Kadie Wright cleans out Pepper's cage and litter box before opening the Re Pets Store Monday morning in Bowling Green, Ky. Kadie has worked off and on at RePets since the store opened with six dogs in October, 2007. WIth the store closing soon the RePets has been turing away animals and referring them to the Warren County Animal Shelter. ARMANDO L. SANCHEZ/ HERALD

RePets, an animal rescue and adoption center located in Bowling Green, is attempting to stand out among similar centers by billing itself as a “recycled pet store,” according to its Web site.

But the center is facing financial difficulty that could hurt its operations.

The center takes in rescued animals and allows owners who are unable to take care of their pets to relinquish them. But due to overcrowding, RePets currently cannot accept those pets.

The center survives mostly on adoption fees, sales from their thrift store and donations, employee Mary Langford said.

RePets will be closing at the end of February because they are struggling to pay their lease, employee Matt Miller said. They hope to reopen sometime in March.

RePets aims to give a home to animals that may have never known one.

“Our main goals are to rescue animals, educate the public and provide a better home environment for animals who may not have had a second chance,” Langford said.

RePets has several types of animals available for adoption, including dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and ferrets.

“We are a rescue, so if it is a domestic animal, we will take it,” Langford said.

Rescued animals are important to RePets, and its employees help bring them to the center.

“We drive up to an hour and a half to surrounding counties to animal shelters and look at the animals that are about to be euthanized and pull the ones that are highly adoptable and bring them back here,” Miller said.

RePets is also dedicated to raising awareness about spaying and neutering animals.

“In the U.S. over eight million animals are euthanized every year, because there are so many dogs and cats that there is no possible way that there are going to be homes for all of them,” Miller said. “So, it doesn’t make sense to continually breed animals when there are more animals than there are people to own them.”

In addition to their rescue efforts, the center is trying to raise awareness about the impact of animal adoption and the dangers of “puppy mills,” a term used to describe by animal rights supporters to describe businesses that breed dogs in inhumane conditions.

“The only goal of ‘puppy mills’ is to make money,” Miller said. “There is no regard for animal welfare at all.”

RePets has held several fundraising events to pay veterinary bills and other expenses.

A concert by local folk band Watersprite was held at Greener Groundz Coffee and Cafe on Jan. 15. RePets collected more than $100 in donations, Langford said.

RePets is currently holding what it calls “Puppy Poo Bingo.”

Customers can purchase a square on a large sheet for $5. On Feb. 20, a rescued dog will be brought in, and the owner of the first square the dog “poos” on will win a cash prize.

The center receives additional money through the RePets thrift store. The store sells used goods and all the purchases and donations are used to fund RePets.

The Capitol Arts Center in downtown Bowling Green will host the “We Care” concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, said Alan Simpson, local attorney and event coordinator. Concert proceeds will go to the American Red Cross.

The show will feature three local bands: Andy and the Rockers, Skip Bond and the Fugitives and The Tyrone Dunn Experiment. The event is sponsored by the Bowling Green Warren County Bar Association, Simpson said.

Doors will open at 6 p.m and tickets will be sold at the door for $20. Seating is on a first come first serve basis.

Bowling Green becomes a home for some students while they are at Western.

Some alumni reminisced about places they frequented as students.

• Courtney Mims, a 2008 graduate who lives in Memphis, Tenn., said the Great American Doughnut Shop, at 901 U.S. 31W, is her favorite place to visit when she comes to Bowling Green.

While at Western, she frequented GADS during sleepless nights, she said. There she and her friends contemplated how they could finance adventurous road trips on the limited funds of a college student.

Mims said she hasn’t forgotten the GADS employees.

“I feel that they never sleep,” she said. “There are always the same people there, day or night.”

• Elizabethtown resident Jennifer Underwood, who graduated in 1997, said Mariah’s, at 801 State St., is her favorite place to visit because she thinks it has the best food in town.

“It really doesn’t feel like I’ve been to Bowling Green unless I go,” she said.

She said she doesn’t always order the same thing at Mariah’s, but her favorite is the fried mushroom appetizer.

• Nashville resident Steve Hopper, who graduated in 2005, said he thinks Mariah’s welcomes everyone from bankers and lawyers to average college students.

“The staff and homey feel at Mariah’s sticks out to me,” he said.

Hopper also has fond memories of Froggy’s, at 1265 College St. He said Froggy’s has evolved a lot over the years. It used to be called Baker Boys.

“I kind of grew up with it,” he said. “It’s the quintessential campus pub.”

• Ameerah Cetawayo, who graduated in 2005 and now lives in Albany, N.Y., said she loves Chaney’s Dairy Barn, at 9191 Nashville Road.

She said she sometimes buys it for her New York friends and her family who live in Louisville.

Cetawayo said Chaney’s Dairy Barn became her favorite place in Bowling Green during her senior year at Western. Then, as a business reporter for the Bowling Green Daily News, the owners became some of her favorite people to interview.

“Chaney’s is an awesome force of tasty food and Kentucky Proud products,” Cetawayo said.

• Owensboro resident Laura Mathis, a 1985 graduate, said she likes to look over the city of Bowling Green from Van Meter Hall on campus.

“From up there, usually around homecoming time, it is beautiful to look out over the city, “ Mathis said. “I feel so comfortable up there.”

Downtown Bowling Green has its fair share of dive bars where scatterbrained jukeboxes supply the music and student regulars spill and swallow equal amounts of beer.

But Fluid, a new nightclub on State Street, makes sure to distinguish itself from other bars, Executive Manager Bill Smrtic said.

“It’s a different feel than when you go to a bar somewhere and you kind of stick to the floor, and you feel like you have to burn your clothes and take a shower when you come home,” he said. “We wanted to do something clean and contemporary.”

Since Fluid opened in June, Smrtic and his wife and co-owner, Amy, have offered upscale entertainment every Tuesday through Saturday evening starting at 7 p.m.

Weekends at Fluid feature a live disc jockey who spins an eclectic assortment of tunes, Bill Smrtic said.

“It’s not just something you’re going to hear top 40 on the radio,” he said.

A spacious hardwood floor under a ceiling draped with white curtains gives clubgoers a place to dance in the glow of red, yellow and purple neon lights.

For clubgoers too timid to take a spin without a little liquid courage, Fluid has a custom drink menu featuring a green rum-based cocktail called “Kryptonite” and a famous Lemon Drop Martini, said Amy Smrtic, a 2004 Western graduate.

Bartenders are working on a custom shot menu, and a variety of beer and liquor are also available, she said. Fluid frequenters have learned to eat before they come because, as the name suggests, the club only serves liquids.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Fluid hosts live bands to offer a more relaxed environment during the mid-week rush, Bill Smrtic said.

But, overall, Fluid has one goal.

“We’re bringing big city to Bowling Green,” Amy Smrtic said.

Guests must be 21 or older, according to fluidbg.com. Women get in free every night, and men get in free Tuesday and Wednesday nights. There is a $5 cover charge Thursday through Saturday.

Fluid’s dress code is “stylishly elegant,” according to fluidbg.com.