Sanctuary animal updates:
The following dogs were adopted since my last update on August 1st: Mason, Itty Bitty, Shed, Abby, Nutterbutter, Petals, Draisen, Lucille, Frisby, Winston, Bender, Halla, Zimmer, Kelly, Ara, Abbie, Buddy, Murphy, Drifter, Ara (again), Web, Cutie, Cuddles, Wigglebutt, Carly, Willy, Honey, Wanda, Roscoe, Sterling, Mary Kate, Coopster, Weston, Williard, Charity, Haddock, Katona, Nanette, Panda, Darla, Lenny/Mason2, Cooper, Abby (again), Shy Ann, Bailey, Friday, Sonic, Scootie Poo, Dutchess, Fonzie, and Hail.
(This is Cam in the exercise yard playing with some volunteers. He was NOT adopted – again. Sometimes, just occasionally, he likes to bite people so for some reason no one has taken him home. We’re working on one of our volunteers though. Cam is one of my favorite dogs here and he has lived here almost his whole life (eight years). I am terrified he will die here, never having a loving home of his own. He really IS a great dog. Once he knows you, he would never, ever hurt you. I PROMISE.)
We also had a record-breaking EIGHT cats go home! Honey, Bunny, Jeremy, Simka, Honor, Maggie, Renee, and Tex. Two of those were FIV cats and two were kittens. Thrilled that we are seeing an increase in cat adoptions and the FIV cats getting a home is just great news.
Additionally two of our horses found a new home. Mary and Francis will be going to live at Ferrell Hollow Farm in Tennessee. They leave Pets Alive on September 15th for their new life. We can’t tell you how happy we are for them. Cindy flew all the way up here to meet them, spent three days getting to know them and helping us and she will be adopting them as her personal horses. This farm SPECIALIZES in retired or special needs horses. Cindy is – there is no other word – AMAZING. I was deeply inspired, touched and awed by her. We are going to miss Mary and Francis terribly, but I know there is not another place on earth I would feel as comfortable about them going to, as Ferrell Hollow. Good luck my big friends. We will definitely be keeping in touch!
Nice job everyone. Sixty-three animals. Good luck little beasties!

General Updates:

Our Humane Education program is kicking off this Saturday thanks to teachers Wendy and Ken and to Joy for working to pull it all together. We really hope that you will have your children and grandchildren attend one of these classes. They are not set up as boring classroom lectures but rather open discussion groups, fun exercises and hands on with some of the animals. It may be too late to change some of THIS generation but we’re really hoping that the next generation can start learning about compassion and empathy. Please consider this as one of the best things you can do for a child in your life.
Pets Alive won the Petco Foundation Scholarship! Animal shelters across the country are closing their doors, losing revenue and at the same time,they are facing increasing demand for their programs and services. Many of us struggle to adequately market ourselves and raise enough funds to sustain operational costs. That’s why the PETCO Foundation has awarded five shelters in the United States some partnership help. PETS ALIVE IS ONE OF THESE FIVE! The partnership will provide fundraising and marketing consultation for one year to help us develop financial independence and sustainability plans. With funds granted by the PETCO Foundation, we will receive hands-on strategic planning assistance and training from The Philanthropy Team’s president, Tim Crum, a fundraising and marketing expert with more than 20 years of experience, including 10 in the animal welfare industry. Thank you PETCO! Thank you Tim. We are really looking forward to this and grateful for this help.
Help Us. Help THEM.
We need your sponsorships. When Sara died, we were left in a very bad financial position. The first year Best Friends helped pull us through. The second year Marisol and Rob Thomas and their charity SideWalk Angels pulled us through, but this coming year we’re in a bind. We MUST increase our income and revenues. We are starting now to apply for grants and we have an event and fund raising committee, but we have so many hopes, dreams and plans. One way we can use the fund raising as help instead of as need is to increase our monthly sponsorships. Will you commit to helping us for just one year?
Every year millions of animals die in the United States alone. 4-5 million. Pets Alive pulls animals from euthanasia lists at other shelters. We know you may not have the time to come down here and help or donate your time, or adopt another animal – but what you do have is precious to them and to us. Your sponsorship.
Almost every dog in our shelter was saved, often hours or even minutes from death. Our turn around for getting them vetted and into their forever homes is often within 21-45 days. YOUR sponsorship can help save the life of a dog or a cat every single month. It is less than the price of a cup of coffee every day. Just $25 a month will SAVE THE LIFE of a cat. Just $35 a month will SAVE THE LIFE of a dog.

YOU will save that life. YOU will be responsible for it. Every month when your credit card gets automatically billed that small amount you can look at it and know that another life has been saved thanks to you, or another needle was stopped in mid air, or gas chamber door was slammed closed today, – thanks to your donation. I promise. That is all we need to continue to save these precious and innocent lives every month. Your sponsorship. Please. Help us to help them. We need you. THEY need you. Together we can stop the killing.
Intakes:
I lost track of my little cheat sheet of intakes and I’ll be honest, it is too much work to go through our records to pull it all, so I’ll summarize the ones off the top of my head and hope I don’t drop my Blackberry again next month. This month we got a call from a local humane society. They had three adorable kittens but they had tested positive for FIV. Could we help. Sigh. Such a terrible shame. There is little to be afraid of with FIV but very few facilities have a separate room or place that they can house them. We felt so badly that we took all three in. They are adorable. Please consider taking a look at them and welcoming them into your home. I will be posting some information on our website soon about FIV. You don’t need to fear cats that have it!
Additionally we wound up with six kittens and a mama cat that was coming here with a transport of dogs for us. Another rescue were taking these cats and were just meeting here but the kittens were so near death that our staff had to rush to save them. Fluids, meds, care, bathing, and some over nights with Janet and they are all recovering well. So add that to the other three and now we’re up to nine kittens and a mama cat. Then one adult cat got dumped nearby, ok, you counting with me? Then three more local kittens we accepted, then another two. Then another one froma volunteer that begged us to help. Ouch. So sixteen cats we took in this month, but trust me we had to turn away about 200 requests. It is REALLY bad out there. Please make sure you spay and neuter your animals. This is terrible that they should suffer so, and I worry about every one that we have to refuse. Then today we got a call from a local vet – they had an eight week old kitten, it was BLIND. Could we take it? If not they had no choice but to euthanize, they were heartbroken. Darn it, what’s one more. Anyone looking for a cat? We have a few. Thank goodness we placed so many this month, but now we are faced with the costs of vetting each of them,chipping, etc. Probably about $150-$200 each cat. Some days I really don’t know where it will come from.
We also took in five locally owner surrendered dogs, and took in six from Kentucky. I have to believe we took in more but without my trusty Blackberry I can’t pull it right up and so you are left to just wonder which ones they are, or else I will have to actually have to figure out how to run one of these reports.
Animal Updates or Issues (written by Janet):
On top of all our new additions and adoptions this month, we’ve had a few medical issues being addressed. Mush and Smokey decided that they no longer appreciated each others company and had a lovely fence fight which left Mush with a tooth dangling onto his torn gumline. Luckily a little surgery, and some pain meds and antibiotics and Mush is like new again. In fact, even with the torn tooth and adjoining gum tissue, Mush acted no worse for wear! What a tough guy!
Biggie has been doing wonderfully on his thyroid medication. The fat seems to be melting right off that handsome boy. Before you know it, he’s gonna have all the girls staring at him!!!! And Biggie is now able to go on full walks on the trail.
A few reoccurring cat issues this month. Taffy’s eye had been bothering her. We had her to the vet and started all sorts of different eye drops and ointments. She was looking better, but is now favoring her eye once more. Thelma (one of our feisty torties) had some crusty discharge on her chin just over a month ago which turned out to be associated with red, swollen gums. We ran a blood panel and treated with antibiotics, but for some reason, her gums are STILL inflamed. So needless to say, we are still working on figuring out what is the underlying cause of both cats medical needs. Hopefully we will find the reason soon enough.
Nina the mischievous dilute tortie is so overweight that her anal glands keep impacting. She also has such a hard time reaching her rear to clean herself that she needs to have her butt cleaned by staff daily and powder applied! What a spoiled brat, huh? It would be nice to see Nina loss some weight, so these problems would be eliminated! But Nina wants to have nothing to do with the word ‘DIET’.
Pumpkin the cat was found to have an incisor tooth hanging last week. We were actually able to pull the tooth with no need for anaesthesia. After a week of pain meds and antibiotics, Pumpkin is back to himself. And on a happy note, Renee and Tex the two little kittens who had chronic upper respiratory symptoms are doing WONDERFULLY in their new homes! Their eyes have never been clearer! Incredible!!!
Also, we would just like everyone to know that we have noticed the weight loss amongst our dog population. We have been checking fecal samples and increasing feed. We are also doing another round of prophylactic deworming. Rest assured we are trying to get to the bottom of this!
Upcoming Events or Fundraisers

• Gift Cards: Looking for the perfect gift? Give Pets Alive for all your occasions. Make a donation to Pets Alive in someone’s name and we’ll send them a card that you can personalize. We currently have six cards (dogs, cats,a mouse, and a horse) to choose from, and six different occasions (Birthday, Celebration, Sympathy, etc). Click here to see all our cards and send one today! You can also add a personal message to your card.
• Comedy Club – September 27th: The Manhattan Comedy Club (located in Middletown NY – NOT the city!) will host a Comedy Night at 5 pm Sunday, September 27. Headlining the show will be Johnny Lambert who is considered to be one of the premier comedians in the country. Lambert has made numerous television appearances on MTV, A&E’s Caroline’s Comedy Hour, Comedy Central, NBC’s Friday Night, and HBO’s Comedy Showcase. In addition he is a regular at some of the best comedy clubs in New York City and Los Angeles including The Comic Strip, Caroline’s Comedy Club, and The Improv. The Comedy Night is open to ages 18 and over and includes dinner (yes we are having food this time!!), door prizes, and a 50/50 raffle. Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door (please purchase in advance so we don’t sweat it!). Tickets can be purchased online or at the kennel office! Buy Tickets Now!
• October 17th, Shop For A Cause: Shop at Macy’s and Support Pets Alive.
  On October 17, Macy’s presents Shop For A Cause. If you donate $5 to Pets Alive you get a pass for that day where you can save up to 25% on your purchases. You can also enter for a chance to win a $500 Macy’s gift card. Pets Alive gets to keep the entire donation for the pass as well. Click here to get your pass mailed to you. Clip the shopping image or here to buy your shopping ticket.
• 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!!!!)

Thank you’s
A huge thank you this month to the Sidewalk Angels Foundation for a $20,000 donation to Pets Alive. This is about a month of expenses folks and a huge asset. It ensures we will be around another month. Thank you guys so much! How in the world would we ever survive without you?
Thanks also to Bob and MaryEllen Chanda for the donation of $5,000 to complete our fence fund. We’ve been trying to raise the money for this for months and the end amount was just stagnant. We couldn’t get there. MaryEllen called us and said “We got it. We’re sending you a check to cover the rest- GO FOR IT.” They have been so supportive and helpful over the years. Thank you guys so much!
Thank you to OneMeaningCouture.com for making us the charity of the month last month and raising $650 for us, as well as continuing to give us $1 for every dog tag they sell! You guys were a blast to play with this month.
Thanks to Nancy Skoog. She just keeps coming back! She loves to “window shop” our dogs and visit with whoever is in the office to pet and give treats to them. She is a HUGE help in the office and things would be very different without her.
Thanks to Mike Martino – building contractor. He is going to give us free labor to put a new roof on the brick house garage. We do have to come up with the supplies though, so if any of you have contacts let me know!
Thanks to Christian Faith Fellowship Family Church in Middletown for inviting Pets Alive to participate in their 1st Annual Dog Blessing, and to Lynette, Marty, Mimi, Wendy, Ken, for running the information tables. Thanks also to Lisa for bringing Bleu to work the Kissing Booth (even though he was FREELY giving kisses to people when out of the booth!) and to Alina for bringing Zoe & Nevada to act as ambassadors for all the animals at Pets Alive. Thanks also to Teri who came and did face painting for us. (Faces by Paris- 845-754-7440) and to Fran and Sara who helped that day.
Thanks to Jan for helping to organize the Dog Bathing campaign that took place last month. So many of you showed up to help that ALL the dogs were bathed (some twice!). Thanks to everyone who rolled up their sleeves, including Jan, Chris, Katie, Karen, Rebecca, Jennifer, Nicole – sorry if we missed anyone. We really appreciated this. You guys are the best!
Thanks to Anne and Maria for all they are doing for Pets Alive. For the second time this year, they traveled a couple of hours to spend a two days volunteering. While they are here they helped out with anything and everything that needed to be done. And when they got home they sent us a shipment of slip-leads!
Thanks AGAIN to John Heads for doing airport transports for us again and also for installing the cabinets we had into Janet’s Office. They look great. John ALWAYS comes through – no matter WHAT we need. He does more things for us in a month than I can list here. He’s a huge asset to Pets Alive (as well as his wife Betty) and we love them both!
Thanks to Tom for weed whacking all the dog runs and many other areas around Pets Alive.
Thanks to Davey who replaced the leaky faucet in the kitchen for us, has done a bunch of repairs around here and is working on fixing our tractor!
Thanks to Fran, who is raising money for Pets Alive by selling Guardian Angel Dog and Cat pins (these are available for sale in the kennel office if you are interested in purchasing some – they make great gifts!)
Thanks to Gil, who has done so much around here. Take a look at the deck behind the brick house – it looks amazing. And to Maria, for organizing the laundry room, a job that never ends.
Thanks to Trudy who has been coming up extra and doing so much for us including being the official greeter and telling people where they need to go (grin).
Thanks to Joy and Roxie, as always. Without you, we’d be drooling at our desks and banging our heads against the wall. I am so grateful to you both for all the hours, love and commitment you give to us.
And a really big thank you to all the volunteers who come regularly to walk dogs, socialize with the cats, care for the horses, do office work, clean, spruce-up, fix-up and all the other day to day tasks that keep us running. We could not do it without you – we love you guys!
Current Needs:
We need roofing supplies, or money for roofing. Mike is going to have his guys do ALL the work but the supplies for just the garage alone will be $1200 and if we want to do the other part of the house it will be $3500. Anyone have any connections?
A screen or storm door, 3×5 index cards, gallon zip lock bags, Slip leads, Panacur dewormer (the big bottles of equine liquid has been working well for us!), Advantixx or Frontline for dogs, wet wipes, bleach, ½” split keyrings, dog toys, stamps, garbage bags (kitchen and lawn), 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!
Did You Know:

• Did you know that Pets Alive also cares for horses? We have taken in many retired carriage horses and horses off of racetracks.
• Did you know that in the winter our electric bill is over $3000 a month?
• Did you know that we allow children to volunteer? As long as they are accompanied by an adult, we welcome your (well behaved!) children!
• Did you know that Pets Alive started an Education Outreach Program and a Humane Education Program? We will be bringing classes here for field trips, and going into local schools to educate them on the importance of spaying and neutering, on animal emotions and animal care!
• Did you know that Pets Alive is working with local kill shelters to try to stop euthanasia and try to help place all animals by sharing our adoption applications and by taking in animals that would otherwise be euthanized due to lack of space in these shelters?
• Did you know that our volunteer program welcomes volunteers seven days a week at Pets Alive?
• Did you know that is costs a $1300 month to feed (and litter) our cats, $1100 to feed our dogs and $2200 a month to feed our horses and that does NOT include medical?
• Did you know that our dedicated staff often stay late and come in on their own time to complete projects or work additionally with the animals here?
• Did you know that we still have a sponsorship program and it is set up so that it can automatically bill your credit card each month (this is such a great way to help us!)
• Did you know that all animals are spayed/neutered, up to date on shots and matched to each family on a case by case basis before they go to their new homes?
• Did you know that our vet bill is often $6000-8000 a month which is why we think an onsite medical facility would actually SAVE us money AND help the community?