378-Thousand Orphaned Pets go "Home 4 the Holidays"! Rancho Santa Fe, CA - Clean water, their own personal food bowls, and families to wait on them "hand and paw". Life couldn't be better for the record number of pets adopted during the 8th annual Iams Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive. These 378,764 dogs, cats, and other animals now begin each morning with love and compassion.instead of the threat that it might be their last. "Our goal of 350,000 adoptions during the holiday season was pretty aggressive," says Helen Woodward Animal Center spokesman John Van Zante. "But we knew it was possible if families understood how important it was to visit their local shelters instead of buying 'puppy mill' pets from stores." The breakdown of adoptions had dogs leading cats at the end of the drive: Dogs & Puppies: 186,987 Cats and Kittens: 172,016 Other pets: 19,761 Helen Woodward Animal Center found families for 399 pets (232 dogs and puppies, 167 cats and kittens) during Iams Home 4 the Holidays 2006. Overall Iams Home 4 the Holidays completed almost 50-thousand more adoptions this year than we did in 2005. Van Zante says that Iams Home 4 the Holidays 2006 passed the 1-1/2 million mark.. ending with 1,583,780 adoptions. "While we're proud of this number.we must never forget that Iams Home 4 the Holidays is successful ONE PET AT A TIME!" About 1,000 orphaned pets are waiting for their families to find them at animal shelters and pet rescue organizations in San Diego County. Van Zante reminds families to keep looking if they don't find their new pets right away. "I adopted my dog during the first Home 4 the Holidays drive in 1999. My only regret is that I didn't find him sooner. If your new pet is waiting in a shelter, don't make it sleep there one more night! Go find your pet and take it home today!" For more information or to locate shelters throughout San Diego County visit Helen Woodward Animal Center at 6461 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe, call 858-756-4117, or log on to www.animalcenter.org.