CINCINNATI — Are you looking for a valentine who will give you endless cuddles and kisses?
If you’re ready to receive some unconditional love about 600 adoptable animals are ready to join your family.
My Furry Valentine is back at the Sharonville Convention Center. Going on for more than 10 years, the pet adoption event is the largest in the Tri-State.
“We have a lot of local rescues and shelters that come and participate and they bring the animals here, so it allows visitors to visit hundreds of animals under one roof, visit with them, learn about their behavior from their foster families and adopt them,” said Shay O'Brien, My Furry Valentine's social media lead.
O’Brien said there are dogs and cats will be placed at various satellite locations throughout the Greater Cincinnati area, so there will be over 1,000 dogs and cats up for adoption.
“They’re good animals. There are pure-breed animals that are in rescues and shelters if that’s important to you. But, overall there are just healthy good animals like Dingo here that are looking for a home and there’s no need to go to a breeder, they're right here waiting for you,” she said.
Louie’s Legacy Animal Rescue has been attending My Furry Valentine since 2015.
“We can often leave with 100 adoptions. One year we had two hundreds adoptions, so the impact on the animals is incredible," said Emily Gear, founder and president of Louie’s Legacy.
Hundreds of dogs and cats hope they’ll be your furry Valentine this year ❣️
— Jessica Hart WCPO (@JessicaHartTV) February 18, 2023
My Furry Valentine is back for its 13th year at the Sharonville Convention Center. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/oXjG0mpz1N
Gear said Louie’s Legacy is one of the largest based rescues in the country. They take animals from shelters and place them in foster homes.
Gear added they’ve seen fewer adoptions at the event the last few years because of COVID, but she is hopeful the adoptions will pick up this year.
Last year, around 500 animals at My Furry Valentine were adopted. About 7,500 animals have been adopted since My Furry Valentine started in 2012.
O’Brien said the goal of this event is to find these animals good homes and get one step closer to living in a no-kill society.
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, about 920,000 animals are euthanized each year. ASPCA reports 390,000 of those animals are dogs and 530,000 are cats.
“Every animal deserves a loving home,” O’Brien said.
The pet adoption event has meet and greet areas set up and can escort you outside to take the dog on a walk.
My Furry Valentine will be open for general admission between 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and between Noon to 5 p.m on Sunday.
