Animal Welfare League Plans Birthday Party For 21-Year-Old Cat

ARLINGTON, VA — Scarlett is celebrating her 21st birthday on Saturday. Rather than buying her an alcoholic beverage or taking her out for dinner, how about getting her some catnip, scratching her chin or maybe helping her find a forever home.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington is hosting a birthday party for Scarlett on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m., at the New District Brewing Company, 2709 S. Oakland St. Guests are encouraged to bring gifts that can be shared with Scarlett's friends at the Arlington County Shelter, located at 2650 S. Arlington Mill Drive near Four Mile Run Creek.

"People are welcome to come visit anytime, even if they're not quite ready to adopt," said Chelsea Jones, communications specialist with AWLA. "They can come look around. If you find an animal that you kind of feel a connection with, you want to spend some time with them, you can take them outside, visit them in their kennel."

Once a potential owner has decided on an animal to adopt, they can fill out a one-page application.

"We don't put a big league pass or fail stamp on it," Jones said. "It's about making sure it's a good fit. So we're just going to go over everything we know about the animal. We're going to talk about your lifestyle, your day-to-day, making sure that that is a good situation for that pet. If it is great, you can usually take your pet home same day or next day. We encourage same day adoptions. If we're thinking it's not quite the right fit, we'll definitely recommend some other pets that might be a great fit."

Beyond adoptions, AWLA offers a variety of services to help animal owners, including low-cost spay/neuter vouchers, rabies and microchipping clinics, a pet food pantry, a veterinarian assistance program and low-cost wellness clinics.

"Our mission is to improve the lives of animals and people in our community," Jones said. "Obviously, we help a lot of animals every year, but we also really want to make sure that we are also helping the people who own the animals, their families that are in need of assistance."

AWLA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that has a contract with Arlington County to run the shelter.

"They own the land. We own the building," Jones said. "We operate the animal shelter on their behalf. They provide about a third of our funding every year. And that covers basic animal care services like food, vaccines, and adoption services. And then the other two-thirds are covered solely through donations from the public."

According to Jones, it takes about $3 million annually to run the shelter, which means AWLA must raise $2 million each year. Much of that funding comes from straight donations, but AWLA sponsors a number of fundraising events — like Scarlett's birthday party — throughout the year to raise money.

"Our big event is our Walk for the Animals," Jones said. "That's our main big party fundraiser that is going to be on June 6 this year. Lots more information about that coming out soon."

In 2019, AWLA hosted a wine event, a gala at the Signature Theatre and a calendar contest to raise money."We're hopefully going to be doing another Drag Queen Bingo Night this year," Jones said. "That was very popular and successful last year."

Jones said that people often have some misconceptions about the animals available for adoption.

"We don't just have dogs and cats," she said. "We have lots of other animals. So if you're looking to get a rabbit or a Guinea pig, definitely please come check us out before going to the pet store."

Another misconception is that there are no purebred animals available for adoption at the shelter. "Even if you're looking for a certain breed of dog or cat, we get them," Jones said. "About 25 percent of dogs in shelters are purebred as opposed to just a mix, which is kind of my favorite. But we get purebred dogs here all the time."