Dear Animal Advocate,

The animal sheltering industry is finally getting hip to marketing. Agencies around the country are coming up with great adoption campaigns, ads, events, and publicity stunts - no wonder adoptions are up and deaths are down at animal shelters nationwide! Our Marketing Resource Guide directs you to a few of the best resources for marketing ideas.

Speaking of adoptions, Maddie's^® Matchmaker Adoptathon blew the lid off the record books again this year with 2,312 adoptions in a single weekend. Best of all, 29% of the placements were senior or treatable pets. The details are inside.

In some quarters, the notion still persists that people won't adopt pets seven years and older. The fact that 193 senior pets found homes through our Adoptathon isn't the only proof that this is a myth. Read the responses from our senior pet survey, Marvelously Mature.

Finally, a reminder about some of Maddie's^® great new tools and educational offerings. Our Comparative Database allows you to compare your lifesaving to other communities of similar size, demographics and animal intake. Our new series of shelter medicine webcasts makes nationally acclaimed shelter medicine experts only a mouse click away. Next up, The First 60 Minutes: Animal Sheltering's Critical Hour on October 6.

Sincerely,

The Maddie's Fund Team