A Haven for Cats in the Heart of Orlando: An Interview with the Orlando Pet Alliance

Written by: LaQuita Brown  | Photography: Angela Ramirez

Parramore Avenue is home to many thriving businesses that help enrich the Orlando area– but did you know that there is a cat-centric organization in the heart of the city?  The Orlando Cat Shelter is one of three locations of the Orlando Pet Alliance of Central Florida, which has the following mission:

Mission: Pet Alliance educates, shelters, places, and heals pets and their families with compassionate, responsible care maintained to the highest professional standards.

The shelter and Pet Alliance offers many services and volunteer, foster family, and donation opportunities to help serve the animal community in Central Florida. 

Rodney Purvis, the Community Outreach Manager, explains the mission of the shelter and its contribution to the area.

“We have a very large TNVR program which is Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return,” he explains. A community member can trap a feral cat and bring them to the shelter for neuter/spaying and vaccination services to help maintain a healthy local cat population. Often, though, the cats are ready to find their forever homes rather than live outside: “Many of the cats and kittens we receive come from this program,” Rodney notes.

Aside from the Parramore shelter, there are two other Pet Alliance locations: an Alafaya location and a Sanford location, which houses both cats and dogs. The Sanford and Alafaya locations have a full clinic where they can perform spays, neuters, vaccinations, and so forth. 

The shelter partners with other local community organizations; for example, last year, the Orlando Pride soccer team made a calendar that featured dogs from the Pet Alliance! Children that are part of the Parramore Kids Zone program have also visited the Shelter to play and learn about cats.

The Cat Shelter is a fantastic entity supporting animals in Parramore, and one of the many pieces that make the community great. “There’s a lot of really cool stuff about the area,” Rodney says, “I think a lot of people do not realize it’s around.” 

Visit the Pet Alliance Website for more information or to sign up to volunteer.