The Association Blog

Foothills Animal Shelter offers 30 days of pet insurance as a part of their adoption package—not as an upsell, but as a safety net that keeps pets in homes

“It’s not uncommon for something to happen after an animal goes home,” shared Maggie McSchaefer, Executive Director at Foothills Animal Shelter, in conversation with MetLife Pet Insurance’s Brian Jorgensen, in a recent episode of The Intake podcast. “It’s common for sniffles to happen, for diarrhea to happen, for a bump, for a bruise, for a scrape, for just those everyday life events to happen. And we want to have a way to support people and pets through that.”

Read on for a high-level overview of how the Colorado agency’s partnership with MetLifePet Insurance is resulting in happier adoptions, stronger bonds between pets and their people, empowered staff, and good will in the community.

What: As a core part of Foothills Animal Shelter’s adoption package, new adopters receive a 30-day gift insurance policy from MetLife.

Why: Although the program predates McSchaefer, she explains what a great solution it is for a shelter like Foothills that doesn’t have a full-service veterinary clinic. “It was important for us to come up with some way to provide a safety net to our adopters who are walking out the door with our pets,” says McSchaefer. “We want to provide support to them after that adoption happens. Pet insurance is the way that we can do that.”

Case Study—The Sniffly Puppy
When asked to cite one story that especially demonstrates the value of the program, McShaefer recalls a puppy who was adopted right after her start at Foothills.  He’d had a little sniffle at the shelter that resolved, but within a week it had come back with a vengeance, resulting in a pneumonia condition.

McSchaefer remembers the adopter “really struggling, asking, ‘What do I do about this? The doctor’s recommending some pretty intense treatments. You know, I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to support him through this.’”

While many adopters may have had no choice but to return the pet to the shelter, insurance was the game-changer in allowing the puppy’s new family to provide the level of care that the doctor was recommending. Shares McSchaefer, “They sent the most adorable email to us weeks later, when he was comfortable and recuperated on the couch, and just said, ‘You know, this could have been a really heartbreaking experience for our family if we had needed to separate from him because of this pneumonia that had popped up post-adoption. Instead, he’s the light of our lives.”

How It’s Evolving

The program has impacted the community in surprising ways. “Pet insurance is starting to show up in the vernacular now,” says McSchaefer. “Just five years ago, people were still asking what it was, and now, even if they don’t have a policy, they’re familiar with the concept.” She also believes the program “incentivizes the community to come to Foothills to adopt, because they see the gift policy as an added value…. And then they tell the story to their friends and family and neighbors: ‘We went to Foothills and adopted the new love of our life, and they were so supportive to us.’”

How It’s Being Sustained

Staff receives quarterly trainings on the specifics of the policy and how to talk about it with the community, from both the Shelter Services team at Foothills and in-person training from MetLife. “Our representative always comes with pizza or ice cream,” laughs McSchaefer. “A message always sticks better with food, right? But I think just having that refresher and quarterly frequency helps the team stay on message.”

Another invaluable benefit? Explains McSchaefer, “It allows the adoption counselor to really be a hero when they can say to an adopter, “Look, you might be nervous, you might be concerned. That’s why this 30-day gift is here to help support you.’ And that’s such a nice gift to give a new adopter, because they’re anxious about all kinds of things, and here’s one less thing they need to worry about.”

For more on Foothills Animal Shelter’s program, listen to the complete podcast.