TV ad

[ginnee]

I just saw the latest ASPCA ad and it almost makes me cry to see those poor dears waiting for a loving home... I've learned to change the channel when they come on, I can't watch the ads. I'm afraid the ads may do their job too well... encourage people to come to a shelter to get an animal to take care of, with really good intentions. BUT pets need love and attention, for years and years not just sporadically when we think of it. My neighbor has two dogs and they whine and whimper for attention for hours each day... it breaks my heart. I don't want to see more situations like this. Encouraging people to adopt a pet is good but only if they will commit to the animal... not just tie it up in the side yard and ignore it.

[Lorea'l]

I know EVERY time I see that comerical I cry. Never been one time i seen it and didn't cry I feel so bad for those poor animals!!

[Nancy]

Hi Ginnee. I just had to join this when I saw your comment, because you need to hear a good ending to this ad! Believe it or not, we really, truely think that the second dog they flash through in this ad is our Cassie when she was a puppy and in the shelter. I wanted you to know, she has an excellent home and is loved and cared for always. Now you know just one of many happy endings! - Nancy

[Cynthia]

Nancy, unless you adopted your puppy from the ASPCA shelter in NYC, it's not your puppy. There is only one ASPCA and it's in NYC. They're not affiliated with any SPCA around the country.

[Cynthia]

Hi Ginnee, I am a volunteer at the ASPCA shelter here in NYC, and I want you to know how hard we all work to get our beloved shelter dogs and cats adopted. We have had some very long-term kitties adopted lately to very good homes. I work mostly with cats; so I know the cats very well. The ASPCA gives us volunteers lots of special training in how to make our animals more adoptable. People who come to the shelter are carefully screened and have a "matchmaker" who has gotten to know the animals personally go around with the adopters to help them make the best possible choice. We even give follow-up support like free puppy classes, free cat and dog behavior help line access to our adopters. All to make sure the dog or cat has the best possible chance at their "forever home".

If you go to this page: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nyc_cats you will see photos of our adoptable kitties. I know many of these kitties very well, such as: Chris (very quiet, likes to snuggle with other kitties), Bianca (always the first cat to greet me in Habitat 4, where she lives with Chris and about 5 other cats), Carlton (who lives in the same habitat with Chris and Bianca, he loves a soft fluffy pillow for a bed, or a quilt) and Jamie (a beautiful grey one-eyed boy who loves to spend hours on my lap). Then just steps away, in Habitat 6, lives Enrique (who chirps when you pet him), Sylvester (a shy boy from a former feral colony, who will cuddle next to me when I sit on the floor), Thelma & Louise (two lovely but very shy kitties who were returned to the shelter when their owner passed away), Gladys (sassy and flirty), Boo Boo (a hugely overweight cat who Louise likes to snuggle with!), and the newest habitat kitty, Kimberly, a lovely teenaged kitty with long black hair who loves to play.

Upstairs in the individual habitats, I know Julius Caesar (who is FIV+ but is loving and playful); Ralph and Gibbons (who may possibly be the two hardest cats to get back into their habitats in the whole shelter! ), Snickers (the most loving of all the lap cats!) and Hakeem (a wild 7 month old kitty who can play and play and play...)

I also know Peanut, who purrs louder than any cat I know and enjoys belly rubs and catnip; Fabian, a lovely older gentleman kitty who has a head as big as a softball; Jonny, sweet and sassy; and then there are Biscuit, Willy and Pug, all kitties who are being "office fostered" by the loving staff due to various medical needs (Willy is recovering from surgery to remove an infected eye, Biscuit is recovering from a liver disorder, and Pug has some behavioral and allergy issues).

But to let you know - we love the shelter pets at the ASPCA. I'm going there tomorrow to bottle-feed orphan kittens, and to syringe-feed kittens who need extra nutrition. We have adopted out so many of our long-term cats that we have a whole batch of new kitties I have to get to know! So I hope the next time you see our kitties and dogs on TV, you will get a warm feeling in your heart, knowing how much they are loved and cared for. Even though they are in a shelter, it is a beautiful shelter and all the animals have the very best care. And there are a lot of happy endings there.

[kelly coley]

Hi, that commerial, everytime it comes on i need to show my whole family it so we can adopt another dog! I will post a picture of my dog on my blog in a few so brb!

[Deborah Blanchard]

The ad has been running here in LA since last summer and I just don't know how much more I can stand. When it started running, I was in the hospital after having nearly died from complications from a femur surgery that went bad. In fact, it aired during the funeral of Ruth Graham--and I completely lost it! The camera showed Billy Graham--and it was more than I could handle. Things have not improved since--I've contracted Stage 3 cancer--and every time the commercial comes on, both my mom and I completely lose it. I agree that it is quite effective--however, please change it! I can't take anymore! Oh...and I almost forgot to mention...both of cats died within the last 4 months--one was 13 and one was 15. (one we were expecting because he was diagnosed when I was in the hospital last summer. The doctor really advised putting him down--but with me in the hospital, my mom couldn't do it. We tried the Science Diet KD formula--but he hated it so badly... The other died very suddenly as a result of fatty liver. Things have GOT to get better!

[Wendy Frion]

I think it is so sad cuz every time i watch it i start crying and wont stop for 15 minutes

[Wendy Frion]

dont say waiting for a loving home im crying now

[marilyn]

if you're talking about the song-eyes of an angel(do you know who sings it?)i agree with you.i feel like crying(sometimes i do)when i see those poor sweet innocent babies who just want to be loved.if i cou i would take all of them and give them the love they want and deserve.they give love unconditionally-wanting nothing in return but to be fed and hoioused and attention.
our babies are the most precious thing in our lives and to think that they would be harmed in any way just breaks my heart.
those monsters that do horrible things to harmless animals should have horrible things done to them.i wish i could be an investigator for the spca.

[animallover101]

wow that so happens to me 2 i start to cry and it just like rips my heart open to those animals just being treated like that. If you go to youtube.com and search up angel the surviving dog it shows you what she has been through she was starved for 3 weeks no food or water maybe more weeks and she fell asleep the next morning she was out in the street and she suffered from a skin condition called dimodax and its just soooooooooo sad i started to cry when i saw it.

[Dia]

Are you talking about that commercial with Sarah McLaughlin? The one where they play Eyes of an Angel? That really is a very effective and sad commercial. A real tear jerker.

But you do make a good point. Just because a person can or wants to adopt doesn’t always mean that they should. To the contrary, you can’t always judge a book by its cover. Some of those people who pay little or no attention (such as what you have mentioned) may really love their pets but are just too exhausted. There are times when work just overloads a person to the brink of exhaustion. They barely have a moment for themselves never mind their pets. It’s not healthy for either of them.

I still prefer the commercials from the dog food companies. I think it’s the Pedigree Company who produces miniature biographies on a dog in need of adoption and a follow up on the adoption.

[Cheryl Mavrikos]

It's a POWERFUL commercial - yes, it pulls on your heartstrings but it's so attention-grabbing. I was incredibly impressed when I first saw it...not cutesy at all, but sadly REAL. Bravo, ASPCA! It's so unfortunate but the situations these poor creatures are in will continue to persist so long as humans remain careless, heartless and cruel...but people need to know what is going on. They must be encouraged to adopt. ADOPT!!!