ORLANDO, Fla. — Jordyn Rozensky is a bit overwhelmed.
“It just felt right,” she says, holding little Seth the kitten at Global Pet Expo in Orlando Thursday.
- Global Pet Expo at Orange County Convention Center this week
- Largest Pet Product Trade Show
- Local rescues bring pets for adoption
Rozensky, who works for a company called Happy Tails, wasn’t planning on adopting when she walked by the Catit booth and saw the giant toy playground and the clowder of kittens from Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando at play.
But she couldn’t resist the little tabby, whose new name is now Churro. He’ll go home with Rozensky at the end of the show, back to Texas, where she has two other rescue cats.
“It’s important to give a cat a home that needs one,” Rozensky says.
Rozensky is not the only attendee who will go home with a new dog or cat from the Orange County Convention Center at the end of the week, all of them rescues from Central Florida groups.
Global Pet Expo is the largest annual trade show for pet products ranging from high-quality dog food to cat trees to bird seed to an entire aquatic lounge for fish and amphibians.
Even companies that sell chicken coops and birdy bras (they exist) bring their wares to the show – and sometimes chickens too.
After all, what’s better to model or demonstrate a pet product than a pet?
"I think it shows people that we care"
For Steve Shweky, who runs Fetch for Pets, bringing Florida Little Dog Rescue feels good. It’s also good for advertising and traffic.
“I get so much traffic because of the dogs,” Shweky says. “Not only do they come, they come back a hundred times! And I think it shows people that we care.”
Shweky started working with Florida Little Dog Rescue after the group was brought to the expo by a dog food company in 2011.
Shweky said he sat next to a dog named Norman that smelled good. When he asked about it, FLDR director Laurie Johnson began gushing about a shampoo that Shweky, at the time, carried. She didn’t even know.
The next year, Shweky asked Johnson to bring dogs to his booth at Global Pet Expo. They’ve been working together ever since. He also adopted a dog, Isaac Pebbles, from the rescue, and also regularly donates products.
“I never have to take funds to buy shampoo,” Johnson says. “That money can go to more medically-needy dogs.”
Johnson says FLDR often takes in dogs from shelters that have been overlooked, or need special care.
The dogs they bring to Global Pet Expo go through 3-week quarantine with a foster, have been fixed, have all their shots, are microchipped, and have to be what she calls “durable.” They have to be OK with being handled, pet, picked up and put down, amid a lot of noise and light, for the three days.
This time around, FLDR brought a litter of puppies surrendered to a local vet’s office, some adult dogs that were owner surrenders, and labradoodle puppies that came from a local breeder who surrenders extra puppies to rescues.
By early Friday afternoon, 18 had been adopted.
Johnson says about 75 to 80 percent of the dogs they bring get adopted. The rest go home with their foster parents and wait for their homes.
And just being from out of town doesn’t get potential adopters out of the rigorous screening process.
“We don’t approve adoptions just to get them home,” Johnson says. “And we don’t approve adoptions because ‘oh, you work for PetSmart? I’m gonna let you adopt.”
Johnson also says she likes getting dogs adopted at Global Pet Expo because industry people have a better idea of what goes into adopting, especially puppies.
“We’ve had people say ‘I’m not ready yet, but I’ll be here next year,” she says.
"I've always wanted to but the timing wasn't right"
That was the case for Michaela Deladurantey, who on Thursday adopted Harriet from Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando at the booth for NVM Pet, the exclusive licensee for Serta Pet Beds.
“Every time I go to a trade show there are always rescue roundups and adoptions,” says Deladurantey, who works for Tropiclean. “And I’ve always wanted to but the timing wasn’t right.”
But Deladurantey had just adopted a dog a few months ago from a shelter near her home in Georgia, and she decided he needed a brother.
Harriet, now named Riley, will get to fly on Southwest Airlines in a new carrier Deladurantey was able to pick up at the show.
The mixed breed puppy, her littermates and mother all came from Puerto Rico.
Kathy Burns with Pet Alliance says the shelter pulls dogs from Seminole, Orange and Osceola animal shelters, and also takes in owner surrenders. But when they have the space, they also take in emergency rescues like Harriet’s case.
Burns says the litter happened to come in time for the expo, and these kinds of quick adoption turnarounds also help the shelter.
“This helps me serve the heartworm-positive dog I pulled from Orange County [Animal Services] that we will have for months,” Burns says.
NVM Pet and Catit have been hosting Pet Alliance pets for the last few years. Burns said both companies sought the shelter out.
"It just brought innate happiness"
Pet Alliance brought the one litter of puppies, a bonded pair of adult dogs, and several kittens for the Catit booth.
By early Friday afternoon, 10 pets, including the adult dogs, had new homes. They all went through Pet Alliance’s regular adoption process, and have been fixed, vaccinated and microchipped.
Not every dog and cat will get adopted by the end of the show. But they will get time to play and get used to people, which is good as they wait for their future homes.
“It’s good for puppy socialization,” Burns says. “And the kittens have fun.”
And for the humans, who are far from home and pet, tired and stressed from walking miles of expo floor and networking with thousands of people, there’s nothing like seeing a dog to make them smile.
“It just brought innate happiness,” says Emily, an exhibitor cuddling an FLDR puppy named Amaya.
Global Pet Expo concludes Friday afternoon at the Orange County Convention Center. It is not open to the public.