Every rescue pet has a story. Some were found wandering the streets, some were surrendered by families who couldn’t care for them anymore, and some spent months in a kennel waiting for someone to notice them.
Shelter Pets is a small company that turns those stories into stuffed animals. Every plush in the collection is modeled after a real pet that was adopted from a shelter or rescue somewhere in the U.S., and each one comes with a hang tag telling its story. You can go to their website and see photos of the real animal next to the plush version.
Chops, for example, is a Labrador and Border Collie mix who was adopted from ARF in Wheaton, Illinois. Oakland is a husky mix from Scott County Animal Rescue in Davenport, Iowa. The collection has grown to eight dogs, four cats, a fox, a horse, a raccoon, a bunny, and even a rat.
Here’s the best part. For every Shelter Pet sold, 10% of net sales goes back to the shelter that real animal was adopted from. The company says that works out to most of its profit, and that it has donated more than $50,000 to shelters and sanctuaries since it started in 2017.
They’re 10 inches, soft and cuddly, and about $22 on Amazon. One reviewer said her kids loved theirs because it looked so much like their own dog. And if you’ve adopted a pet of your own, you can submit them to be considered for a future series.
Buy Chops on Amazon, or see Oakland and the rest of the collection.