Sanctuary Animal Updates
It’s a new year and we have already seen many changes at Pets Alive Westchester (PAW). We said good bye to our beloved Executive Director Joy Carson and our Shelter & Facilities Manager Ken as they moved on to take on Pets Alive Puerto Rico. Joy and Ken did so much for PAW and our animals that I will be forever grateful to them! I’ll admit it- I was a little nervous when I first got to PAW. Many of you may know me as the Shelter Manager of Pets Alive in Middletown. I’m also one of the first staff members to visit the old Elmsford Animal Shelter when we originally stepped up to help. My first day at Pets Alive Westchester was in November, only about a year since I had been there last, and it was immediately apparent that a transformation of epic proportions had taken place. My nerves turned to overwhelming excitement and I have never been more certain that this is where I needed to be.
In January we adopted out 43 dogs, 31 cats, and 3 rabbits!! A total of 77 animals who found their forever homes in just one month! That’s a tremendous increase compared to January 2011. We are so excited to continue increasing our adoption rates each and every month. Due to the incredible rate of adoption we were able to collaborate on a mass rescue of over 100 dogs, with the ASPCA and committed to each and every animal from the JP Ranch Rescue in Arkansas, in addition to our regular intakes. Some of those dogs went to Pets Alive Middletown (PAM), but here at PAW we rescued 83 dogs, 12 cats, and 1 rabbit.
Featured Adoptions
I’ve been with the Pets Alive organization for a few years and I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of finding over 2,000 animals their forever homes, but every once in a while there are those special adoptions that make you stop and take notice. Sam is one of those stories. Sam was found running around the local Sam’s Club parking lot in May 2009. A woman stopped and he jumped right into her car and she immediately surrendered him to the shelter. Over time Sam fell victim to the same stereotypes and mislabeling that many dogs face. Yes it’s true Sam did not do well in the kennel environment and he did not adjust very well to it. After Pets Alive took over we implemented the color code system for all of our dogs and Sam was immediately labeled a RED dog. That means staff or experienced, previously approved, volunteers only. Many feared Sam and believed he just might be the most aggressive dog on the property.
Then Joy stepped in. Sam was relocated to a larger side pen outside of the main kennels. There he was able to work with our dog caretakers on some of his undesirable behaviors. Suddenly the perception changed. Suddenly Sam was more approachable, more relaxed. As the warm summer months came to an end there was a real concern over where Sam could go. No one wanted to see him go back into the kennel and risk back tracking on all of his progress. They all decided that they would bring Sam into the main office up front. From there Sam continued his amazing transformation, perhaps back into the dog he always was before ending up in the shelter. Staff and volunteers alike fell for his big beautiful face as well as his laid back and loving demeanor. Misa, our on staff dog trainer, began Sam’s training to become a certified therapy dog. We thought how wonderful for Sam to be in the office and be receiving all of this love, affection and attention. But we knew that was not enough. This boy needed a home. And on New Year’s Day that hope and dream became a reality. A very nice man stopped in and said he was sent to us by a friend who thought we had the perfect dog for him. He only saw Sam that day and left with a very big smile and a promise to contact us soon. About one week later he made good on that promise.
“Hello, I came up to look at adopting a dog on Sunday the 1st. I had the privilege of meeting Sam. He completely fits what I’m looking for and then some. I am very excited about providing the best home and life for him as I can. I spoke to my real estate broker and he assured me that my building is completely dog friendly (there are tons of great dogs in there already). I would love to move forward with adopting Sam.”
At that was it. Sam, our Sam was going home. Many of the staff cried when they heard the news. How could you not? We still look around the office expecting to see his goofy face. We miss him dearly but there is no better feeling then knowing he is living the good life, laying on couches, bathing in the sun and meeting new friends at the dog park every week!

Lucinda’s story is one we have heard all too often here at PAW. In February of 2000 (yes you read that right – 12 years ago) Lucinda was found in a dumpster nearby with her sister as 6 week old puppies. They were placed in a cage and forgotten about, or perhaps were lost amongst the hundreds of other dogs already in residence. She grew up and lived her entire life in the shelter. In 2009 she was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and had multiple tumors removed over the next two years yet she remained quiet and comfortable in her run. Over the last few months however her tumors increased in size and her condition was beginning to deteriorate. The kennel was not the environment Lucinda should be spending her last days in. Then, at the end of December we received an application from Karen. On our application we ask applicants to describe in detail (if known) what type of dog they are looking for. Karen’s answer was that she wanted to adopt the oldest, sickest dog we had to come live on her farm. The farm she recently moved to for just that purpose. She wanted to provide a loving, wonderful, “piece of heaven” as she calls it, to an animal that may not have many days left. In January Karen and her dog stopped in to visit and to meet some of our older dogs. We immediately introduced her to Lucinda and it was love at first sight. She adopted Lucinda immediately and took her home. This is her first update:
“Lucinda is doing fantastic! No accidents…goes to the door everytime….learned quick….she so doesn’t want to go back…she is playing her cards great….loves running outside in the fields…..loves her special treats…..looooovvvvvvvvves her doggie beds….one is right in front of the heat source…that is her favorite…LOL….I love her already…she is so loving and kind…she follows me everywhere and when I leave and come home she greets me like she loves me already….big butt and tail wag….she is sooooo happy……got her on a maintenance plan for pain….that should do her good…making an appointment with my vet this week to have her gone over….I would really like to relieve the pain of her sores. Thanks for picking her for me….she is a wonderful sweet soul.”
And then the second one a few weeks later:

“Just wanted to let you know how well Lucinda is doing….she has officially been here long enough to learn to beg “cause it works”…..claim the couch as hers…..play with frecks…..let me snuggle with her on the couch without getting worried anymore….instead of it alerting her she now goes right back to sleep while I pet her….she thinks that the Sqeaky alligator is something she really did kill and conquer….she totally knows the food and treat routine….totally housebroken…only one accident…knows how to greet me at the door…totally gets all pumped up when I come home….waits at the door if she needs to go out before I was ready to take her out…loves everyone who has met her and just plain loves home life….she was a piece of cake to transition from shelter living to home living…wish they were all this easy…LOL…still blown away about how great and fast she potty trained. I hope you’re enjoying the pics….she is thankful and happy….already totally attached to her…so it will suck when it’s her time…but until then I will look at the positive and enjoy watching her enjoy each and every day…Sincerely Karen”
Lucinda reminds us all of why we are here and why we do what we do. Why you never give up. Why we can say without a doubt that there IS a home for every animal. It is our job to find that home. It is our job to love and care and continue to fight the status quo each and every day. Rescue work is not always full of happy days. In fact many days are filled with tough decisions and a lot of hard work. Lucinda is a constant reminder to me that my work is never done. This isn’t the end of the line. The legacy animals are not destined to live out the rest of their lives here with us. There IS a home for each and every one. It’s my job to find it. With your help, your love and your support we have been able to find homes for so many of them but there are still over 100 wonderful dogs and 100 amazing cats that deserve the same.
Please consider opening your home to any one of our seniors. We offer a forever foster program as well as free adoptions!
Medical Update: (written by Mara our lead vet tech)
Over the last month we have seen so many changes. We have been able to purchase some of the very necessary equipment for our surgical suite and medical room and we hope to be offering low cost spay/neuter and vaccine clinics to the public within the next few months.


Jason is a 7 year old American Bulldog mix who still acts just like a puppy. Normally he loves to run and have fun in the outside runs. So when I found him in his kennel a few weeks ago and he was not able to put any weight on his back leg I immediately called our Medical Director Dr. Puzio. He advised that we should place Jason on a cage rest and that it was likely that Jason had a cruciate tear. Sure enough by the next day his leg was swollen. I spoke to Dr. Puzio and got him in for an immediate X-Ray. The films confirmed our suspicion and Jason was scheduled for surgery. He has been recuperating from his surgery nicely (although he is definitely not a fan of being on cage rest and will whine to come out and play when he sees me). Jason will require one more surgery in the next few weeks to fully repair the damage to his knee and about another month of healing but is available for adoption and would make a wonderful addition to any home with older children or just adults. Unable to adopt? Please consider donating towards the cost of Jason’s surgeries or a monthly sponsorship in his name!!
Chase has been with us for many years. Although she is very sweet and loving, she is also terribly shy. Chase has a thyroid condition that requires daily medications. While giving her her meds I noticed she was not acting normally. As I picked her up I noticed quickly that her body temperature felt dangerously low. We immediately brought her into the medical suite and placed her on a heating pad and started fluids. Our onsite vet, Dr. Christina was scheduled to come in shortly so we continued to treat Chase in house. Once Dr. Christina was able to assess Chase, I put her on an IV catheter for a round of antibiotics. Within a few days she was feeling much better, and was eating normally. After one more re check we decided she was 100% better and she was released back to her room to her sister Jerry.
Current Needs:
Special Thanks to Ricky Harris who collected donations for PAW as his honor society project. He collected a TON of greatly needed donations as well as over $485!!
Thanks to all of you and your generous support, we were FINALLY able to fix the heating system in the facility. We fell just $4,000 short of what we needed and we are still trying to raise that final payment. Because we now have heat, we can continue to pull dogs in large numbers to safety throughout the winter! Unfortunately as we were renovating the heat we realized the roof damage is very severe and much of our oil consumption is directly due to the many holes in the ceilings and total lack of insulation. As you can imagine replacing the roof on an over 24,000 sq ft building is a huge cost to us! We will have to redo the roof this spring, we have no choice, and once again we are going to beg you for YOUR help to complete the overhaul. And at the top of the page take a look at our new front door! We celebrated as the old signage came down and the new Pets Alive Westchester in it’s bright blue letters went up.
As Pets Alive continues to grow we have a constant need for volunteers. We are looking for volunteers interested in fundraising, events, or marketing to join our Volunteer Development Committee. If you would like to be hands on and instrumental in our continued growth and success please email volunteer@petsalivewest.org.
We are also looking for a volunteer who can handle all of our adoption updates and our Facebook page (as necessary). Please email volunteer@petsalivewest.org if you are interested in this volunteer position.
We also have a DESPERATE NEED for laptops. Have you upgraded? Can we have your old laptop? Or would you consider purchasing a laptop for us? We don’t need anything fancy, just the ability to do email, get on the internet and manage documents. We would be very grateful for any help with this, we have some new hires that we have been unable to provide a laptop to and they currently have to sit in the office to get their work done. Thanks very much for your consideration.
Need: 3 Laptops for new hires and adoptions!!!

Our mission is to improve the lives of companion animals everywhere by any means possible, including rescue, adoption, advocacy, collaboration, intervention and education. Please consider making a donation to help us.