The Staff, Volunteers, and Pets of KC Pet Project
To support KC Pet Project during the upcoming year, please consider signing up for a monthly donation to help us care for more than 10,000 pets that will come to KC Pet Project in 2018.