Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on November 24th the following animals were adopted: Tucker, Baylee, Dante, Miles, Nina, Julie, Roc, Lady, Buddy, Trixie, Dorothy, Glinda, Harley, Oz, Toto, Juggles, Buddy (again), B.P., Bert, Glinda, Jupiter.
The following cats were all adopted too: Frankie, Johnny, Shady, Stevie, Daisy, Betsy, Reddy, Miss Kitty and Fiona. Nine cats! OUR RECORD! Dale said to tell everyone that she “rocks”! Of course we must also mention Kerri, our adoption coordinator, who has been doing an amazing job of placing our dogs. Amazing! Thirty animals went home in twenty days. How sweet is that? Have you checked our forum lately? Our adopters often post updates and pictures of the dogs and cats they adopted from us. It is the best part of my day to go there and read those. Be sure to check it out!

General Updates:
Matt’s latest blog: Matt contemplates the holidays and talks about Pets Alive’s goals for next year in
My Christmas Angel. Please read it and vote on the projects you think should have priority.
While there, have you read our blog about Amelia? She is finally ready for a home. We’re so happy for her and she is doing really well. It would be a wonderful gift to her and to everyone here if she went home for the holidays. We’re really proud of her and very grateful to everyone that helped make it happen. Please read the blog and post a message. We love your comments.
The Seniors:
Buddy and Baylee, our two senior dogs that were adopted last month, continue to thrive with their new families. You can read updates about Baylee on the forum. She has had some really tough times and been very sick for a while and we’re so grateful her new mom is so absolutely amazing and is doing so much to help Baylee.
The other Buddy – our older Golden Retriever, went to a home this week, but he bit the new owners. We were really worried about it as we weren’t sure we could ever place him again with such an issue…but Buddy was really depressed here and not doing well. Enter two of the most wonderful people we have ever had the pleasure of meeting – Gregg and Melissa. We explained the whole situation but they decided they still wanted Buddy. They felt they could work with him on his issues and were deeply concerned about him. The only thing was that they had four cats so Buddy needed to pass a cat test. We tested him and WHAM. Buddy failed. Gretchen bopped him in the nose and he went for her. Sigh. We had to tell them it was a no go. There was an air of deep sadness around here. Then I got a text message from Kerri – Gregg and Melissa were still coming to meet him! They drove all the way up here with their adorable dog, Chloe and it was a match. Buddy could not wait to get into their car. The minute the door opened he was trying to climb in – like he knew this was his second chance and he wasn’t going to let them leave without him. So far he is doing great and we heard this from them:

Buddy’s first night went great! He and Chloe are getting along fine, and he hasn’t been destructive in the slightest. He LOVES all of his new toys and especially his new bed! He carries them all around the house, and he’s enjoying “helping” to decorate the house for Christmas. He’s been on several car rides already, and he even let us give him a bath yesterday :o)We know you guys said he doesn’t like his feet or tail touched, so we immediately started working on that with him. He’s still a little iffy about his back feet (which we think is because of his incision), but he’s let us touch his front feet and his tail without any issues! In just two days, we can already see a huge difference in his overall demeanor. He’s so happy and interested in everything and everyone…
And you will all be very happy to know that he is doing really well with the cats! He’s “inspected” all four of them already, and he is not aggressive toward them in the slightest. In fact, he gave our youngest male Sam a big, wet kiss this morning, and Sam just rolled over. He’s very curious about everything they do, but we feel very comfortable leaving him along with them. So everything on the cat front is as it should be. In fact, three of the four are sitting on the floor with him right now. If anything, he’s enjoying all of the new playmates. Although, at seven years old, he doesn’t last as long as they do LOL! He’s been playing quite a bit, and he really seems happy here.
Oh, by the way, we think we are going to change his name to Chance (since he’s getting a second “chance” with us). Now’s a good time to do it, since we’re going to start training. He doesn’t really respond to Buddy, anyway. We’re looking forward to a fresh start all around…and we are loving having him here. He’s doing great…and he said to say thanks a bunch for everything that you guys did to help him when he needed it most–he’ll never forget it!

Thank YOU Gregg, Melissa and Chloe. We were so worried about his future. Thank you also for the HUGE amount of donations you brought with you. I wanted to mention to everyone that they own a pet shop and dog bakery (which they call a Barkery – HA!). Have a friend you don’t know what to get for? They probably have enough – why not have the Bag of Bones Barkery put together a gift basket for you? Check them out – and when you do tell them you heard about them through us and all about the generosity and love they bestowed upon us and this very needy dog. They make their own gourmet all-natural biscuits and also sell great toys and chews.
Houma, Aaron, Fiona and Francis
We have a few animals this month that could use your prayers.
Houma, a sweet young pit that we took in from a Hurricane Gustav rescue group has had a truly terrible life. He spent all of it tied to a pickup truck and then someone poured acid all over his back. Deeply scarred and very emaciated this dog was saved through emergency surgery and love of rescues in the south like Kat5 and Angel Dogs. He came to us also with heartworm, and unneutered and while treating him for his heartworm he became ill and now has developed pneumonia. He is in an iso ward at the animal hospital for over a week now and showing only very slow signs of improvement. We really love this dog and he has gone through so very much in his short life. He doesn’t deserve this. Janet goes to visit and sit with him every day for a few hours and he is always happy to see her. We are all hoping he will pull through. That is a picture of him that Janet took with her cell phone the day she had to leave him in the iso ward. He looks so small and helpless.
Aaron was a dog that we adopted to a truly AMAZING and wonderful family. He had been adopted once before but the people returned him after many months saying he was too hyper. Trudy took him in and he has been the light of her life. His recent exam shows that Aaron has heartworm. This is so upsetting and shocking to us. Every year we appeal to everyone to help us raise money to buy our heartworm prevention and this is exactly why. Heartworm treatment is over $600 per dog and the dogs go through a LOT during the treatment. It is rough on them and the people that love them. While he was in his other home it appears that perhaps his preventative was not given to him. Please – everyone – don’t take this chance. Please make sure you give your dogs this preventative pill each month. In the end it will save you a lot of money and a lot of heartache. The treatment has a very high success rate but please keep Aaron and his family in your thoughts.
Fiona is a little kitten that was dumped here a few months ago. She was seriously ill and it was touch and go for a while on if she would even survive. She did but her symptoms kept reoccurring and she never quite got completely better. She was even slated for adoption by someone who met and loved her but a last minute double check at our vet had Fiona very ill again. They said that these issues would probably be chronic for her and she needed to be treated with a nebulizer and many other constant medical care – plus – she should not go into a home with other cats as she was contagious. Wow. Now what we can we do? We can’t put her back with our other cats and we can’t adopt her to anyone with cats and she will always need a lot of medical care. Problem solved. The vet tech at the animal hospital decided to adopt her. This worked out for all of us. We are so happy for Fiona and so grateful to the tech for taking such great care of our little girl.
Francis, one of the retired NYC carriage horses, gave us a scare this week. Staff noticed he had a HUGE lump on his stomach area. We called the vet and it turned out to be nothing serious. Just an edema that he can be treated for with antibiotics and we should see the lump go away in a short time. Whew. That is a relief.
The Fabulous Pets Alive Staff:
You know I often thank volunteers and supporters for all their help but I almost never mention staff and they should be mentioned as they are truly the most dedicated and caring group of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. This month they went above and beyond in many ways. Juan and Marcos built Cam an outside house for the winter (as he hates the kennel). They put a divider down the center and fenced the whole thing and then installed a heater. On one side is Cam and the other side is Valentino (who also hates the noise of the kennel). They have their own suite now – heated, with fluffy beds and companionship. Thank you guys – that was a great job!
Thanks also to Dale who worked a month straight without a day off while we were hiring a new cat caretaker. She never complained, never showed up late and never had a day off. We did have loyal and dedicated volunteers that came to help, but still Dale went way above and beyond.
Janet regularly does more than we ask of her, or expect. She is a very compassionate person when it comes to the animals in her care – moving dogs like Sandy into the laundry room when she notices they are terrified in the kennel, or sitting with Houma every night for a couple of hours because he is so sick and so alone in the ISO ward at Flannery Animal Hospital. She’s a really loving person and her compassion shows in the way she treats the animals here.
Thank you to Kerri who gets paid for just 25 hours a week and probably puts in 80. She does adoptions, follows up, takes care of petfinder, meets people, does all the checks and application reviews, puts up with some people that can be difficult and does it all with a smile on her face. She’s the best and the dogs all wag their tails like crazy when they see her. Somehow they seem to know she is the one that will find them their forever home.
Thank you to Chris who took Peanut under her care, taking him home each night, tending to his fears and when he got sick making sure he got proper medical care immediately. She’s had a lot going on lately and she didn’t need the extra workload or stress!
Thanks to the new horsecaretaker, Brianna, who went out and bought Scotchguard when she found that we didn’t have a single waterproof horse blanket. She sprayed all the blankets down to help them be waterproof.
The staff is wonderful at Pets Alive. Please tell them that when you see them!
Intakes:

This month we took in 28 dogs from Ohio that were scheduled for euthanasia. They have gone through their quarantine period already and are up on Petfinder. One is just more adorable than the next. We also took in five dogs from Kentucky, three dogs from local people that needed to surrender them, and an FIV cat from ARF (they in exchange took Frosty and Snowflake to their shelter).
We also got Huckleberry back – she became very aggressive in her new home, and sweet Sandy came back to us as well (she had been adopted back in April).
We commit to all our animals for life, so matter what they do, or what happens in the family that they can no longer keep them, Pets Alive will always welcome them back here with open arms and provide safety and sanctuary for them. We have a few lifers here already – Bonesy, Valentino, Lucky Lincoln, (and Cam, Scrappy and Bindi have been here for quite some time with various issues as well, but are adoptable to the right home). That picture is Bonesy. BTW, did you know that the people that found him as a stray and brought him here years ago STILL sponsor him? Yep. They still call to ask how he is and still send us money to sponsor him each month.
Do you have Facebook?
Pets Alive just recently became an approved “cause” on Facebook. If you, your child, your students, or your friends have Facebook can you please add us to your page as a charitable cause you support? The more we can socially network like this the better off we will be! It is a huge boon for us to be accepted into the Facebook approved charities so please help us to make the most of it.
Pets Alive GiftCards
Looking for the perfect gift? Give Pets Alive this holiday season.
Make a donation to Pets Alive in someone’s name and we’ll send them a card that you can personalize. We currently have three cards (dog, cat and horse) to choose from. Click here to see our holiday cards and send one today!
Leashes
Our leashes keep walking off. We only have volunteers and staff use the slip leashes and they EACH cost us $14. We ordered 30 last month and ALL OF THEM ARE GONE! Rose just purchased another 30 for us, but these are very expensive. Can you please look around your homes and cars and if you have accidentally taken home one of our leashes – bring it back! We really can not afford to replace them this frequently. I did contact the owner of the online place we order from and he is willing to give us a $2 per leash discount (thanks Jeff!) but that still doesn’t replace the 90 we have purchased this year already. Please return our leashes to us if you accidentally went home with them. They are always on our wishlist with a link to purchase them as well.
Holidays
Happy Holidays to all our supporters and volunteers! We will be closed for volunteering on December 25th so that our staff can go home early to be with their families. If you wish to be here on that day, please contact me to discuss, otherwise we are still available 7 days of the week – yes even in the winter – for volunteers from 10-4. Please come down and walk our dogs, or help out. The winter finds us alone a lot because it is so cold, but the dogs still love to get out. It is harder on the dogs in the winter because they are also forced to be in the kennel. Please bundle up and continue to come. The dogs need to get out for that walk this time of year more then ever and it is when we have the fewest people.
Additionally some supporters have asked us if there is anything they can get for staff. We all prefer gifts for the animals but if anyone wanted to do something for the staff these would be my suggestions of things that might help them. Carhart suits. These jumpsuits are warm, bite proof and cover their clothes. All our dog and horse staff are outside – A LOT. These suits would be great to keep them warm. Five staffers would be able to make use of them and that would be one small, two mediums, one large and one xx-large. They could also all use rubber boots but I don’t have a clue as to their sizes. Maybe some inexpensive ones from wal-mart in various sizes? I know also that they would KILL to have one of those Keurig pod coffee makers in the kitchen. They also love gatorade and food/treats. That is about all I can think of, and I mention it only because so many people have asked.
Thank you’s
We have to first thank all the people that stepped up and donated a Kuranda bed to Pets Alive. The response was absolutely astonishing with a total of 60 beds donated. The Kuranda company even contacted us to congratulate us on all the donations and tell us that they were throwing in a free fleece blanket for every five beds. Thank you all. We now have enough for every dog for the inside of the kennel AND their outside runs. Previously we would have to lug the beds inside at night when we brought the dogs in and then lug the beds back outside when we put the dogs outside on the nicer days. We now have enough to keep beds in the outdoor runs and the indoor runs thanks to all of you. THANK YOU. The dogs are so much more comfortable now and the staff workload has decreased as a result. (Yes, we still bring the dogs out as often as we can to get them out of the kennel).
Very special thanks to John H this month. He has been astounding. John is a carpenter that built us a desk for Dale in the kitchen, made dozens of repairs around here including putting up molding around open doors and windows, along the floors, fixing the tile in the bathroom, driving all the way to Cornell with a cat that we needed to get there, and a host of other improvements and fixes. He’s been a Godsend around here and always has a smile and a cheery attitude. Thanks John!
Last month we put out an appeal for labels and boy did you guys come through again. Elaine C., Michelle and Wendy & Kenny all printed us stickers or had them made up for us. Thank you all. We now have enough to last us for some time. Thank you guys so much. (Elaine is also the one that got us the banners last month and Wendy and Kenny are helping us with our education program!).
Thanks again to Becky for all the photos. We definitely have the best pics on Petfinder. She also decorated the cathouse with holiday decor. It looks so cute! Of course Jake and Scrumpy (previously Tommy) got hold of one of the little stockings and proceeded to play tug of war with it. Becky probably doesn’t read this though and will never know. (Yeah, I know she does…just teasing her). Thanks for all you do for us Beckers. (All the photos of animals in this newsletter are thanks to her as well).
We put out a call for dog toys. WE GOT DOG TOYS! Huge boxes starting showing up and people starting walking in and leaving bags or boxes of them in the lounge. Some of them did not leave their name so we have no idea who to thank but we know we got shipments from Angela, Rose, Frank, Karen, and Mike. Thank you all so much. Kerri, Marcos and Chris went and handed a whole bunch out and the dogs were overjoyed. It is one of the most fun things to do here – walk from run to run and pick out a toy that you think suits a dog and toss it to them and watch their eyes light up as they prance around it, throw it in the air, start a tug of war with their kennel-pal or just run over to their Kuranda bed with it! So much fun! Thank you all.

Thank you to John L (Lynne’s husband) who replaced all the carpeting on all the cat scratching posts, took out all the air conditioners, hung up all the curtains that Sonja made for the cat rooms, and then some. Have you seen the curtains? They are GREAT. Sonja got cat material and sewed curtains out of it. Fabulous curtains. Makes our office look so bare now. ::cough:: Anyway thank you Sonja, John and Lynne. We so appreciate you.
Thank you Frank and Angela for the Panacur donations. Between the two of you we got 40 tubes. We have to treat our dogs with this as a wormer and it takes almost 3/4 of a tube to treat each dog that comes in. We go through this stuff like lightening and greatly appreciate this donation.
Thank you to Liz Drake of Hudson Valley Equine Amenities. She took ALL of our filthy horse blankets, cleaned them all, repaired the damaged and broken ones, gave us donations of some from her shop and picked up and delivered them. She was so fabulous. Thanks Liz. Please contact her for your own horse blanket needs. They all look brand new.
Continued thanks to Kayla and her family for the angels that are still being made to support Pets Alive. Trudy (Aarons mom) also sent a great big box of beads and supplies to us to give to Kayla. Trudy also placed a Sams Club order for us this week to help us get some much needed supplies.
Thanks also to Richard and Marie who have been coming down regularly to help train our dogs. A dog that can walk politely on a leash, or sit when asked is a HUGE bonus and aid in getting them adopted.
Cathy P – THANK you for helping with our laundry. Our laundry is always backed up. Want to volunteer but don’t want to be out in the cold walking dogs all day? Come help us catch up on our daily laundry.
Thank you to all the anonymous donors who have been filling our volunteer lounge with much needed donations lately.
Bedding, bleach,toys, detergent etc have all been showing up regularly – anonymously. THANK YOU to everyone who is leaving these things for us.
Thanks to all our regulars for coming every day, every week – as often as you do. It is impossible to name everyone in each newsletter but we are always so grateful to you all. Thank you.