Rover Rescue

They’re hardly typical pet store fare: a black cat named Sabrina, left with six lives, one eye and a permanent wink. Another named Hoover resting on a leg held together by several pins, the result of being hit by a car.

But there they were Saturday, lining the aisles of a Thousand Oaks pet supply store, waiting for new owners to take them home.

Each week, volunteers scour the local animal shelter for dogs and cats facing certain death. Then they bring the pound to the pet store--offering animals for adoption to customers browsing for chew toys or dog food at Petco on Hillcrest Drive.

“The majority of the animals we rescue come from the Camarillo shelter,” said L.I.F.E. Animal Rescue’s Shauna Bernie, 24. “We go there almost weekly and try to rescue what we can.”

Shauna, a full-time equestrian trainer, runs the animal rescue program with her 22-year-old sister, Emily, and their mother, Laurie, at the family’s Agoura ranch. The acronym L.I.F.E. stands for “Living Is For Everyone.”

At any given time, the family may have 25 dogs or cats at the ranch or farmed out to the group’s volunteers. “It’s basically a family-run animal rescue,” Shauna said.

Still, the shoestring organization placed nearly 400 cats and 200 dogs in new homes last year.

Petco--which sells supplies, not pets--allows such groups to use its aisles for adoptions at stores around the region. The Camarillo store supports a monthly rescue program, and an independent pet store in Simi Valley welcomes a similar program.

In Thousand Oaks, the Bernie sisters and about 15 volunteers in dark green T-shirts waited near the store entrance for potential pet owners, as they do each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Some stroked full-grown dogs dozing on the cool linoleum floor or cuddled one of several German shepherd/Rottweiler mix puppies huddled in a wire pen.

A few aisles back, near a display of doggie chew toys, cats of all sizes and colors attentively watched passersby while Shauna counseled a mother and daughter who were giving up their two felines because they were moving to England, which has strict animal quarantine laws.

While the two sullenly bid goodbye to their calico cats, Shauna took in a quick burst of asthma spray from a pocket inhaler. Though she has handled dozens of cats every day for the past four years, Shauna is allergic to them.

So is Cheryl Salant, 51, of Oak Park, who volunteers more than 20 hours each week boarding, feeding and cleaning up after rescued cats and running them to the veterinarian for shots and other medical care.

“We love animals and we want to find the right homes for them,” Salant said. “We work really hard to place the right animal in the right home for everybody’s sake.”

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While many animals rescued by the Bernies and other volunteers are the result of unwanted litters or somehow no longer fit in with their former owners’ lives, others bear scars from difficult pasts.

Volunteers tell stories about other injured animals that managed to find new owners through L.I.F.E. Animal Rescue: dogs with three legs and behavior problems, and cats who were deaf or blind.

“A lot of them have gone through so much in their lives,” said 14-year-old Katie Arkin, who earned a community service award from Agoura High School for her work caring for animals. “We want to make the rest of their lives better and help them along,” she said.

Donations help fund the care and feeding of rescued animals. Those wishing to adopt a dog or cat are charged a fee of about $85, which includes vaccinations, spaying or neutering, and helps cover the cost of care.

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People adopting an animal too young to be fixed are asked to leave a deposit with the Bernies, which is refunded after the pet owner presents written proof of the operation.

“The thing we stress the most with people is spaying and neutering,” Emily Bernie said. “We’d love not to do this. . . . the population out there is overwhelming. It’s incredible.”

One lucky puppy, a spindly black and tan mutt with pointy ears, found a new home Saturday afternoon after winning the heart of 27-year-old Donna Plourd of Woodland Hills and her roommate, Sabrina Kunce, 29.

“We’ve been looking and looking and came here,” Plourd said. “We’re going to make her part of the family first; then we’ll figure out the best name for her.”

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Places to Adopt Cats, Dogs

* L.I.F.E. Animal Rescue offers cats and dogs for adoption every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Thousand Oaks Petco, 104 W. Hillcrest Drive. 373-6229.

L.I.F.E. Animal Rescue is also seeking volunteers willing to donate two months of time raising and caring for new litters. For information, or to place a cat or dog for adoption, call Shauna Bernie at (818) 707-6186, or Emily Bernie at (818) 701-2007.

Other pet supply stores offering dogs and cats for adoption include:

* Petco in Camarillo, 177 W. Ventura Blvd. 384-5435.

H.A.R.T. Mutt Matchers of Fillmore offers pets at the store the third Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

* Theresa’s Country Pet & Feed Store, 1836 Erringer Road, Simi Valley. 583-3599.

The Animal Rescue Volunteers of Simi Valley offer kittens for adoption at the store every Wednesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m., and puppies every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.