The problem: thousands of sweet, cuddly, adoptable adult cats languishing in shelters. People gravitate toward tiny kittens, which are plentiful in the summer months, leaving adult shelter cats without humans to own. A possible clever solution: Clever marketing ploys. Which is the origin of the Michigan Humane Society‘s Certified Pre-Owned Cats campaign.

With $0 down and 0% financing, you can bring a brand new (to you) cat home today!

Of course, a car metaphor applied to companion animals would have to come from Michigan.

The key part of this promotion is that the shelter is charging no adoption fees for adult cats—hence the “$0 down, no payments” gimmick. The idea is to get more cats into happy homes, and shelters have found that with careful screening, waiving the adoption fees doesn’t affect the quality of homes they’re able to find, or the rate of return.

Owner surrenders are up at shelters nationwide—mainly, people claim, for financial reasons. Pets are expensive, but going the pre-owned route can lead to substantial savings on vet bills.

Patrick Boehringer of Canton, Mich., couldn’t be a more satisfied customer. He calls Apricot, his Certified Pre-Owned Cat, “the best animal I ever had.”

Apricot came with a free “multipoint inspection” including spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, behavioral evaluation and grooming. And you can’t beat the price: As the Certified Pre-Owned Cats campaign poster says, with no money down, no financing and no payments, these cats are “better than new!”

Remember, savvy consumers, when shopping for a pre-owned cat, be sure to get its FIN (Feline Identification Number) and request a CATFAX® report before finalizing the adoption. Nobody wants to take home a lemon. Cat. (Or you could just talk to shelter staff about the cat’s personality and medical history.)

Summer is cat season at shelters, now overflowing [AP] (Thanks, Mark!)

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