COVID-19 has affected all our lives in so many ways.

Though our adoption center is closed to the public at this time, life (and animal rescue) goes on. There have been life-saving rescues, new beginnings and unexpected challenges.  We want our supporters to feel included and know what’s happening. Here is your pandemic update from our pets and people.

Never fear, adoptions are still happening! They just look a little different than they used to. The first step is to find a pet (or pets) you're interested in. Then head to spcawake.org/appointments to fill out our adopter survey (and get more information about the process). When a survey is completed, it is sent to our adoption team. An adoption specialist will reach out via phone to a potential adopter to discuss what the adopter is looking for and  share what we know about the pet they're interested in. Next, an appointment is made for the adopter to visit with the pet they’ve chosen. To keep our staff and adopters safe, visits are happening either outside or in one particular part of the adoption center that is cleaned between visitors.

The adoption team is getting such a large volume of surveys, it can take some time for an adopter to hear back. We are so thankful for everyone's patience as the adoption team works as quickly as they can to find wonderful homes for the pets.

Bando (pictured) is one of the lucky pets who found a new home since our switch to adoptions-by-appointment. His new dad is a truck driver and plans to bring Bando with him on adventures. Bando hopped right up in the car, so we're pretty sure he's on board with the plan.

The lack of visitors in our building is hard to miss. Under normal circumstances, many SPCA Wake pets interact with multiple visitors each day in addition to staff. Since our adoption center is closed to the public right now, the pets aren’t meeting different people. Of course, they love our staff, but meeting new people keeps life fun and interesting for them. Who knew visitors act as a sort of enrichment?

Their bedrooms at SPCA Wake are nice, but they're not the same as living in a home. Most of our pets are adopted quickly enough that not having visitors isn’t an issue, but for those that linger, we find they need a little extra enrichment. We’re adding extra training sessions, walks, food enrichment, and more for the pets who have been with us a little longer.

Eclair (pictured) pauses for a photo with a staff member on one of her extra walks.

Kitten season appears to be one of life’s constants. Our lives may have slowed down in some ways because of COVID-19, but the kittens haven’t. Last week, our staff got a call about 3 kittens found in the engine compartment of a car. The car had just been loaded onto a tow truck and was about to leave for California when someone heard their tiny meows.

We were happy to be able to help. After the kittens arrived, they had a good meal and were started on vaccinations and dewormers. Since they still have a bit of growing up to do, they are now living with a foster family.