Shelter pets get Thanksgiving treats thanks to Fargo pet store’s cat, dog feasts – InForum

FARGO — Looking to get into the Thanksgiving spirit and share a feast with Fido?

Tummy-bursting holiday dinners for dogs and cats are flying off the shelves at

Natural Pet Center.

The turkey treats and cans of wet food aren’t just for spoiled felines and pooches, however.

For every meal sold, Natural Pet Center’s owner Michelle Smith donates food to local shelter pets at Cats Cradle Shelter and 4 Luv of Dog Rescue.

This isn’t the only way Smith and the team at Natural Pet Center help pets seeking their forever families, a local shelter told The Forum.

This is the fifth annual Thanksgiving meal fundraiser at Natural Pet Center, Smith said, and so far this year they’ve sold 80 feline feasts and 150 dog dinners.

Cat boxes include freeze-dried turkey treats, turkey-flavored canned food, catnip, a fall-themed toy and a pumpkin snack, she said, while dog banquets include a bag of freeze-dried turkey treats, seasonal snack bag, can of turkey-flavored pumpkin food, pureed pumpkin pouch, freeze-dried green beans, a sweet potato chew and a pumpkin pie dog cookie.

The meals are available at the locally owned pet store at 3037 13th Ave. S. while supplies last, Smith said, adding that pet owners will likely be able to pick one up until Thanksgiving Day.

Over their 19 years in business, Natural Pet Center has hosted a variety of fundraising events to benefit

Cats Cradle,

4 Luv of Dog,

Homeward Animal Shelter

and

Minn-Kota Paaws.

“It’s really great to get behind these wonderful organizations and give them as much support as we can,” Smith said.

She is on the board of Minn-Kota Paaws, she said, as well as a former board member with 4 Luv of Dog Rescue and a regular volunteer as a foster home for pets.

During the Christmas season, her team fundraises for Homeward Animal Shelter with build-your-own advent calendars for cats or dogs. On Valentine’s Day, they sell date night kits, and for Easter, they do a treat-filled egg hunt.

Their storefront is also a donation drop-off location for various rescues, she said, and her business donates pet supplies, gives each rescue a discount on their purchases and hosts dog adoption events.

Most adorably, Natural Pet Center always has several adoptable cats from Cats Cradle in their store for interested pet parents to see.

One such pet is Gabby the Tabby, a playful 7-month-old cat from Cats Cradle. She is looking for her forever home, Smith said, and visitors to the store can meet her or her neighbors — the snack-loving 4-year-old Donnie and Tao, a 6-month-old sweetheart who is building up confidence — anytime the store is open.

The folks at Natural Pet Center are an “amazing group of people,” according to Gail Adams-Ventzke, co-founder and executive director of Cats Cradle.

Over the years, their support has been so helpful, she said. Each Thanksgiving, the feline banquets bring in about $700 worth of food and supplies to the shelter, she said.

“We really appreciate it, and we hope everyone goes out and buys lots of food,” she said.

That canned food is especially important during the ongoing kitten season, she said, when local shelters are filled to the brim with newly birthed litters who do their best to eat the shelter out of house and home.

Three weaning kittens can go through a case of 24 cans of wet food in a week and a half, Adams-Ventzke said.

Canned food donations during this time help keep the shelter’s pantry fully stocked, she said, and allow the organization to spend donated money on other essentials like veterinary costs and litter.

Smith has helped Cats Cradle for years, Adams-Ventzke said.

“She’s great,” Adams-Ventzke said. “She does so much for all the rescues.”

Cats Cradle and Natural Pet Center began working together to get cats adopted at the store a few years ago, she said. Before that agreement, she said, Smith rescued cats out of the local pounds on her own and paid for their medical bills, spay and neuter costs and upkeep, all out of pocket.

Now, Cats Cradle and their army of donors take on that responsibility, Adams-Ventzke said, and use the extra space provided by the Natural Pet Center to showcase their adoptable cats before a large number of people every day.

“It was a perfect solution for us,” Adams-Ventzke said. “At times, they just fly out of there.”

Often, when a customer applies to adopt one of the pets inside Natural Pet Center, the team at Cats Cradle can work through their regular adoption checklist quickly enough that people can walk out of the store with their new cat that same day.

“It’s a great asset to us, that extra five spots — it’s life or death sometimes,” she said. No adoptable animals have been euthanized in any of the metro pounds in years, she said, thanks to the hard work of area rescues to take them in and care for them until their forever family finds them.

Next month, Natural Pet Center will open its second location at 1111 19th Ave. N. in Fargo.

They won’t have room in the smaller building to feature adoptable cats there, Smith said, but they will have the same fundraisers and products available, as well as a self-serve dog wash station.

She is planning to do a soft opening by Christmas.

Readers looking to adopt, donate or volunteer at Cats Cradle Shelter can visit their website at

catscradleshelter.org

or call 701-356-7877. Information about 4 Luv of Dog Rescue can be found at

www.4luvofdog.org.