Pethealth Inc. is pleased to announce that the 1,000,000th pet to be enrolled in the ShelterCare Gift program has gone to its new home from the Erie County SPCA. The Erie County SPCA is one of thousands of animal welfare organizations that have used the ShelterCare Gift program since its inception in 2001.

Kali Adamo of North Tonawanda, New York, was the lucky 1,000,000th person to enroll her new pet, Cosmo, a 6-year old Bernese Mountain dog adopted from the Erie County SPCA in Tonawanda, NY, and, to celebrate this milestone, Pethealth will be providing Kali and Cosmo with a $1000 shopping spree at a local PETCO store.

Created in 2001, the ShelterCare Gift has significantly changed the financial implications of post-adoption health issues for animal welfare organizations by creating a method to transfer post-adoption health related costs away from the organizations. The ShelterCare Gift program was specifically designed to cover the 11 accidents and illnesses that are most common to newly adopted pets. Since inception of the program Pethealth has paid out over US$4.8 million in claims for post-adoption health related issues through the ShelterCare Gift program.

The ShelterCare Gift gives adopted pets a real chance of a permanent home by giving the new pet owner the financial ability to deal with unexpected medical costs that may occur following adoption. All newly adopted pets are given the ShelterCare Gift by participating animal welfare organizations, any organization may participate free of charge and the program is available throughout North America (excluding AK and the Canadian Territories).

Barbara Carr from the Erie County SPCA says “"The Shelter Care Program that provides assurance to new pet owners in our community has been a tremendous asset to our adoption program. Since we began offering this pet insurance program our adoptions have increased in number and our adopters are happier that ever with their decision to provide a home to a homeless animal.

We were delighted to hear that the one millionth shelter care adoptee had been one of the Erie County SPCA's own!"

Mark Warren, CEO of Pethealth Inc. says “The ShelterCare program is a unique program that has fundamentally improved the outlook for abandoned animals, their newly adoptive families and the animal welfare organizations that work so hard to place them in new homes. The ShelterCare Gift Program has become an essential tool for animal welfare organizations in their efforts to place abandoned pets into permanent homes. It allows them to transfer the financial risk of post-adoption health related costs away from the organization and frees up valuable resources to better achieve their goal of helping homeless animals. The unparalleled success of this program is clearly shown by the number of animals enrolled into the program and the number of animal welfare organizations that have chosen to support the program.”

Congratulations to those who have made this program a success including Cosmo's shelter the Erie County SPCA in Tonowanda, NY, and Pethealth Inc.