Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on May 3rd, we have found homes for Mini Martha, Daisy, Pam, Dusty (and he was returned and we found a home for him again), Dude (and he was returned and we found a home for him again too!), Winston, Amber, Jane, Sugar, Rain, Brownie, Louis, Haley, Momma, Farah, Alley, Nico, Randy, Kane, River, Betty, Jimmy, Bronson, Harrison and one cat – Raina! Good luck in your new homes furries!
Dog Update:
| We are busy getting all our dogs outside. We are still short runs though. We build very large, spacious runs and put 2-3 dogs in each (as long as they get along with other dogs of course). We really HATE having dogs in the kennel and with the weather so nice we need to try to get them out. Can you help donate money for us to get all the outside needs set up? We need dog fencing, plastic pools for all the runs, more kuranda beds, larger buckets for water, and shade/water tarping for the top of the runs. We are trying to raise $2083 to do this and have set up a Chip In program to reach our goal.You all probably read about Monique, the pregnant dog that arrived here. She gave birth to ten beautiful, healthy puppies and is doing very well, as are all her pups. They will be ready to go in about three weeks and we’ll post some pics as the time gets closer. Check out John’s “puppy minute” – a video of Monique and the new pups. |
John and Carmine continue to install the dog doors. You have no idea how much work they have done. They are often here until past eleven o’clock at night. Almost all the dogs have their swinging dog door, but for their (and the staff’s) safety, Carmine and John are installing the type that can not be breached on the other side. It’s a lot of work and they are at it every single week. I can’t thank them both enough. It’s just amazing how dedicated they are. Remember – they are volunteers. They spend all this time and all this work and effort here out of their love for animals and nothing else. Thanks guys.
Bindi is doing VERY well. She was the dog that came to us with such severe chewing issues that we couldn’t find her a bed that she didn’t destroy. After the third kuranda bad (even COATED with bitter apple) we came to the conclusion that she just couldn’t have one. She also couldn’t go into an outside run because she chewed through the chain link. Then we tried her in the wooden runs and she chewed through those. Hey – anyone want a dog? OK, well, we finally raised some money (thank you donors!) to buy her a Priefert run so now she can go outside and she is VERY happy out there. She is right next to Scrappy and Cam and has no problems with either – she even has play dates with both of them (here is a video John took of her first playdate with Cam). Still no bed or shelter though. She chewed right through the Igloo house and then a wooden dog house. One day I look out and Juan and Marcos are dragging cinder blocks back there. What for? Well, they HAND BUILT her a cinder block dog house. It’s all done now and Bindi finally has a shelter that she hasn’t chewed up. Then John bought her some indestructible balls – she destroyed one, but she still has the other. Whew. We’re trying! Some dogs are tougher to please than others. Seriously – anyone want a dog? (smile).
We’ve started to become a resource for the animal control officers in the area. When the shelters they normally bring to are full they are bringing their overflow to us. So far we’ve adopted out three of the four dogs that animal control has brought us. Pets Alive has a 99% placement rate for our dogs. We’re doing great in placing dogs. We still have some of the old timers here though. April – it’s just crazy that she is still here, she is a WONDERFUL dog. OK, Lincoln and Bonesy and Valentino are tough but April needs to get a home. An FYI for all those that love Bingo. Bingo is very sick. He has cancer and isn’t expected to survive long. Please come and say goodbye to him in the next few weeks.
While we are on the subject of dogs….have you checked our forums and blog lately?
Recently, Matt tackled breed specific legislation in his blog entry “Canine Gestapo in Ohio“.
It’s a great read. Don’t miss it.
Cat Update:
Missy continues to improve. We’re all pretty relieved because for a while we thought we were going to lose her. She rallied though and she’s doing exceptionally well and we think she’ll be fully recovered soon. She’s even tolerating Nemo (pictured right) in “HER” kitchen!
In other cat news, we actually took in three cats this past month. I know, I know, we always say we aren’t taking in any, but the circumstances were such that I couldn’t look the other way. One of those has already been adopted too! One of the others came from a neighbor that had to go into an assisted living facility. He was no longer able to care for himself or his cat, and we felt that if we can’t help our neighbors, who CAN we help? So little Gretchen, who it turns out is FIV positive and is also deaf – is with us now. What a sweetheart she is. She’ll be going to our FIV room as soon as she is out of quarantine.
Unfortunately, we also lost one of our FIV cats this month. Harley has passed on after struggling for many weeks with a respiratory illness. Additional unfortunate news is that one of our cats, Pepper is seriously ill. She started throwing up and we got her to the vet who could find nothing wrong. Blood work all came back with no problems, but then she stopped eating entirely. Our vet is doing surgery on her today to see if they can find a cause for her troubles. Please wish her luck, we’re all really concerned about her.
We also said goodbye to one of our cat caretakers – Chris – and hired one of our volunteers. You all remember Lace right? She and her mom took Badgee and got him all straightened out? Well Lace has joined us now as a cat caretaker. Dale is thrilled. You’ve also never seen this place so clean. Both of them work their fannies off and are fun to be with. Welcome aboard Lace!
Horse Update
Blackie is doing wonderfully. He doesn’t even notice he is missing an eye any more and isn’t even spooky on that side. Today I even rubbed the healed skin there. He is still underweight though and still needs extra grooming, but the staff has been grooming and bathing him a few times a week to try to help his skin condition – he has terrible skin and coat, and really needs regular grooming care. He is so spunky though, for an old horse. A few weeks after he got all his bandages off I was grooming him and trying to shed out his winter coat. He’s so old, and frail, and thin and he only has one eye for goodness sake – that I felt safe in leaving the barn door a little ajar behind me. Mind you this is a HEAVY wooden door that I have to lean my weight into to move. So here we are and I stop to pet another horse that came up to the fence and Blackie seizes that moment to turn around, toss his head and throw open the door and take off! I was so stunned! I raced after him but he made it across the field, up the driveway and started down the road! Juan and Marcos were in a pasture clearing horse manure and saw him go by and both leapt over the fence and ran after him. Darn it I have never seen Marcos move so fast. He BOOKED down the road, catching up to Blackie and got his halter and turned him about. Whew. I am always so thankful to have Juan and Marcos around. They never even paused to note me chasing Blackie – they just saw him free and took off after him.
We also had Francis escape this week. At 6 am the Wallkill police came banging on the door. Francis – a HUGE draft horse we have – was grazing along the side of the road. YIKES! We put him in a new pasture across the street, and it has electric fence on it – but we didn’t have it charged. I hate to charge a fence if there is no need and we never had any problem with these guys before and we didn’t think we would. They’d been there for over a month already with no escape attempts. Alas there he was with the morning commuters and thankfully the cop that was called was a horse enthusiast. He and John (who happened to be staying here for the night) were able to round him up and then I got there and moved him back with his girl, Mary.
Please come out and help tend to our horses. We have ten of them here and all of them could use some socialization, grooming, bathing and care. We can’t get Katy to come EVERY week ya know. This picture is of Marcos and Chris washing Devil. The horses love to be bathed in this weather. We started using a great product called EQ Solutions so no more buckets and sponges. I use this on my horses at home and it’s a great product. You just attach the sprayer to the hose, spray on the foam, let it sit a minute or two and hose it off. ANYONE can wash horses now with this method – it’s safe and fun and the horses love it. While I’m at it, if anyone wants to buy some of it for us and donate it, you can get it anywhere on the web, but this place offers free shipping.
Maureen is still with us. She continues to drop weight but she still eats voraciously. She also enjoys the company of the three other horses she is with, LOVES grazing and being brushed and groomed. Even though she is super thin now, we still think her quality of life is such that she isn’t ready to leave us. We’ve added beet pulp and corn oil to her diet and she is fed three huge meals a day plus unlimited hay and grass, but her cancer is such that nothing seems to keep weight on her. I just wanted you to know that she is doing well though at least mentally and emotionally.
Thank you volunteers:
Thank you to our volunteers this month. Data entry, dog walkers, cat litter pick ups, cat area help, Sam’s Club runs, fence and barn painting were all done by our loyal and dedicated supporters this month. We are starting a Volunteer Appreciation Program too. Stay tuned for details!
Current Needs:
Our current needs are volunteers. Where are you? We have our few regulars that come every week and to them we are eternally grateful…but we, and they, need your help. Volunteers have dropped off tremendously. Where are you? Did you only come because this was a Best Friends run operation for some time? Was it about that, and NOT the animals? Is it the weather? Gasoline prices? Did we not appreciate you or make you feel unwelcome? We need you! Grass and weeds are as tall as our chests, there are no flowers planted this year. The fences and barn are in desperate need of painting (and pressure washing in the barn). We still need on-site data entry and filing assistance. The beautiful cemetery and dog path are becoming overgrown and weedy. That – is truly the most beautiful section of Pets Alive. Our staff simply can not do it all. If all of that is too much work, or too ugly – then how about just walking some dogs or helping to socialize some of our feral cats. We need you folks. Tell us what we can do to make your day here better or what we can do to encourage you to continue to come down and help us.
Our current physical needs are sanitizing bath mats. We need four – to put in front of each section of the kennel and medical office to make sure we don’t spread disease and infection from one section of our isolation wards to others.
We also need slip leads – half inch diameter. They can be found here. Also note to volunteers – these seem to walk off accidentally all the time – if you find them in your car or at home can you please bring them back!
Upcoming events:
A walk to honor Aileen Hurley
In October of last year a very special person passed away. Her name was Aileen Hurley and she was a terrific champion for animals. Her family and friends sent donations to Pets Alive in lieu of flowers. Recently her friends have established the ‘Aileen Hurley Foundation’, and on September 7th at 9:30 am, there will be a walk in her memory. Pets Alive will be the recipient of the contributions collected. Aileen was a NY city detective and was loved throughout her community. We are hoping this event will be a great success and invite you to lend your support, or attend the event. The 5 mile walk goes from Trinity Irish Pub (573 Gramatan Ave in Fleetwood, NY) to The Garth Road Inn (96 Garth Road in Scarsdale, NY). You can walk, bike, roller blade, bring your kids, bring your pets – whatever you like! You can make a donation toward this event from our website.
A Furry Tail Evening with Rob Thomas – will be held on October 26th at the Saw Mill Club. This is invitation only and we are unsure of all the details at this point. We do know that Marisol Thomas, her mom Maria and their staff has been working like crazy to organize and set up this event. There will be a concert with Rob and his solo band, a silent auction (where they will be auctioning off such things as a tennis date with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf), and then a day of tennis the next day at the club. It’s going to be a HUGE event and we need every penny. Frankly if it was not for Marisol doing this for us, Pets Alive may well close down. We can’t ever thank them enough. These are people that really DO what they say. It isn’t lip service – they love animals and they are doing everything they can to help us save over 500 animals a year.
Please consider helping us continue our mission
of finding homes for animals in need!