Miami-Dade County Animal Services partners with Petco Love to "Give Pets Their Best Shot" during National Pet Vaccination Month in March 2022

Miami-Dade County Animal Services (Animal Services) is partnering with national nonprofit Petco Love to Give Pets Their Best Shot for a healthy life by distributing free vaccines for our county’s pets. The FREE vaccines will be available at Animal Services’ Wellness Clinic in the Pet Adoption and Protection Center at 3599 NW 79 Ave, Doral, FL 33122, and at the WOW (Wellness on Wheels) Mobile veterinary clinic stationed at the Joseph Caleb Center located at 5400 NW 22nd Ave, Miami, FL 33142.

Petco Love established March as National Pet Vaccination Month to encourage owners to keep their pets up to date on vaccinations and will provide FREE vaccines to family pets in need in Miami-Dade County. As puppy and kitten season approaches, pet exposure to contagious and deadly diseases – parvovirus, distemper, and panleukopenia – increases but can be preventable with proper vaccination. 

“Thanks to Petco Love, we can offer these lifesaving vaccines at no cost to families in need and help Pets Thrive in 305,” said Bronwyn Stanford, Animal Services Director. “We urge our community’s pet owners to take advantage of this free resource to help reduce the spread of diseases and ensure the health and wellness of our cats and dogs.”

The Give Pets Their Best Shot initiative makes crucial DAPPv Canine and HCP Feline vaccines accessible to pet parents who may be experiencing financial challenges and assures that cost is not a barrier to protecting pets from preventable diseases. 

“Treatment for these deadly diseases can be prohibitively expensive for many pet parents,” said Susanne Kogut, Petco Love President. “By providing free vaccines to those in need, we can help these pets live a healthy life. Through this national effort and our other Petco Love Care initiatives, we continue our 22-year history of strategic investments and innovation.”

National Pet Vaccination Month is a continuation of Petco Love’s 1 million free pet vaccine campaign, which has helped 400,000 pets to date. Fifty percent of participating pet parents surveyed reported their pets had never been vaccinated against these diseases. With Bissell Pet Foundation as an additional partner this month, Petco Love’s goal is to increase awareness and accelerate the distribution of vaccines. 

The WOW Mobile is made possible through a generous gift and grant funding from Friends of Miami Animals Foundation Inc, (FoMA). For more information about programs serving Miami-Dade County’s pets and pet owners at Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department visit animals.miamidade.gov, call 311, or follow Animal Services on social media @adoptmiamipets. 

About Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department
Every year Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department (Animal Services) provides care and refuge for 28,000 to 30,000 lost and abandoned dogs and cats. Every day, Animal Services staff works diligently to find life-long homes for these abandoned animals by facilitating onsite adoptions, hosting offsite adoptions at events and locations throughout the community, and working collaboratively with rescue organizations, volunteers, and adoption partners. 

About Petco Love
Petco Love is a nonprofit changing lives by making communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we’ve empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $300 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We’ve helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Today, our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Visit petcolove.org or follow at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we’re leading every day.