The Power of Partnerships: How SPCA Florida Saves Thousands of Lives
SPCA Florida is all about partnerships. As Shelley, the Executive Director, told me, “This only works if we work together.”
The SPCA builds relationships not just with other rescues and shelters but also within its community and beyond. In fact, we were in Florida in January because one of their staff members reached out last year to connect with us and invited us for a visit. And once that connection was made, they partnered with us to host a Stronger Together Event with the Orlando Cat Café.
Shelley has been with the shelter for 8 years. We had the opportunity to spend time with Shelley and other team members, including Millenia who is the marketing and strategic initiatives coordinator (and the person who initially reached out to us!), Melanie, the director of development, Tim, also part of the marketing team, and Rich, one of their most dedicated volunteers who drives transports every week and helps with anything that is needed.
The SPCA began in 1979, when the three women who founded it started collecting unwanted kitties and taking them to the local Publix supermarket on Saturdays to find adopters. In 1991, they moved into their current building, which has been expanded multiple times as they’ve grown. When a need arises, spaces are repurposed or added on as the organization pivots to meet the needs of its community.
Saving Lives & Serving the Community
With a staff of 72, they saved around 3300 lives in 2025 and have a goal of saving 4000 this year. About two-thirds of their animals are cats, and one third dogs. Puppies and kittens are often placed in foster care, and senior dogs are one of their specialties. The shelter pulls dogs and cats from Polk County Animal Control and smaller rescues that need help.
Volunteers and staff get dogs out for three walks a day, plus playtime most days. With the Florida heat, they utilize a massive mister and have play areas built into the forest behind the shelter (which can be 20 degrees cooler).
The shelter is made up of a series of buildings and additions that house dogs, cats, a veterinary clinic, offices, an education center, a foster center, and many play yards. They have a walking trail and invite the public to walk a dog. They can also choose to have a ‘date’ with the dog and take them out for a few hours, or even overnight. This leads to many adoptions.
The SPCA is currently developing a similar program for cats, which will allow community members to take a cat out in a clear backpack or front pack for a walk, date, or overnight, and hope it will lead to a similar outcome.
Affordable Veterinary Care for Community and Shelter Animals
They also serve the community through a low-cost, full-service public veterinary clinic. With 7 exam rooms and 2-3 vets available daily, they are able to provide high-volume, personalized vet care, including spay/neuter and specialized surgeries, and emergency care.
The shelter has a separate veterinary space for shelter animals, although the teams sometimes assist each other. Some of their animals are transferred in from smaller organizations that cannot provide the medical care they need. In addition to spay/neuter surgeries, the veterinary team treats heartworm and performs many specialty surgeries. They also provide spay/neuter services for Polk County Animal Control.
Serving the Community
Other community programs include Pitties & Kitties, a free spay/neuter program held twice a year that alters over 200 animals, Mom’s Last Litter, which works with would-be owner surrenders to provide care and placement for puppies or kittens and spay/neuter for mom (and dad if they know him), and Backyard Cats, which alters and vaccinates feral cats.
SPCA Florida operates Florida SARC (State Animal Response Coalition), which trains, organizes, and deploys volunteers during emergencies when animals need help. They offer free training to other organizations in Florida and beyond and deploy their 900 trained volunteers wherever needed.
The SPCA partners with Meals on Wheels and You Thrive Florida to provide cat and dog food to the clients they serve. In addition, the SPCA has its own pantry, which distributes nearly 50,000 lbs of food each year.
Creating a Network
Most of the animals who come into the SPCA’s care leave through adoption, although some animals are transferred to rescue partners, particularly kittens. Many of their cats are adopted through the Orlando Cat Café and PetSmart placements.
The SPCA also swaps long-stay dogs with other shelters to give them a new audience. The shelter has 38 partner organizations, offering help in both directions. Those partnerships underscore their foundational belief that we must work together to save lives.
SPCA Florida’s tagline is ‘Network of Hope,’ and that’s exactly what they are building. It shines through everything they do.
Organizations like SPCA Florida that support and augment their municipal shelters would go a long way toward solving our animal crisis. We need new ideas, new energy, and collaborations more than ever. We are past the time when a single municipal shelter can handle the needs and number of unwanted or unhoused animals in this country.
How You Can Help
If you’d like to support the work of SPCA Florida, consider shopping their wishlists: https://linktr.ee/spcawishlists
Here’s a novel idea for getting your community involved in helping the shelter - a DIY Wishlist on Pinterest! Brilliant! https://www.pinterest.com/spcafl/diy-wishlist-items/
Other ways to help:
Donate: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/guaang/
Spay/Neuter Fund: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/heavensentspayneuterfund/