Sanctuary animal updates:
Since my last update on June 14th (has it been THAT long? I’m sorry!), the following dogs were adopted: Posey, Harold, Rusty, Boogey, Jackson, Racer, Dilly, Jethro, Possum, Sasha, Borus, Koasha, Lucy, Luke, Sebastian, Kibbles, Patches, Spot, White Foot, Lil Bit, Sebastian again, Brownie, Twila, Boogie, Peanut, Bunker (again but again returned, poor guy!), Johnny, Van, Buddy, Fresco, Lizzie, Spangle, Little Richie, Cade, Rocky, Misty, Bengal, Pauly, Teona, Rosemary, Rachel, Poppy, Choco, Pilgrim, Buddy2, Tor, Shu, Shea, Lady, Orlando, Buddy3, Chase, Rico, Carrie, Penny, Celia, Dinky, Doty, Pepsi, Bibi, Brownie2, Yogi, Pumpkin, Layla, Lady2, Tinkerbell, Penny, Cupid and Edison. 69 dogs? Not too bad!

Valentino needed a dental this month and while he was “under” staff asked Dr. Furman’s office if they could run over and shave him down! Valentino tends to be a might bit “grouchy” so trying to shave his chow hair without him (or us) being anesthetized is not an easy feat. Seemed like the perfect time to get it done. When he woke up he was NOT happy and he is STILL mad at us. Oh well. He is a lot cooler now and no mats!
Volunteers were at it again, dressing up Cam in a tutu and then having him stand up. Too funny. Poor Cam. Secretly he loves all the attention they give him, but the male staff here groan with horror whenever they do this. Keep in mind this dog was once so vicious we had to feed him through a funnel in his kennel. Now he is so happy and funny and loving. He recently made a new friend in Anthony Trott who has been coming down to spend extra time with him.
Biggie Smalls continues to do better and lose weight. This was a dog that came in 55 pounds overweight. So far he has lost about 20-25 pounds of that weight and we encourage you to take him for short walks. He also LOVES attention and petting and lots of people will just sit with him at the picnic table. He really enjoys it. Do we need to caution? NO TREATS!
Big adoption news is that Peanut has gone to his new home. Peanut was a dog that we had here that was an extremely difficult placement. He had very severe separation anxiety. In past homes he had chewed through garage doors, thrown himself through plate glass windows, and chewed through both metal and plastic crates. He had hurt himself not just physically but emotionally as well. Every night Chris would take him home so that he would not be alone, but it was stressful since she could not go out, or shopping unless Kristin was home to be with Peanut. Solution? Peanut has gone to live at a nursing home. How perfect is that solution? He is well mannered, obedient and house trained. Perfect for them. In regards to his needs, he will never have to be alone as the home is staffed 24 hours a day, and he can attach himself to many people. So far he has been there a week and he is having a bit of a rough time because the people he attached to are day staff and when they leave at night he has become stressed. So now they are working with him to attach him to some of the residents, and many leave their rooms open at night so he can come and go. We are really hoping that this works for him and that the coming weeks will have him settling down even more. Keep your fingers crossed, we will keep you posted.
General Updates:

We have come close to getting the fencing money raised. Hopefully we can order it soon and get a group to come up for a day or two to help put it all up! If you can help, make sure that you’re on our volunteer mailing list please (different from this one).
Marcos and Amber (dog staff) had a baby! It was a happy and healthy little boy, their second one. His name is Gabriel and I have yet to see him but hear he’s utterly adorable. Make sure you give him a big high five when you see him! His email is: marcos@petsalive.com.
Welcome to Gene, our new Marketing and PR volunteer, to Lynette, our new Merchandise Coordinator volunteer, and to Trudy, a long time volunteer and supporter who is now an official “Greeter”.
Rob Thomas’ new CD has come out. It’s really great and tickets for his upcoming concert tour are already on sale. Sidewalk Angels recently announced that $1.00 from the sale of every concert ticket in the U.S. will be donated to them. Since Sidewalk Angels is our MAIN benefactor (they gave us $200,000 last year which has let us make it to now), this can only mean great things for us too. So if you have not gotten your tickets yet, go see Rob!
You can also check out the new album here.
Thank you to all who attended the first meeting of the Fundraising/Event Committee: Fran, Evelyn, Kim, Andrea, Roxanne, Ken, Joy. The next meeting will be held on August 14 at 7pm. If you are interested in being part of this committee, please email joy@petsalive.com.
The new Pets Alive Humane Education program will begin in September, thanks to volunteers Ken and Wendy. Classes will be on Saturdays, children age 6-12 from 10:30 am until 12pm, and children age 13-17 from 12:30 until 3pm. The program is free and open to all. To sign-up or for more information, please email joy@petsalive.com.
Intakes:

Since putting up a big sign out front advertising that we are Pets Alive, we have had an increased number of animals DUMPED outside. We are installing cameras and have put up signs that this is a crime, punishable by up to six months in jail and a thousand dollar fine. It still is happening though but I assure you if we catch people we WILL prosecute. So this month we found a mama cat, and two kittens across the street. The kittens were in very bad shape and we almost lost one of them. Both are doing pretty well now though and we expect them to make a full recovery. We also took in four other kittens this week and they are absolutely adorable and healthy thanks to Sonya who rescued them and vetted them. They will be available for adoption next week.
We also had an additional young cat that was dumped here, and that one had severe neurological issues. We did everything we could but then it started to have severe seizures, continuously with almost no break in between and it was not treatable. We had to let the poor little one go. This was such a sweet cat. We all felt so awful. So in total we took in eight cats this month. Probably a record for us as we rarely adopt out cats (let’s hope the kittens will draw some quick attention!)
In regards to dogs, of course we took in a slew of them. Itty Bitty Pitty came to us from Ohio (that is Itty in the picture above with Becky!), we also took in two shar peis (local – woman lost her work visa and had to go back overseas), a senior dog Jack (woman lost her home and is struggling to find an inexpensive place that will allow her to reclaim her dog), seven dogs from Kentucky, a pit bull dog from local shelter, a mixed breed from a local shelter (their time was up), 22 dogs from Ohio (the APL was over run with dogs and asked us to help so they could remain no-kill!), six dogs South Carolina, Peety – a sweet pit girl, and we had a black and white pit bull dumped on our grounds. Matt named her Oreo and she is young and very sweet.
Animal Updates or Issues:
Unfortunately in the past six weeks we lost three animals at Pets Alive. Pudgy and Lucy were both cats and Lucy had been sick for some time. It was really sad to lose these two. They had spent almost their entire lives living in the shelter and I always find that a terrible travesty that these animals never had the love and warmth of a home. Thankfully we have a fabulous and loving staff here and a lot of wonderful and affectionate volunteers to shower them with love, but still, I so wish they could have enjoyed a home at least once in their lives.
We also lost a very special dog, Shea. Shea had technically been adopted and the adopters took her even though we knew she was sick and explained to them that we were unsure of what was wrong yet. They loved her so much they didn’t care – they would take her right to their vet and start treatments for her. Unfortunately she continued to get worse and worse and eventually she had to be euthanized to spare her any more suffering. It was really traumatic for us all. We still do not know cause of death but the vets feel she either contracted rabies or distemper. EITHER of these were avoidable if she had just been vaccinated by her previous owner. Sometimes when dogs come to us it is the FIRST time they ever get vaccinated in their lives. These two vaccinations are very critical to your dog’s health and if you have puppies, parvovirus is also critical. It isn’t really a choice folks. Many people have strong opinions about over-vaccinating and I also agree with that and not necessarily vaccinating elderly pets…but distemper will KILL your dog. Rabies will KILL your dog. It is really important that you get these done to help your dog build up immunity in case they come in contact with it. Shea was an AMAZINGLY special dog. She touched all our hearts deeply and in the very short time we had her, we all fell madly in love with her. She didn’t have to die. It was senseless and cruel. RIP Shea. I am so glad that you went home with this family to have at least some small part of your life wrapped in love.
Horse Updates:

Thank you to EVERYONE who wrote and showed up for our protest about the cruelty case of Suzi and Whiskey. Thanks to all of your calls and letters the ADA handed this over to the felony unit for review and Lee could be charged with FELONY ABUSE!! This is GREAT NEWS! All the details can be found here: http://petsalive.com/leecruelty.htm – WARNING – graphic pictures if you scroll down. Read the update at the top and skip the pictures! (you will be happy you did).
Upcoming Events or Fundraisers

• We received an email from One Meaning Couture. A really interesting and different company. They are seriously committed to giving back and are promoting Pets Alive for the whole month of August. Make sure you read and understand the meaning of the 813 (hence the 8.13%) and buy some jewelry. I already have – the quality is great and the designs are really unique:We are so proud to announce that our Charity of the Month for August is Pets Alive! We will be contributing 8.13% of all proceeds for August to this truly wonderful no-kill animal shelter that does so much to protect animals and help find suitable and loving homes for all breeds of animals in desperate need of kindness and care. One Meaning is honored to be able to lend support to such a noble and compassionate cause. We have taken a strong interest in Pets Alive and foresee a long relationship with them. We’ve started the chain of compassion for animals by sponsoring Cupid, a little peek-a-poo who is blind and needs a little special care. Check out our Pets page, inspired by our new Charity of the Month, to view the Twitter feed of Pets Alive and get up-to-the-minute information on how to help animals. Thank you for your support! Let your love fly!
  
• October 17th, 7:30 PM – Dancing for Dogs – and Cats, Horses and more!
  For Choreographer Liz Geyer, the subject is “Rescue”. For Pets Alive, a no kill sanctuary for pets and farm animals, it is the same. Pets Alive is in the business of rescuing animals. Ms Geyer is hosting a fundraising benefit dance performance for the sanctuary on October 17 at the Paramount Theater in Middletown. All proceeds after expenses will be donated to Pets Alive and will help care for the many animals they rescue every year. For Ms. Geyer it is a chance to give back. An avid dog lover, Ms Geyer adopted an eight year old spayed dog from a local humane society. The dog turned out to be four weeks pregnant, and five weeks later, gave birth to a litter of puppies in the basement of Ms Geyer’s home. Eight weeks later Pets Alive took the six fat, happy puppies in, gave them their shots, wormed and had them neutered, and quickly adopted them out. It all sounds so easy, but aside from the time, energy and care that goes into rescuing animals, it costs a lot of money. Adoption fees do not cover these expenses. So Ms Geyer, who was a dancer with the New York City Ballet and currently is a teacher and choreographer, decided to dedicate the proceeds of her next production to help fill the coffers of Pets Alive. Tickets will go on sale at the box office at the Paramount Theater in September. For more information, contact Liz at 845-258-1500 at her studio, or ballet@balletnut.com. The Paramount Theater is located at 17 South St., Middletown, NY.
  (Thank you Liz!!!!)

Current Needs:
Slip leads, Panacur dewormer (the big bottles of equine liquid has been working well for us!), human bug spray (the trail has been VERY buggy lately), Advantixx or Frontline for dogs, horse fly spray, wet wipes, apple wafers (treats for horses), fly catchers – ANY kind, clear swat, double end snaps, HP98 and 95 ink cartridges, bleach, black sharpie markers, ½” split keyrings, dog toys, stamps, 3-lb paper trays, paper towels, toilet bowl cleaner, Murphy’s Oil Soap and Libman wonder mopheads. We also need donations of yarn and craft supplies for our sewing club, empty computer ink cartridges (Staples will give Pets Alive $3 each for the empties). Thank you for your kind consideration on these items!
Pets Alive is in need of volunteers to fill the following positions:

1. Adoption Coordinator Assistant on Saturdays and/or Sundays.
2. Cat caretaker to help with cleaning on Wednesdays and/or Saturdays and/or Sundays from 10 am until 1pm.
3. Greeters to welcome visitors, conduct orientations, and show people around Saturday/Sundays (10am – 12 pm) or (12 pm – 2pm) Monday/Friday (10 am – 12 pm)
4. Group Project Coordinators to work with the various community groups that volunteer their services, helping them choose and carry out projects at Pets Alive.

If you have a weed whacker or know how to use one, we need you. The area by the feral cat houses is in desperate need, as are some of the horse pastures and the entrances to some of the paddocks across the street. If you can help, please just show up!
Thank you’s
Thank you to Michael over at Nestle-Purina for the five pallets of dog food they donated! The guys at the pick up site, Michael, and Purina have been so good to us.
Thank you to Biff and Darlene from Balance Hair Spa, (545 Wellington Square, Exton, PA 19341, (610) 458-2414, info@balancehairspa.com), for a HUGE donation (over $2000!) from the dog wash fund raiser that they held for us. These folks did everything – handled all the promotion, all the merchandise, the evtns needs- they were absolutely amazingly kind to us. Because it was over an hour and a half away we could not get there for the event and even THAT was ok with them. What an amazing group of people. Thank you guys.
Thank you to Desires by Mikolay for planning a fund raiser for us. We will give you more information about this as we get the details.
Huge thanks to Bryan Cole & Michael Stover who co-wrote a song Pets Alive! It hasn’t been released yet but will be soon. We’ve seen the lyrics and it is fabulous. Bryan is an avid animal lover and has several cats of his own. Through his involvement with Pets Alive, he and his long time friend and writing partner Michael Stover, penned a beautiful new song entitled “I’M COMIN HOME”, an uplifting, positive song featuring Bryan’s soaring vocal and guitar talents. “Michael Stover is an amazing songwriter and arrived at my studio with a solid foundation of the song. We put our thinking caps on and finished writing the lyrics and melody together and recorded a full production demo that we then sent off to Pets Alive.”
Thanks to Courtney and Jill, two ten year old girls that spent two months doing things to raise money and then bought things from our wishlist with everything they raised! YOU GO GIRLS!
Thank you to the Marriott in Middletown who discounted their normal rate of $169 a night to $109 for anyone that is volunteering at Pets Alive. Just mention our name for your discount!
Thank you so much to Northern Bear Pet Food and Supplies (845-651-7797, 475 Route 17a Florida, NY 10924) for the two big food donation of specialty foods. You guys are so great! Thank you for your continued support.
Thank you to all our twitter followers for donating Flicks and fly masks for the horses and toner. Our twitter friends are really supportive.
Thank you to Ferrell Hollow Farm for the fly spray and masks and care packages!
Thank you to Kathy Santo – dog trainer – for a really nice financial donation in her “Giving Back” campaign.
Lily Palmieri, a really great kid who asked for donations for the animals on her birthday instead of gifts for herself! Read more about her here.
Thank you to Marisol’s Dad, Gil, for painting the bathroom and deciding to come up weekly to help out!
Thank you to the amazing and incredible Linda Brink. She continues to help us with the birds here and trimmed Olivia’s beak for us this month. She always stays in touch and comes up at the drop of a hat to help the birds here. She was also instrumentive in getting felony charges against the owners of Whiskey and Suzi. Thank you for being you, Linda. You are such a force and we’re awed and inspired by you.
Thanks to Jake from Arzee Supply Corp in Middletown, NY for measuring the barn roof and providing a materials list for the Girl Scout project. A HUGE thank you to Amanda, Sarah and Stormy of Lakeland East Girl Scout troop 2537 for selecting Pets Alive as the recipient of their Gold Award projects. Sarah and Stormy will be renovating the feral cat houses, and Amanda will be replacing the barn roof and using her own carpentry skills to build hay stackers. We’ll update you about their progress over the coming months.
Thanks to the ladies at the Vernon Twsp Senior Center – Tina, Sue, Irene Daisy, Bunny, Fran and Gloria, and to Anna of Glenwood, NJ. These ladies have been crocheting cozy blankets for the dogs and cats. The love that goes into each one of these beautiful creations is amazing.
Thanks to Angela, Paul, Trudy, Rose, Toni, Evelyn, and Linda Eder fans for large financial dand onations this month. We REALLY needed it and we thank you so much.
Thank you to Becky, Toni, and Tony for doing transports for us this month!

Thank you to two groups – the Orange County Youth Leadership Academy and the Goodwill Church in Montgomery Bible School Day Camp who came down to volunteer for a day painting fences and playing with our dogs and cats!
Thank you to Nancy (you have been amazingly helpful!), Vera, Sandy, Trudy and Lisamarie (we’d never get through the weekend without you, welcome back!) for everything you do for us every week and for covering for Pam and Joy when they could not be here. You gals are the best!
Thank you to Janette T. for donating her 50/50 winnings from our July 4th raffle back to Pets Alive again. She won again, & donated it all back again! Thank you Janette.
Our alumni picnic was just GREAT! Many thanks to those who donated to the picnic: To ASTAR Heating and Air Conditioning, 845-692-4858, who supplied 250 lbs of ice; Travelin’ Sounds DJ Gordon Fiero, 845-386-5729, who livened things up and kept us from noticing the damp weather in the afternoon; John, who brought his sound system to kick things off in the morning; Barbara who lent us a much needed canopy, some coolers, and made a bean salad and some awesome cheesecakes as well; Marty and Lynette who gave us the loan of their beer buckets and brought wonderful brownies; Maryellen who brought a delicious ramen noodle and cabbage salad (recipe please, Mary Ellen!); Trudy, who brought Boca Burgers and rolls; Trish Anne for dropping off her healthy and yummy baked potato fries; Cathie for dropping off potato salad and a DEEElicious vegan chocolate cake; Cyndie for her wonderful brownies and vegetable platter; Kelly for bringing her kickin pasta salad; Alina for her marvelous baked beans; Liliana for a scrumptious potato salad and for bringing cups and the always needed paper towels; Alice for her baked beans and her dog treats (I hear both were delicious!) , to Matt for the soda and beer, and also to the Reverend Eleni for her wonderful dog treats. There was a tie for most creative cake, between Becky’s Kitty Litter Pan Cake (for the humans) and Chris’s Dog Bone Cake (for the dogs).
Thank you to all the wonderful people who donated their time to help make this event a success. First and foremost, the Reverend Eleni, who traveled from Queens to perform a Blessing of the Animals. We all were blessed to have her with us on this special day! Roxanne, who shopped til she dropped, Ken and Rob, aka grillmasters; Lisa, Susan, Alice, and Claudia,Katie and Jess, who helped with the setup and food service; Virginia and Alex, who made the day brighter with their marvelous face painting booth; LisaMarie and Kayla with their dog Bleu, who along with Kerri designed, painted and ran the Kissing Booth; Trudy and Catherine, who ran the Welcome table; Kory who took photos; Deb who tied ribbons and took photos; Marty who made sure everyone had a parking space when they arrived; Lynette who the ran merchandise table and the raffles; Rebecca, Brian and Leighann who escorted guests to their accommodations; Alisa who came all the way from Connecticut to help us setup, even though she couldn’t stay for the party – she was amazing.
A huge thank you to Marcos, Juan and Eddie – you guys did such a great job building the kissing booth, putting up tents, making the grounds look incredible, and then cleaning up afterwards! To Pam, Becky, Kerri thank you so much for working so hard to find photos of the dogs and take the time to recall a few memories of the dogs you knew best, and for making the wonderful cage cards; to Becky, for her thoughtfulness in organizing the service at the memorial garden for the animals who passed while waiting for their forever homes. And to Cathy, Toni, Anthony, Becky, Deb, Trudy, Carmine, Lucia, Evelyn and Barbara who came especially to shower the guests with love – what a marvelous job they did!
I cannot begin to thank Roxanne and Joy enough for all they do for us (and for their families for putting up with it). These two ladies have been a godsend to us. Some days when I think I can not do even one more thing and see the swarms of things on my to do list, I look up and there is an email from one of them that it has been taken care of. They are raising money, meeting with people and giving us so much support. They are volunteers and this is all from their hearts. I truly do not know what we would do without them at this point. I am so thankful to you both.