Kerry's Update – May 6, 2010

Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on March 22, the following dogs have found homes! Casey, Nugget, Cody, Gus, Tat, Zack, Fuzzy, Aubrey, Rocks, Ty, Sleek, Larry, Sparkles, Trace, Bella, Oreo, Hooper, Gabby, Fuzzy (again), Chase, Buddy, Marley, Madison, McGreggor, Bob, Sophie, Jillian, Spud, Foxy, Petunia, Hawkeye, Natascha, Angus, Dooley, Pluto, Abigail, Jilly, Monkey, Junior, Cindy, Lincoln, Neiko, Hawkeye (again), Badger, Will, Butterball, Gracie, Hansel, Gretel, Gomer, Caramel, One, Daisy, Copper, Benji, Elizabeth2, Byrdie, Sharpey, Ty (again), Cashmere, Earnhardt, Snookie, Trisha, Elizabeth, Larry, Tango, Augie.
We also sent dogs from the West Virginia rescue to other rescues who stepped up and offered to help. We are really grateful to all of them. 21 dogs went to St. Huberts, one dog went to Mountain Rottie Rescue, four to Sullivan County, four to Newburgh Shelter and one to Paws Unlimited. Almost all of those dogs have been placed as well.
The following cats were placed: Oreo (yes, I’m not kidding. OREO!!), Violet, Robert & Bob (who went to MHAA), Fred, Tiki, Tangerine, Mickey, Christie, Chloe, Hermes and Kadji, Summer.
We also adopted out both the donkeys! They went to live on a 700 acre farm with cows and goats (all pets!) and little Peanut has learned to play soccer!
That is almost 115 animals in less than six weeks. Wow. What a long way Pets Alive has come in three years.

Intakes:
The following dogs came in: 7 from NC, 8 from SC, 6 local dogs, 4 from WV, 2 from GA, 2 from Puerto Rico, 1 from VA, 13 from KY. We also took in a blind dog and her seeing eye dog. Red and Moonie. Red is completely blind and Moonie helps her to get around and find things. They are an amazing pair…more about that later. We also took in two beagles. Three had been thrown from a car. Good Samaritans stopped and helped and were able to save two and get them to us. One of them has already been adopted. It has truly been amazing.
We also took in 11 local cats, and 11 from the West Virginia rescue, as well as two baby goats.

Stand out adoption:
One of our stand-out adoptions this month would have to be our beloved Oreo. BOTH Oreos. One Oreo is a cat that has been here for YEARS. That Oreo was very aggressive and could at times actually launch herself at you when you walked into the room. She found a forever home and has shown no aggression at all in her new home, being sweet and affectionate. She just wanted her very own person and no other cats. I’m really glad we were able to finally make her happy (by letting her leave us!) and that the kind gentleman that took her in could look past her obvious issues and decide she was worth loving.
The other Oreo was a pitbull that was dumped on our property almost a year ago, late at night. Marcos was on the way to the hospital with his wife who was in labor when he saw what happened. He stopped and called for Juan who lives nearby and while Marco’s poor wife sat in the car Juan and Chris took over trying to convince Oreo to come to them, and Marcos finished rushing his wife to the hospital (where she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy! They did not name the boy Oreo though). Oreo was a HUGE staff and volunteer favorite. We adored her. Eight years old and neglected, she was perhaps one of the nicest dogs ever to grace our shelter. We recently asked Oreo’s new family to tell us how she was doing. This is what they said:

I’ll be glad to! I haven’t had a dog since 1993. A lot of our neighbors have dogs and my husband was always giving them snacks and playing with them, he spends a lot of time outside in the sun. Anyway a few months ago we started talking about getting a dog. My 5 year old granddaughter and I would look at the pets for adoption every Friday in the paper. We didn’t want a puppy, just a nice sweet girl. We went to Petsmart about 3 weeks ago to see what North Shore had there, there were only puppies. So, we went inside and 2 ladies from PetsAlive were there and I looked thru the binder of dogs and picked out 2 that I would like to see. One of them was Oreo. I went on the PetsAlive website and put in an application for Oreo . BlondeKerri and I went back and forth for a couple days, little did I know she was having surgery that week ! She is a trooper! Anyway we got approved and we adopted her that following Friday and took her home on Saturday and it seems like we’ve had her forever! She seems really happy to be a house dog. She has a beautiful big bed and she loves hanging out with us. Lou and Lucy {her new name} watch TV together and she sleeps upstairs with us. Some mornings she wakes me up about 2 minutes before my alarm goes off. She is great with the kids a really lovable girl, also a protector — ask the UPS man!! You all weren’t kidding when you told us she was a sweetheart, she as sweet and special as my last dog, a Cocker named Judy, who showed up at our house in 1980. We always said she dropped down from Heaven, can’t believe I have another one! Lucy’s Mom, Donna

Medical Update: (Written by Janet)

Red is one of our newest intakes. (Kerry here – would like to just add that Red came to us with her own seeing eye dog- Moonie. Red is totally blind and Moonie helps her to find her food, the dog door and gently nudges her to where she needs to be -it is a very tender attachment. They are both special dogs. When Red arrived, and was examined, it was thought that perhaps she was blind with something that might be FIXABLE! So of course, we followed up.) She is an older female Shepherd/ Hound mix who is blind due to bilateral cataracts. There is a surgical procedure that can be performed on some dogs in which the cataract is removed. But not every dog is a candidate for this procedure. And it also tends to be a very costly endeavor. Red saw the veterinary ophthalmologist this week and he felt that Red is most likely a good candidate. She is scheduled for an ocular ultrasound and electroretinogram next week to confirm his belief that surgery is indeed the next step. If so Red will most likely have her procedure within a day or two of that point. If anyone would be able to foster Red (and her seeing eye dog canine companion ‘Moonie’) during her recovery, please email janet@petsalive.com. We expect Red to need several different eye drops to be administered every few hours, although we of course will not be certain of what will be needed until all her tests and procedures are completed.
After our first group of Puerto Rican dogs melted all of our hearts, we agreed to take in a few more from the island. ‘Madison’, another medium sized mixed breed quickly became one of my new favorites even before learning that she is Hero’s mother! Hero obviously inherited all of her gentle and sweet mannerisms from the mother’s side of her family. And just as her daughter had, Madison had a limp!!!! We were able to get Madison in for her spay and have x-rays done on her leg. Our vet was worried that her cruciate ligament was torn in her knee as well as having hip dysplasia. So an appointment was made with the veterinary orthopedic surgeon (the one who also performed Hero’s surgery). Upon his examination and palpation of the entire leg, the orthopedist was hopeful that her knee was NOT involved and only the hip was the cause of pain. To save us the cost of further testing he decided to schedule the procedures and go from there. If he radiographed her leg that morning and saw that she indeed needed her knee repaired in addition to the hip, then so be it. But if her knee was intact, he saved us the cost and Madison the trouble of being anesthetized and manipulated extra times. Madison’s surgery was planned for a week from that initial exam. As it turned out, the surgeon needed to ONLY repair her hip. In addition he called my cell phone about bringing his in-laws over to our facility to meet Madison. Within two minutes they knew they HAD to adopt her. So not only did Madison wind up in a wonderful home, but her orthopedic surgeon became her Uncle. Who could ask for a better situation?
The other dog brought to us from Puerto Rico is a large lab mix named Roy. Roy is a gentle giant who just wants to be friends with everyone. The problem with that is that poor Roy came in with sarcoptic mange (which is the contagious form). Although they did treat Roy before sending him to us, sarcoptic mange can be very difficult to fully rid. We kept him isolated for several weeks and treated him further. His hair coat looks incredibly improved and at this point we are continuing with purely prophylactic measures. Our main concern though for Roy currently is that he has shown a pretty bad limp, especially after going up and down stairs. Yesterday we found out that Roy was indeed diagnosed with hip dysplasia while in on the island. Although we’ve had his on glucosamine supplements from the first day of arrival, we will be making an appointment with the specialist to see if there is anything more that we can do to ease any pain. He is such an incredible dog.
All of our rescues from West Virginia are doing wonderfully! The dogs with demodectic mange are flourishing here at Pets Alive. Goldie is slowly but surely putting on weight. Almost all of her hair is grown in too. Andy the beautiful pit bull who was thought to be gray in color is actually black now that he has hair. He is fattening up too and being introduced into the normal population of dogs. We are hopeful that he can be paired with another dog so that he has a playmate. A few of the other dogs who were originally suffering with demodectic mange, such are Monkey, are now in homes living the good life. Several of the cats from West Virginia have also gone into homes. Even a few of the feral cats were brought up to date with tests and vaccines and then placed into appropriate homes.

Did you see Nancy’s blog on
How do I introduce my dog to the cat?
Upcoming Events or Fundraisers
Pets Alive is planning TWO amazing charity fundraising events in May. One is on May 22, 2010, at Catlin Gardens, in Slate Hill, NY. The tickets are $125 to that event. The other is on Thursday May 27th, 2010 at Life in Ardsley, NY (7-11 pm). The tickets to that event are $200. The FurBall is a fabulous formal evening celebrating the animals that have been saved by Pets Alive. There will be cocktails, dinner, music, dancing, celebrities, a silent auction and a special presentation featuring the animals of Pets Alive. This will be the animal event of the year. Do not wait, buy your tickets now for Westchester Furball, or buy your tickets now for Hudson Valley Furball!
We have just heard that Assemblyman Micah Kellner will attend Hudson Valley Fur Ball! Do you want to help sponsor the event?
Attention Business Owners! Businesses and Corporations all around Westchester and the Hudson Valley are wagging their tails with excitement about the upcoming Pets Alive Fur Balls!
Become a Pets Alive Fur Ball Sponsor Now!
Promote your business at the Fur Ball and earn the loyal support and goodwill of Pets Alive adopters, sponsors, donors, staff, and volunteers. (There are nearly 20,000 loyal identified supporters). Pets Alive has a sponsorship level to suit all budgets, including: A Main Event Sponsor, Yappy Hour Sponsor, the coveted Kissing Booth Sponsor, Gold Sponsor, Bronze Sponsor and Man’s Best Friend. To join us as a sponsor at the Fur Ball please contact events@petsalive.com
We are also now Accepting Journal Ads for the Pets Alive Fur Balls.
Full page, ½ page, 1/4 page and Partner listing ads are available.
A journal ad is the perfect way to:

• Promote your business
• Honor a special pet’s memory
• Thank a special volunteer
• Wish a “Happy Birthday” to your pet
• Congratulate your graduate
• Say “I Love You” to your special someone
• Propose to your beloved!

Support Us:
Get your own Pets Alive Credit Card! Show your support with every purchase you make. As one of our valued supporters, you are invited to apply for our special Visa® Platinum credit card through Capital One® Card Lab Connect. This card has no annual fee and a low introductory purchase rate. Use the custom card designs to show your support, you can choose one of ours or upload a picture of your OWN pet or child! The first time you use the card, Capital One will pay Pets Alive $50! After that we get a percentage of every purchase. It doesn’t get much easier than this folks. Please sign up for a card!
Use Goodsearch or iGive
Help Pets Alive every time you shop online and search the web by downloading the GoodSearch Pets Alive toolbar or use the iGive toolbar.
Have you heard our PSA?
Sean Haberkorn is a senior at SUNY New Paltz and an intern at Cumulus Broadcasting in Poughkeepsie . As part of his internship Sean recorded a Pets Alive Public Service Announcement that will run on AM 1390 and AM 1340 during all army sports games. Listeners in Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties can catch these announcements starting around the beginning of April. A native of Holbrook in Suffolk County , NY , Sean looks forward to visiting Pets Alive very soon.
Click here to listen to the PSA.

Did you see Matt’s blog on
Some Days?
Animal Updates or Issues:
We are still fighting to see the passage of Oreo’s Law in New York State. Recently Nathan Winograd had a survey conducted of NYS Rescue Organizations. The results were staggering and horrifying, but not a surprise to those of us in rescue. The title of the report speaks for itself: New York State Survey Shows Animals Being Killed Despite Rescue Alternative.
Oreo’s Law would save lives AND taxpayer money. The study of non-profit rescue organizations finds that these organizations are routinely denied animals, experience inconsistent and arbitrary treatment, are subject to retaliation and/or fear retaliation if they expose inhumane conditions in shelters, while shelters are killing animals these groups are willing to save. You can read the entire report by clicking here. Want to help bring this tragedy to an end? Make your voice heard by clicking here.
Horse & Barnyard Updates:

Many of you have asked for updates on the horse abuse case – Suzy and Whiskey. The horses are NOT with Pets Alive, they are with a wonderful organization called Equine Rescue but we all got involved in trying to see that justice was done. I have updated the website with the latest information and the court ruling. You can click here to read the latest.
Our goats are doing well and we continue to have almost daily “goat fix” photos on twitter. They really are hilarious. Glen,our senior horse, spends a lot of time laying down and sometimes the goats are seen standing on HIM! They are so funny and such a joy. We recently took in two new goats. Just three weeks old they were being auctioned off at a livestock auction for meat. A kind woman there to save other animals, bid on them,but then once home didn’t know what to do to properly care for them. They needed bottle feeding and lots of care and attention. We were contacted and asked if we could help. We said SURE. So they arrived and they are just the cutest little creatures.
However, baby goats are very delicate and have very sensitive stomachs. They can ONLY drink fresh goats milk. We tried the stuff sold in stores but since it is homogenized and pasteurized it wasn’t ok for them. We consulted with Farm Sanctuary, Catskill Animal Sanctuary and Otterkill Animal Hospital. All had similar advice. Raw goats milk, or raw cows milk would work. Where to get either? Well, I happen to personally drink only raw cows milk and I knew exactly where to get it! Julie and Rick Vreeland live around the block from me and I had been buying milk from their raw, organic farm (Freedom Hill Farm) for years. When they heard what we needed it for they immediately agreed to donate ALL the milk until the goats were weaned! Please show them some love and support and if you want to learn more about the health benefits of raw milk (which are many) you should check out their website.
Cat Update:
Chloe, formerly known as “Nasty” used to be totally feral and untouchable – then along came volunteers Peg and Jim. They spent countless hours working with her and loving her, and bringing her out of her shell. The result? She has now found her forever home. When Lisa came to Pets Alive, she fell in love with Choe and her (now) sweet loving manner. YAY! Another little furry that no one thought would ever leave here (like Oreo) has found a forever home.
Bebe,the pregnant cat, has settled into her foster home (also with Jim and Peg) really well. They said the following:
When we got home, we let her out of the carrying case into the bedroom. She seemed to forget she had a melon sized belly and proceeded to squeeze under the bed. It was a very tight fit, and when I brought a bowl of food into the room, she really had to work hard to wiggle out. She hasn’t attempted to go back under the bed since then. Pfew! Even with her melon belly, she defies gravity and jumps up on the bed, and promptly stretches out. Her belly looks extra huge when she lies flat. It’s scary!! Her favorite spot, no surprise, is sitting in front of the window. We put a few good sized cardboard boxes lined with towels in various quiet areas of the bedroom. Hopefully, she use on of them to give birth. So far, all is going well.
Well, she did give birth. To SEVEN babies. All are doing well and once old enough will be fixed and readied for adoption. Bebe is being a great mom.
Position Available:
We are looking for an assistant to BlondKerri to help out with adoptions. Currently we do adoptions by appointment only and Jen has handled most of the Animal Database entry and filing. We want to expand our adoptions by allowing walk-ins and we want to move Jen to more of a development position within our organization. We are looking for an adoption coordinator that will be onsite from Sunday through Thursday from 11am to 3pm. You would be responsible for learning about the dogs that are on site, handling much of the data entry of the animals into the database, printing up cage cards, handling walk-in adoptions, helping with adoption application checks, and handling the animal files. You should be a patient person. A happy person, and most of all a dog lover!
Thank you’s
Thank you to Ken and Joy. Indomitable. We wouldn’t be able to function without you guys. There is no room enough in this update topost all that you do for us. Thank you.
Thank you to Tara Mikolay from Desires By Mikolay for all you have done to raise money, sponsors and manage the Westchester Furball. You have been amazing. We can never repay the amount of love and work that you have given to us. Thank you Tara.
Thank you to Marcy. What can I say? You are relentless in hunting down and getting us what we need and have so much energy. Thanks for putting it to use for Pets Alive!
Thank you to Alina and Richard for everything you do for our volunteer committee and in helping with the parade and rebuilding our Smooch-A-Pooch Booth! We won first prize!
Thank you to Donna S, a new volunteer that has been helping us out a great deal in the cat house! We really appreciate the extra help in the cat house. Sonya does so much for us already – she is the almost every day and comes in to help at a moment’s notice. Thank you Sonya. Thank you also for the donation of the GORGEOUS wishing well. We all LOVE it. Thank you also to regulars Bonnie and Shirley for helping so much with our cats.
Thank you to John Heads for doing yet another pick up and delivery for us of some food donated by the Newburgh Animal Shelter (we love you guys!). Thanks so much John!
Many thanks to k9stitch.com. They never forget us and give us a portion of their proceeds every single month. We love you Jen and John!
Thank you to J&J Tent Rentals! They are donating the use of a 20 x 50 foot tent for our yard sale in June! This is SUCH A BONUS! Thank you J&J!
Thank you to Fran and Davey. Donated a load of gravel and fixed our terribly rutted driveway.
Thank you to Cathie Giglio from cathandmouse.com – she has been an absolute godsend in helping me keep the website updated.
Thanks to Vera and Cathei for continuing to take care of the horse feeding every Sunday morning! Vera also does all our press releases and a ton of event planning. Cathei’s son also recently had his sixth birthday. Instead of presents he asked people to bring dog toys, collars, leashes, etc. for Pets Alive…and they did! He is coming over soon to donate all of those items. We will be sure to tweet a picture!
Thank you to Phil from Thundershirt for donating some Thundershirts for help with training our dogs (and to Best Friends for sending them our way!)
Thank you to Marc Roberge (O.A.R) and family for donating to help us with the West Virginia rescue. Their Foundation Heard The World really helped Pets Alive a great deal this year!
Thank you once again to Marisol and Rob Thomas and Sidewalk Angels Foundation for helping Pets Alive cover the costs of all the major surgeries from the dogs from Puerto Rico. It was a great expense and we were very grateful for your help.
Thank you to Becky Tegze. A force. Photos, Yard Sale Diva, all around “I’m here, what do you need?” person. We love you and really appreciate everything. Contact her at becky@petsalive.com for private photo shoots of your pets. Very reasonable and she lets you keep the entire CD of all the photos taken at your shoot!
Thank you WELLPOINT for sending us a team of 20 volunteers that worked their butts off and then donating $100 for every volunteer that showed! Wow! That was a great surprise and very appreciated.
Katie for washing dogs, horses – well anything we threw in front of you! We love you. Come back soon!
Thank you Gil and Maria for coming every week, multiple times, suffering injuries, still coming back and being such great animal lovers.
Thank you to everyone who helped out at Beacon Barks – Maryellen, Arty, Anna, Marty, Lynette, Diane, Juliana, Weston, Alexandra and our friends at CFF (Christian Faith Fellowship Family Church) in Middletown for supplying the Kissing Dogs and for marching with us in the parade.
Thank you to Chrissy, she comes all the way from Long Island and works her butt off!
Thank you Jan, who so quietly keeps things in order all week. What a difference she makes.
Thanks to Marilyn, who has taken over the job of scheduling the offsite adoptions at PetCo and PetsMart, and to all the volunteers who give up an entire day each month to bring our message out into the community. Connie, Laurie, Lynn, Stephanie, Wanda, Dave, Brennan, Tricia, Mike, Angela, Danielle, Pam, Robin, Kristen, Nicole, Heather, Amy, and of course Marilyn.
Thank you to Sue, who already does so much for us and now also takes data entry work home to do in her spare time.
Thank you Larry for coming and feeding the baby goats so often!
Thank you to Claudia and Denise who drove 2.5 hours to get here, with a car STUFFED with donations and then volunteered all day. Was great to meet you.
Thanks to all our regular volunteers – Connie, Wanda, Trudy, the Bagley girls – I could go on and on. You guys are the best.
Thank you to the class of Kate Friedman. Her writing project involves them choosing a charity (US!) and writing letters to a celebrity to ask them to help us with much needed items. We can’t wait to see how it all turns out! Good luck!
Current Needs:
We are looking for some commercial steel shelving units that can help us organize our cat kitchen. We are in GREAT need of Advantixx or Frontline right now. We also always need large black garbage bags (yard size), paper towels, Libman wonder mopheads, ink cartridges HP 95 & 98, High Efficiency laundry detergent, dog toys, Panacur dewormer (the big bottles of equine liquid has been working well for us!), Panacur Dewormer, Ivermectin, disinfectant wet wipes, bleach, 3-lb paper trays, backpacks for dogs, Sporn Harnesses, and Slip leads. Thank you for your kind consideration on these items!

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