RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) – Team Fluff and Team Ruff are set to go head-to-head in the 2025 Puppy Bowl.
Sunday’s Super Bowl companion event features 142 rescue dogs from 80 shelters in 40 states — including Vermont — as well as a dog from Nicaragua. The pups score touchdowns on the gridiron with a human referee.
But the ultimate prize comes after the big game for rescue pets, and a kitten from The Feline Connection will participate in the show. The Rutland nonprofit fosters homeless cats as they wait for adoption.
The organization’s Kirsten Davenport says they were approached by Animal Planet as a way to showcase new shelters and organizations. “They were looking for areas and states they haven’t covered before and they found us and thought that we would be a good match for their program,” she said. “We have many cats. We have about 102 available for adoption so we’d love to get many of our cats adopted and have a much wider adopter pool.”
You can learn more about the mystery kitten during the Puppy Bowl’s halftime show.