The Petpet Project: Changing Life in the Pound

To start things off, have you ever visited the pound and seen a pet with a horrible name? Hours later, have you checked back and seen that the poor pet is still there? Perhaps the little guy will never be adopted. When you search him in the search bar, he's crying. He has neomonia. He's all alone in the horrible conditions of the pound.

In the world of today, where pets have worth other than the love that their owner gives them, names matter. A lot. You can never stroll through the pound board without seeing 'well-named' as one of the good qualities of a pet. People absolutely refuse badly-named pets from their family. Because of this, a lot of the pets in the pound have such horrible names that no one would ever think to adopt. They'll be stranded there forever.

So this is why I have a challenge for you Neopians, particularly those of you with three or less neopets. I call it The Petpet Project, or TPP for short.

What's the TPP about?

The TPP is based on the idea that the poorly-named pets in the pound will be there for a while, probably. A long while. Such a long while that they'll be practically dying when someone finally fishes them out. They have no one to talk to except for their cellmates, and no one risks getting close because of their fierce hope that they'll soon be adopted, and they wouldn't want to miss their friend too much. So these pets spend hours bored in the pound, alone and with no one to chat with, nothing to do.

The Petpet Project can change these neopets' lives. Basically an owner would go to the pound and surf for a while. Not to find well-named pets, or rarely painted pets, but to find a pet with a horrible name or perhaps with a disease. What this owner can do is adopt one of these pets, feed him or her until the pet is comfortably full, and heal the pet if the pet has a disease. There are two ways to do this; you could either buy the cure, or go to the Healing Springs every thirty minutes and hope that the kind faerie there will heal the pet.

Most importantly, The Petpet Project involves buying your new pet a petpet.

The petpet doesn't have to be expensive. An Abominable Snowball will do just fine. I'm a fan of Altachucks and, lately, Searexes. But the significant part about this petpet is that instead of having the pet be lonely in the pound for the time it is cramped up in there, the pet will have a friend to talk to. The petpet will even be carried over when the pet is adopted!

Yes, I am talking about pounding the pet again. It may be torture for the poor pet to go back there, but the pet is better off. The pet is full, happy, and healthy, with a lifelong companion by its side as it journeys off to a hopefully better life.

It is sad to have to abandon the pet again, especially after the pet has tasted freedom, but this is the way it works. If you want to keep the pet, I applaud you! But The Petpet Project isn't just to provide homes for the homeless pets. The Petpet Project is to ensure that the horror of the lonely, damp pound is lessened because the pet now has a friend.

The Petpet Project also helps the pets find new homes. A petpet increases the chances of a pet being adopted, like it or not. This way, hopefully these pets with companions can be adopted sooner, making their time in the pound even more pleasant!

Have any pets been helped so far?

Yes, but not too many. I've helped two so far, Tombo (for the new owners' privacy, I won't give out their full names) the Red Gelert and Kira the Blue Kacheek. Tombo was given an Abominable Snowball as his petpet, and later released back to the pound. Within an hour, Tombo was adopted. He now has a great new owner, three siblings, and he has been repainted green. At the time of this writing, I'm visiting the Healing Springs repeatedly to try and heal Kira from her bout of Neomonia. She is full and has a brand new Searex.

I don't know why, but I named both Tombo's petpet and Kira's petpet Companion. I guess it's because that's what the petpet is intended for. =D

This is a fairly new project, so it hasn't helped many neopets yet. But, with all of YOUR help, we could change the way the pound pets live forever! More pets could get homes, or at least have a lifelong friend to share the pain of the pound with.

What can I do?

It's really easy. As I stated before, you can search the pound for a poorly-named or sick pet. Once you adopt them, you can feed them. I generally use omelettes or whatever food I have for that day, but it's really up to you what you give them. Then you can heal them, if necessary. Finally you can go out and shop with them for a friendly friend of friends; a petpet. After discovering the perfect petpet, giving it to the pet, and giving it a name, you can wave good-bye to the pet and hope that soon he'll find a perfect home.

That's all for now, folks!

The Petpet Project is just starting. Few pound pets are fully fed. Few of them have friends. Most stare at the ceiling of their cages wondering how this could have happened to them. But we can change that. If we can't ensure that they get great homes, at least we can ensure that they get a nice meal and a fantastic friend.

I hope that you all take my challenge. Help out the pound pets of the world! Give them friends that will last a lifetime.

Okay, so here's an addition to the challenge; for those of you who have less than four pets, try to adopt three pets in the next week. Feed them and give them a petpet. Soon enough they'll find their way to a home, with their best friend at their side!

Thanks for reading. Chair signing out! I hope The Petpet Project helps at least a few of the pound pets!

Get out there and start helping out!