The annual 2011 Fur Ball Gala Event Is On! BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!


The Fur Ball is a fabulous formal evening celebrating the animals that have been saved by Pets Alive.
There are cocktails, dinner, music, dancing, silent auctions, and our annual Awards presentation. Please join us in making our largest annual fundraisers for the animals, a huge success! This is the event that helps fund us for the entire year. PLEASE support this event!
The 2011 Pets Alive Hudson Valley Fur Ball Gala
Friday, June 17th,
From 7pm – 11pm,
Falkirk Estate & Country Club, Central Valley, NY
Everyone can be a part of supporting the Fur Ball, even if you can’t attend!

• Show your support as a Fur Ball sponsor and gain recognition at the event and beyond.
• Include your special personal message, or place an advertisement in the event program
• Come to the party! Guest list reservations $125 p.p.
• Volunteer to work on the committee that puts this event on each year! Please help by emailing community@petsalive.com

Together we will make the Hudson Valley Fur Ball a success for the animals!

You can also attend the Westchester Fur Ball!
Pets Alive Westchester Fur Ball, Saturday, June 11th, Mount Kisco, NY.
For additional information, or questions, contact community@petsalive.com
Sanctuary animal updates:
Since my last update on February 23rd, the following dogs were adopted: Rufus, Sassy, Celine, Princess, Buffy, Spot, Elmo, Roxy, Scooby, Jake, Selma, Sandy, Ted, Yogi, Sam, Rookie, Grizz, Tonka, Yukon, Polly Anna, Chauncey, Dara, Charlie Girl, Larry, Mallory, Betty Jo, Brenda, Shelly, Belinda, Sage, Jess, Buddy, Butch, Bethany, Bishop, Bear Cub, Shania, Max, Bambi, Mallory, Javier, Theodore, Dublin, Bunny, Jonah, Glacier, Duncan, Elle, Reese, Jelly Bean, Buddy & Cadbury, Sophie & Lavender, Pogo & Razzy, Lucky & Sammy, Bobey, Bear, Jenny, Enzo, Moose, Rocky (Larry), Sweetie, Peep, Josh, Taffy, Timber, Griffin, Snoopy, Stephen, King, Homer, Gentry, Gentle Ben, Buster, and Elvis.
This month we had an awesome adoption day. On April 2 EVERY adoption was a double! There were four adoption appointments for dogs and one for cats and every family took home TWO animals! Five appointments resulted in ten animals going home. What a great day. If you have a SINGLE pet, please consider a playmate for him or her. Long days without you can really result in behavior or aggression issues. A playmate and companion often alleviate those issues. There are so many animals in need. Hope you consider a friend for yours!
The following cats were also adopted: Ramos, Black Gold, Tootles, Miss Priss, Frankie, Archie, Sharon, Leslie, Roberta, Buddy, Angie, Molly, Sasha, Sasha2, Mitzy, Panda, Rabbit, Steve, Tommy Kitty and Nina!

Noteworthy adoptions:
The stand out adoptions of the past few months would have to be Bunker, Lucky & Sammy, and cat Sheba!
Bunker was a dog that arrived here from Ohio almost three years ago. He was actually adopted out four times but each time was returned. Each person said the same thing – he was absolutely a PERFECT dog in every way but he was too protective in the home when strangers came (although one time he was returned for being too energetic). Bunker had only three legs so we were thinking maybe he thought one of those strangers took his leg and he was trying to get it back! But it was a difficult problem for us to fix here because he didn’t exhibit this behavior until he was in the home for a number of weeks and he never showed any sort of protectiveness here. So we would prepare adopters and they would understand and try but in the end, Bunker just wanted to make sure no one was going to come and take his family from him. It was very sad. Enter Liz. Liz is a person that comes all the way from NYC every single week to volunteer here. She had a special relationship with Bunker but she also had cats and Bunker was a cat-hater. The staff started working with Bunker every day on getting him used to cats, by bringing him to the cat department and having him make short visits with lots of treats. Eventually Bunker started to get better. Liz was dejected every time she left here without him and decided it was time to take him home. Well. She did. And he is still there now, and working out great. He waited three years to find his home and now he has. Thank you Liz! Good luck Bunker!
Lucky and Sammy were abandoned at the CACC by their family who no longer wanted them. Lucky was 14 years old and Sammy was 12. We didn’t know they had come in as a pair and Pets Alive pulled Sammy (pulled means “arranged to take into our sanctuary”). The CACC contacted us and asked if we could please consider taking them both because they were both scheduled to be euthanized and were very bonded and loving with each other. Oh my! We had no idea! Of course we said yes and they both came here. Well it is difficult enough to adopt ONE senior dog, never mind TWO that need to go TOGETHER. Ouch. But we didn’t think about it, we knew we had to take them both and amazingly, less than two weeks later, they were BOTH adopted together to a WONDERFUL home. Some days I can’t even believe how much good there is in the world. Just look at that picture. It really touches me. They REALLY love each other. They deserve to live. They ALL do.
Sheba was six years old when she was abandoned at the CACC. She was brought to Pets Alive almost TEN years ago and had no interest from adopters. We were worried that she was never going to find a home. But miracles DO happen! She was recently adopted by one of our volunteers! Thanks Becky. We are so glad she is with you.
Intakes:

We took in the following dogs: 5 from Puerto Rico, 6 from Kentucky, 9 from Ohio, 29 from Georgia, 4 from the CACC, 4 from North Carolina, 9 from South Carolina, 2 from Maryland, 3 owner surrenders, and 3 dogs from Turkey. Yes. TURKEY. The country. I know. Don’t ask. Well. OK. Ask. Someone asked, we said yes. In Turkey, animals are not considered pets. An exchange student was there for some time and was helping these dogs. When it was time to come home she felt she could not leave them. She asked if we could help. So we said yes. They may have travelled the furthest of any of the dogs we have ever taken in. They are absolutely beautiful and two have already been adopted! The last one still here is Camelot. Gorgeous and wonderful. Come and adopt him!
In addition to all of those dogs, we also took in seven cats from local surrenders, or local rescues, and twelve cats from our Elmsford location (still trying to help get our numbers down there).

Don’t forget to check out the Pets Alive Blog. Does anyone CARE? More on Chesterfield S.C. Pets Alive Sponsorship Drive What has happened to compassion in our shelters? Westchester’s largest No-Kill Shelter Counting on New Team Pets Alive Gets Grant to Vaccinate Dogs for Influenza

Puerto Rico – Things are really coming together for us in Puerto Rico. The government there has decided to strongly support us in building a sanctuary and is working with us to lease us or give us land to build it on. They are also helping us gain non-profit status there and helping us with some grants and other things. It has been a whirlwind and Chrissy has been away from her home and family to be there for the past few months to make it all happen. We will keep you posted on our progress!
Elmsford – Pets Alive Westchester – Amazing things have been happening at Pets Alive Westchester. Recently a dog that came into that shelter as an 8 month old pup was adopted. He was 14 now. How terribly sad that prior management of this facility felt it was ok to warehouse animals for life like this. It breaks our heart, but Joy has been doing an absolutely amazing job as executive director there and the staff is really onboard for changing things. They also adopted out a 16 year old cat this week. It is astonishing how quickly positive things are happening there. Your help is very welcome! You can visit their website at: petsalivewest.org
Tours – Pets Alive is now offering tours of the sanctuary. The first Saturday of every month is “Guided Tour Day”. You will be given a tour by one of the administrators of Pets Alive, be able to ask questions and find out more about our organization, our foundation and our mission. No reservation is needed. Just be at Pets Alive by 10:45. The tour starts at 11! Tours are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. These fees can be applied to a Pets Alive Membership at the end of the tour.
Pet Chow Pantry – Our Pet Chow Pantry is now working with the Office for Aging (OFA). We are hoping to get dog and cat food (and litter) with the food deliveries that are made to people that are homebound, or financially in need. If THEY need help, then their animals likely do too! Toni from OFA has been wonderful and is even working with us on a Senior For Seniors Program, to help get senior pets into senior homes! We are absolutely thrilled at this development. What a win for animals and seniors!
Sponsorship Drive – Our monthly pet sponsors are truly our partners in rescue and the lifeline for Pets Alive. With an urgent need to replace lost lifelines from the challenging economy, we launched a sponsorship drive and set a goal of 100 new monthly sponsors. Friends and partners in rescue from far and wide stepped up and headed the call to action! Thank you to our 76 new monthly pet sponsors. Thank you to ALL of our monthly pet sponsors. You truly are the lifeline for Pets Alive. Learn more about becoming a monthly pet sponsor.
Medical Updates or Issues: (written by Janet)
Fox our handsome Puerto Rican boy has been having some behavioral issues these past couple weeks. He finally finished his heartworm treatment but during the last few weeks of recovery Fox has become a different dog. He became very anxious and quick to snap at people. This was extremely different than the dog we all knew. We decided to send bloodwork out to the lab to check for any abnormalities, but his values were all normal. We ran the heartworm combination test again to make sure he wasn’t showing signs of a tick borne disease. But that test also came back negative. Our vet did note that Fox had some difficulty during his stay there and might be painful from that (although the timing did not seem appropriate). We currently have weaned him slowly off the steroids he was on during recovery and is now back in the general population of dogs. We are hoping that with regular handling (from seasoned handlers) as well as the cessation of steroids, Fox will resume his normal happy persona. It’s been heartbreaking to see such a sweet, vibrant dog loose his zest and happiness. We were also able to find Fox a kennel mate to help with his process.

Gentle Ben is a large boarder collie mix who not only was found out to be positive for Lyme disease, but also has heartworm! He has been on the medication to treat Lyme which by chance is also a part of the treatment plan for heartworm. Ben visited our vet two weeks ago for the first part of his treatment. While quietly recovering in an office at the sanctuary, Ben was found to be completely non-weight bearing on his left hind leg yesterday morning. Of course everyone was alarmed. We were not sure if he injured himself, although it seemed highly unlikely since he was completely normal when everyone left the night before. We ran another heartworm combination test. It still showed positive for Lyme (which we expected) but was still negative for the other two tick borne diseases. We slightly increased the doxycycline and placed him on some pain meds. This morning Gentle Ben was completely back to his normal self! He wanted to hop around, jump up on people and go for long walks. We still need to keep him rested, but it was nice to see Ben acting himself once again.
Cooper (previously known as Charlie) the lab beagle was returned months ago for severe behavior problems. The family who adopted him were very kind and patient, but in their busy home, Cooper would randomly attack people. They tried to work with him and consulted trainers, but after the safety of their children was at stake, they felt they had no feasible solution but to return him. Cooper was kept out of the kennel and became an office dog. Unfortunately, after a couple short weeks, Cooper became settled and his behavior was seen firsthand. The sad part is that 99% of the time Cooper is just a big calm lug of a dog. He’s quiet, kind of shy and not overly active. A foster situation became available with an experienced volunteer who had worked with a different lab beagle of similar behavior. His stay with that family did not last long either as Cooper attacked her adult son as he entered the room one night. Full blood panels and other tests had been done to rule out medical reasons for the behavior. Unfortunately, no one knows for sure what torture these beagles received in the lab they spent almost their entire lives. An appointment has been made to see a veterinary behaviorist Dr. Ellen Lindell. If medications are appropriate for his case, she would be the person to determine and monitor their effectiveness. We are all hopeful that Cooper can find the mental respite needed to prevent any future bursts of aggression and live a normal life. The life that was sadly stripped by becoming the victim of years of experimentation.
Heidi is a female black lab mix who is new to the sanctuary. Sadly, at nine years of age, Heidi spent her life since puppy hood with a woman who would use a dirty wet rag to “scrub” her genital area each time Heidi urinated. She also would rub Heidi’s bottom and caused severe secondary infections and inflammation. Her medical records show that as a result, Heidi has dealt with urinary tract infections for most of her adult life. Even the day she arrived at Pets Alive, Heidi started urinating pure blood. When we collected a sample to send out to the lab, the lab initially thought we had submitted a blood sample instead of a urine sample!! Heidi was also extremely depressed and couldn’t be bothered eating, not to mention take her medication. Initially we were forced to inject all her medications into her, but finally after an entire week of coaxing, Heidi started to cooperate. She settled down and you could see the life coming back into her eyes. She now eagerly wants to walk the trail and likes to eat once again! We will retest her urine in a couple weeks to make sure she is healing properly.
Sophie is a beautiful female mixed breed from Turkey. A kind woman saved her along with two other terrier mixes due to their society not holding any value to animals. Sophie had been battling mange for almost a year, and had a myriad of other health issues when she arrived. Her ears were infected and there was a laceration near her eye that was pus filled. In addition to being badly in need of a dental, she had several lumps along her body and her nails were extremely overgrown. I thought for sure she was going to be an ongoing case for us. We began treating her mange and infections. Once she was more stable, we planned to have her lumps removed and biopsied and her teeth cleaned. But within a week of her arrival, a magnificent couple came to see her. They had seen her story and wanted to adopt her due to all her medical needs! Even knowing that there is a chance that the lumps (once biopsied) would be malignant in nature, the couple said that at least Sophie will have the family she deserves for whatever time she has left. We couldn’t ask for more!
Farm Animal Updates:

This month we wound up with a squirrel baby! His mom was killed in the road and he was too young to care for himself. The pic makes him look a lot bigger than he actually was. He was really cute. Janet took care of him until we were able to find a wildlife rehabber to take over his care. He was so much fun to play with and visit with! It is the unexpected animal care that comes through here sometimes that makes things more interesting!
Thank you to all the new volunteers that have been coming to help with our farm animals. They have been doing a wonderful job grooming and socializing the horses. Murphy used to be so shy that we could rarely catch him for medical care or the farrier. Now thanks to all this extra grooming and attention he is actually approaching us for attention! He has especially taken a liking to a young volunteer, Gina, who has been coming almost every weekend with her dad. Thanks Gina!
Foxy is another horse that has been very shy since she returned to the sanctuary, but as staff and volunteers continue to give her treats and pay attention to her she is becoming more friendly. It’s important to be able to handle all of the farm animals so that they can be vetted or have their feet cared for when the farrier visits. By spending time with the farm animals, volunteers play an important role in the socialization process.
Glen made it through the long winter and is in great spirits. He races to the gate for his food and will whinny and throw his head around if the feed buckets aren’t filled fast enough for him. Mid-morning he likes to take a nap in his lovely deep bed of shavings and his goat buddies can often be found resting beside him. We are really thrilled that this old man continues to thrive. Thank you to Vera for all the very extra special love and care that she bestows upon him.
Upcoming Events or Fundraisers

• Pine Island Farmers Market! April 30th: Pets Alive will have a table at the Pine Island Farmers Market in the main barn. The W. Rogowski Farm is located at 329 Glenwood Rd, Pine Island, NY in the heart of the black dirt region of Orange County, NY. Come out and support Pets Alive from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
• Saturday April 30th Beacon Barks! Literally!
  11am – 3pm (rain date is May 1st)
  Pets Alive is participating in the Beacon Barks Event. Beacon Barks celebrates the role animal shelters and animal rescue groups play in our community through this Animal Shelter Appreciation Day.
• PetSmart Adoption Events April 30th & May 1: Pets Alive will have animals for adoption at PetSmart in both Middletown and Harriman locations from 11-3!
• Dogs in Danger Walkathon – May 15! We will have a booth there and are inviting all our supporters to come down and walk in the walk-a-thon! To register please go here – and please register early. If not enough people register for the event, they may have to cancel!
• Pets Alive Annual Yard Sale! May 21-22 at Pets Alive. Vendors wanted! Vendor booths at our sale (which attract hundreds of people each year) are just $25 plus a donation of one item. Contact community@petsalive.com to become a vendor, or becky@petsalive.com with any other questions. Our yard sale has a huge selection of clothes, books, toys, sporting equipment, household items, holiday items, bake goods, raffles, and 50/50s. This is a rain or shine event. Donations: Can be dropped off during normal operating hours at the kennel office until May 15th. Please NO FURNITURE – we do not have the means to store large bulky items. Please mark all bags and boxes “yard sale”.

Oreo’s Law
Oreo’s Law is picking up tremendous support. Not only in New York where it is being introduced again but three other states have now introduced a version as well. So that we are all on the same page a new organization has been started called Rescue 50. It is to put forth an Oreo’s Law in all 50 states. The name has been changed to CAPA – Companion Animal Protection Act and it all started right here folks, and thanks to one poor dog that lost her life senselessly. Thank you Oreo for showing us the way. To read more about Rescue 50 or CAPA you can click here.
Thank You!
Special thanks to the Aquino Charitable Foundation for a large donation to cover the cost of us renovating our grooming room! Thank you Cheryl!
Thank you to Rhiannon, Brynn and Joanie who with their friends, made handmade beds for all of our animals.
The Magic Bus Ribbon Cutting Extravaganza was a BLAST! Thank you to everyone who came out on April 2nd for the special event to kick off the 1st season of the Magic Bus! The Magic Bus rolled up to the sanctuary beeping its horn and busted through a ribbon to greet cheering crowds of friends, children and animal welfare advocates. Off came 4 rescued dogs who found their way into the sanctuary and on went all the children and families for a special bus ride! Everyone joined Kerry for a very special behind the scenes at Pets Alive VIP tour and tons of snacks and goodies! The magic bus is a colorful 20 passenger bus that will be used to transport volunteers and animals to offsite events, and for animal transport during rescue missions.
Cat staff sends out thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers who have been helping with socializing our shy and frightened cats. Tige came in extremely feral and is now close to being a lap cat! The shy kittens are also doing great and volunteers also stepped up to help with the daily cleaning of the rooms. THANK YOU CAT VOLUNTEERS!
Thank you to the STARBUCKS teams from Kingston, Poughkeepsie, New Paltz and Middletown for spending a very rainy day at Pets Alive for their Earth Day Give Back project. They spent the day touring the facility, grooming the dog trails, tirelessly taking inventory of the supplies, cleaning the cat house and horse stable and smiled all day long! A VERY SPECIAL thank you to VINNY from Starbucks Middletown, NY for always loving and supporting us in any and every creative way possible. Vinny has opened many doors for Pets Alive and we are eternally grateful, please visit Vinny for your coffee.
If you would like to arrange for a group or corporate volunteer day at Pets Alive, or a special group tour, please contact community@petsalive.com.
Current Needs:
Our biggest need right now is for someone that can help us gut and redo the grooming room. The walls and ceiling need to be replaced, the grooming tub replaced, everything painted, new lighting hung, a window put into the wall – it is a lot of work, but we’re hoping someone out there will step up. Please consider helping us with this project.
We also raised the money to get some landscaping done around the sanctuary. Do you have a green thumb and a talent for landscaping? PLEASE contact us and help us beautify the sanctuary!
Our admin room (Jen’s office) really needs to be painted. If anyone is willing to paint that office for us, we would greatly appreciate it. For any of these projects please contact us at info@petsalive.com. Thank you for your consideration.

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.