Why Adopt? Pet Adoption = Instant Friend for Life!

Ask anybody who has adopted a rescue pet, and they’ll swear their bond with their rescued pal is as deep as they come. When you open your heart and your home to a pet who needs help, they really do show their appreciation for the rest of their life! Dogs or cats who have been uprooted from their homes, or have had difficult beginnings are likely to bond completely and deeply with their new human caretakers, whom they regard as heroes. Pups and kitties who find themselves in the shelter or at a rescue because of a death or other tragedy in their former human family usually go through a mourning period. Once they are adopted, however, they usually want nothing more than to please their new hero—YOU! No matter what circumstances brought them to the rescue, most cats and dogs for adoption are exceptionally affectionate and attentive, and make extremely loyal companions.

Pets Go Homeless as Recession Hits Hard

by The Post Chronicle

When financial difficulties hit the home, the first to go homeless are not the human family, but their pets. Pets go homeless when recession woes hurt their families, and everyone suffers simply because of the fear of going hungry or being unable to pay the human’s grocery bill, much less food for our pets.

The ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) says that hundreds of thousands of pets may continue to go homeless as a result of the economic downturn. Other times, pets may be lost because of  “people problems” like divorce, foreclosure, and lifestyle changes.

As people lose their homes to foreclosure, and may be forced to move into apartments or stay with relatives, there’s just no place for a dog or cat.

Most of these beloved pets will end up in animal shelters, animal pounds, given away, sold, or just set loose to fend for themselves outside the home.

If you are faced with the agonizing decision to give up your pet, consider these alternatives:

• See if a friend, neighbor or family member can temporarily take your pet until you can take them back, and make sure you check in on your pet regularly if someone is indeed nice enough to take them in; Try to move into a rental property that allows pets. Most apartment complexes don’t mind a cat or bird, but dogs – especially bigger dogs – aren’t always welcome so check out resources on our blog that help you find apartments where your pets will be welcome!
• Contact a local animal shelter or veterinarian and see if they have a list of potential adopters. Give them a picture of your pet and a little write-up that they can hang on their bulletin boards; you can also pin up pictures at the local grocery stores.

Contact the ASPCA www.aspca.org if you’d like more information on how to protect the 4-legged members of your family from being lost to you forever.

On the other hand, if you are a person who has considered adopting a pet in the past, there’s no better time to find an animal who needs to be loved just as much as you do!  HomeFur-ever would love to help you find the perfect new member of your family, click HERE to contact us for help in finding your new best friend!

Yet Again, Man’s Best Friend Saves the Day

A story of the love and loyalty of man’s best friend.  Another reason to adopt a dog from an animal rescue or shelter - what if this were your story?

by Joanna Caroll
 
Man and his dog….a classic love story. Over the years, we have read the stories how dogs are used in detecting cancer in humans with an accuracy rate sometimes better than the most sophisticated hospital hardware; how dogs can sense when children are nearing epileptic seizure; how dogs can alert those with heart conditions of an impending attack.

It seems that in addition to their absolute unconditional love, these joyful creatures, these adored pets, cherished companions, four-legged members of the family, are able to save our life and save the life of those we love. This extraordinary sense, the Sick Sense, that dogs have does not necessarily involve special training. Sometimes, it just happens. But what a gift.

And so it happened in my house last night. While my father was finishing dinner, his dog, Agah, began barking. There was something different about his bark, different enough that I immediately returned to my dad’s room even though I had just been in there not more than ten minutes earlier. My father was sitting in his Lazy Boy, right arm hanging over the side of the chair, eyes closed. “Dad, open your eyes,” I said emphatically. Had it been later in the evening, I might have just covered his legs, lowered the sound on the TV, closed the door quietly and left him to nap til bedtime. “Dad, open your eyes!” His eyes remained closed but he mumbled something and raised his right arm to his head. “Pain pill, please,” is all I heard and in typical textbook fashion it was slurred. Dad was having a stroke. I immediately dialed 911 on my remote; recovering quickly, I got the phone, dialed 911. Help was on its way. One thing left to do was hug this bear of a dog and nose-to-nose just tell him thank you.

It’s been less than 24 hours but Dad’s doing really well. And the big guy in the picture is our hero!

‘Oreo’s Law’ Would Give Dogs a Second Chance at Life

A story has been drawing alot of attention on the Internet recently.  It’s about a long-abused animal who was ultimately thrown off a 6th floor roof by his abusive owner.  Miraculously, the dog named Oreo survived and was taken in by the ASPCA.  The animal received 5 months worth of life-saving medical treatment and presumably social interaction and affection.  However, recently, the head of the ASPCA made a decision to euthanize the dog, presumably because he had incurable aggression issues.  This decision was in spite of the fact that an animal sanctuary had begged to be allowed to take possession of the animal to care for him and re-train him.  The ASPCA leader’s decision has caused the organization to have to take a defensive position in the face of animal lover’s nationwide who are vocally outraged.  Now, politician’s in New York, the state where this incident took place, have proposed legislation to insure that a similar situation can never again occur in their State.

Read the details of the case below and let us know what you think.

____________________________________________________________

by Nathan Winogard

MANHATTAN — A bill to allow animal welfare organizations the right to request animals be given to their care when a shelter is planning to euthanize them will be introduced in the State Legislature this week by Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner and State Senator Thomas K. Duane.

The bill is named Oreo’s Law in memory of a pit bull mix who became well-known after she survived abuse at the hands of her former owner, including a fall from a six-story building, but was eventually euthanized after the ASPCA determined she was untreatably aggressive. Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill animal shelter located in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, specializing in the rehabilitation and care of abused animals, offered to take Oreo, but the ASPCA refused the request.

“As a dog owner and a foster parent for an animal rescue group, I was heartbroken to learn that Oreo was euthanized. When a humane organization volunteers their expertise in difficult cases, a shelter should work with them to the fullest extent possible.” said Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner. “I am hopeful that Oreo’s Law will ensure that no animal is ever put to death if there is a responsible alternative.”

“The humane treatment of animals in the care of shelters is an issue about which I feel very strongly,” said Senator Thomas K. Duane, who will introduce Oreo’s Law legislation in the New York State Senate. “No animal should be put down by a shelter if a reputable humane or rescue organization is willing to assume responsibility for its well being. Oreo’s Law would make sure that in instances where animals aren’t rabid or physically suffering, such organizations have the authority to take possession with the payment of the normal adoption fee, and that Oreo’s sad plight will not be repeated.”

“We are deeply moved that Assembly Member Kellner and Senator Duane have taken up Oreo’s cause. We all need to be the voice for these innocent animals,” said Kerry Clair and Matt DeAngelis, Executive Co-Directors of Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary. “We have asked our local legislators to support the bill and we hope that Oreo’s tragic and unnecessary death will offer life to thousands of others.”

Oreo’s Law is modeled after a provision in California state law, adopted there in 1998 as part of a general animal welfare reform package known as the Hayden Law (named after the Senator who authored it).

“Oreo’s Law” would prevent shelters like the ASPCA from killing dogs that legitimate rescue groups are willing to save. It is named after the dog Oreo who was killed by the ASPCA despite a No Kill shelter/sanctuary’s offer to provide her lifetime care.
 

The Meaning of Oreo

Over the last several days, the ASPCA’s killing of a dog named Oreo has ignited a furor among animal lovers nationwide. They tried to justify it by claiming she was aggressive. But the question of whether or not Oreo was beyond rehabilitation is merely a side story to the most significant issues raised by Oreo’s execution. And while Oreo’s killing by those who were supposed to be her protectors has left too many questions unanswered, what has emerged as the most significant one is why did Ed Sayres, the President of the ASPCA, rush to kill an abused dog when the public demanded that she be saved and a sanctuary had offered her lifetime care?

Last June, a one-year old dog named Oreo was intentionally thrown off a sixth floor Brooklyn roof top by her abuser. Oreo sustained two broken legs and a fractured rib. Although the facts are sketchy, Oreo also appears to have been beaten in the past—several of the neighbors in the building where Oreo lived reported hearing the sounds of the dog being hit. The ASPCA nursed her back to health and arrested the perpetrator. They also dubbed her the “miracle dog.”

The miracle was short-lived. According to Ed Sayres, the President of the ASPCA, when Oreo recovered from her injuries, she started to show aggression. After a series of temperament tests, Ed Sayres says he made the decision to kill her. The New York Times reported the story the day before Oreo’s scheduled execution. Despite the best efforts of Sayres to spin the outcome, the furor and condemnation by dog lovers all over the country was immediate.

In an attempt to contain the wrath of the animal-loving community against him, Sayres issued a press release replete with crocodile tears (“We are all upset by this”), saying that she was truly vicious, and arguing that lifetime care in a sanctuary would have meant no quality of life. Sometimes, Sayres said, there are no happy endings. Early on Friday morning, Oreo laid dead, the victim not of her former abuser, but of an overdose of poison from a bottle marked “Fatal-Plus,” at the hands of a shelter bureaucrat.

 

Refusing a Lifesaving Alternative

Facts are troubling things. Facts get in the way of a contrived story. And there is one troubling fact that all of Ed Sayres’ double-speak simply cannot overcome. Try as the ASPCA might to argue that Oreo’s death was unavoidable, Sayres’ misrepresentation has one fundamental obstacle: Oreo had a place to go. The issue doesn’t turn on the real extent of Oreo’s aggression. The real issue is that a No Kill shelter and sanctuary, with experience rehabilitating aggression in dogs, which works with area shelters that could have vouched for their credibility, which enjoys wide community esteem, and which is only a short drive outside of New York City, offered to give her lifetime sanctuary, and was refused.

They called and left a voice mail message on Sayres’ telephone. They called his secretary. They called the ASPCA Press Office. They contacted everyone on the ASPCA website contact page. And they were ignored, hung up on and lied to.

Pets Alive in Middletown, New York, is not only a member of the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City animals, of which the ASPCA is also a member, they are not only an Alliance-approved rescue partner, they not only have had experience with aggressive dogs, but they agreed to take responsibility for a dog the ASPCA was committed to putting in a body bag and then dumping in a landfill. Even though Pets Alive is already an approved rescue partner, the fact that Oreo may have presented a special case didn’t mean the offer should have been rejected out of hand. The ASPCA could have visited Pets Alive; they could have checked veterinary references, community references, could have insisted on specific precautions and liability waivers. But instead, early that morning, before the “media circus got out of hand,” Ed Sayres, willfully, neglectfully, cruelly, and dishonestly, chose to kill Oreo instead. That is the true face of the ASPCA. And that is intolerable.

 

Lowering the Bar

Ironically, had these events taken place in California, it would have been illegal for the ASPCA to kill Oreo instead of giving her to Pets Alive. In 1998, the California legislature overwhelming and bipartisanly passed a law making it illegal for a shelter to kill a dog if a No Kill shelter or rescue group is willing to save that dog—even in cases where the shelter says the dog is aggressive. Having worked in San Francisco, Sayres should be sensitive to the fact that the ASPCA, which claims a leadership position in this movement, should not have a more regressive policy than one approved by an overwhelming number of politicians on both sides of the political spectrum and the State’s Republican governor.

And yet the ASPCA, under Sayres, proves once again that the large national organizations have no vision, no desire to truly raise the status of animals in society, and despite claiming they are setting the bar on how society should relate to animals, that they are in reality staffed by those who would rather perpetuate the violence and betrayal Oreo already experienced by killing her—even as true animals lovers offered them a simple, life-affirming alternative, and the second chance at life Oreo so richly deserved.

And as an agency which claims to be the leading voice of animals, the ASPCA has a duty to continually push the envelope and raise the bar on these issues: to ask the tough questions, to give the issue the time it needs to arrive at a just and thoughtful resolution. Instead, the ASPCA rushed to kill Oreo and permanently closed the door to an animal that needed the full force of the ASPCA’s compassion—and vast resources—the most.

 

Ignoring the Public

A few short years ago, this case would have had the same tragic ending, with the majority of the dog loving public angry that Oreo’s life had come to this short end. But their anger would have been directed only at her former abuser. Today, that anger is still strong, but it is also being directed at the agency which was supposed to protect her from that ultimate harm and fundamentally failed. This is the same anger that forced Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle—like Sayres, another stalwart defender of killing—to stop pursuing the automatic destruction of abuse victims. Today, despite the claims of aggression which would have ended the dialog in the past, people want, deserve, and believe the dogs deserve the happy endings to which they are not only entitled, but which are readily available if men like Sayres and Pacelle would only give it to them. But time and time again, they choose not to.

That Oreo may not have been an immediate adoption candidate due to aggression issues is therefore secondary to the will of the people who wanted Oreo saved, who demanded that Oreo be saved, who were not swayed by false calculations of quality of life, of talk of being traumatized, of any other rationale that would have allowed Sayres and Pacelle to kill dogs without public condemnation. People are tired of the excuses, they are tired of the justifications, and they are tired of the killing.

Because I was quoted in the New York Times article (a bit misquoted actually as I would never call a dog an “it.” I was referring to the testing, not the dog), I was flooded by e-mails and telephone calls. The anger at Sayres was resolute. As one of those individuals noted,

Missing completely from the ASPCA’s response is any acknowledgment whatsoever of the concerns and outrage of the public who fund their work. The public was disrespected; their concerns guided by compassion disregarded.

The gulf between what the public expects from a humane society and the conduct of the ASPCA and others in their league is so at odds with humanity, a gulf so wide, it cannot be crossed. Instead of building a bridge to create needed dialog, Ed Sayres mounted a barricade from which he ran a self-serving propaganda campaign to force his views. He forgot that the ASPCA is publicly funded. He behaved like a dictator, not a leader.

 

Set Up to Fail?

No analysis on Oreo’s death would be complete without an evaluation of how the ASPCA determined that she was aggressive: Did the ASPCA evaluate her fairly? Given the abuse she suffered, how painful was she? Did they give her enough time to learn to trust again? Critics have charged that the ASPCA set her up for failure. That is an important issue and one that cannot be left to the often self-serving claims that have defined the ASPCA over the years.

As in many of these cases, people are questioning whether she was truly as aggressive as Sayres is trying to make out. There have been unconfirmed reports that staff and volunteers have claimed the ASPCA is exaggerating, and the ASPCA has not yet released any videotapes of her which would shed light on the real extent of her alleged aggression. According to unconfirmed reports, two staff members indicated that while the dog did show aggression, she could also be very affectionate, and as a result, they felt she was treatable. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that staff members asked Sayres for a reprieve so she could be placed in a sanctuary. And finally, unconfirmed reports indicate that a volunteer was able to go in and handle Oreo, despite some aggression issues. I have not been able to verify the veracity of these claims, but since this is secondary to the main issues above, their resolution would not alter what should have been the outcome.

On top of these nagging issues, there is the question of whether Ed Sayres is fit to make the final determination. I worked very closely with Sayres at the San Francisco SPCA. It was Sayres who was responsible for the decline and eventual abandonment of the No Kill goal in San Francisco. It was Sayres who embarked on the boondoggle of building a $20 million specialty hospital despite other specialty veterinary hospitals in that city and surrounding areas; and projections that it was not needed, would ultimately harm the San Francisco SPCA’s finances without meeting an unmet need, and cause programs for homeless animals to be curtailed. It is no surprise that those predictions have come to pass: The SPCA is now losing $3,000,000 every year, has eliminated 25% of its staff, has cut lifesaving programs, and appears to be racing toward financial oblivion, all due to the legacy of Sayres’ catastrophic leadership. As I wrote in Redemption about his tenure in San Francisco, Sayres inherited an,

SPCA with a strong infrastructure, departments that had become the envy of the growing No Kill movement, and a fundraising apparatus that had amassed an endowment of over forty million dollars. [He] would not fully leverage the opportunity he was given. In a short period of time, with money being wasted, fundraising opportunities missed, deficits created, an increasingly bloated bureaucracy developing, and key programs gutted or eliminated, the SPCA finally abandoned all pretensions toward No Kill in San Francisco.

This is a man who, as head of the wealthiest and most powerful SPCAs in the nation, claimed on the front page of USA Today, the most widely circulated newspaper in the country, that not killing was the moral equivalent of killing. This is a man who in Austin, Texas, has chosen to attack No Kill and shelter reform advocates and hinder their goals by throwing his organization’s support behind a shelter director who refuses to embrace alternatives to killing and who also kills tens of thousands of animals annually despite hundreds of empty cages at her facility. Sayres is also taking credit for the modest decline in killing this year which is exclusively the result of the work of a private rescue group saving the animals the ASPCA-partner shelter is otherwise determined to kill.

During my tenure with him in San Francisco, Sayres rarely ventured out of his office, almost never walked the kennels or interacted with the animals, and was so detached, that he simply signed off on whatever his staff said, no matter how regressive those he hired were (and there are plenty of regressive people at the ASPCA also). But there is one incident in particular which sheds light on the Oreo case.

When I was working with Sayres in San Francisco, he had signed off on the killing of a dog who I felt deserved further evaluation. He made the decision to kill a dog without seeing the dog, without observing the evaluation, without, I would venture, even being able to pick the dog out of a kennel of other dogs. I objected and suggested that we needed to set the bar higher. I gave him a formal proposal that, before killing an animal, he appoint a guardian ad litem, someone who would represent the dog (or cat) the same way an attorney would defend the accused during a death penalty case. It would not cost him anything, as I was an attorney, I already worked there, and I agreed to represent the animals whenever a behaviorist or veterinarian issued the death warrant. He said, “No.” Ironically, that is the process used in the criminal and civil case against dog slayer Michael Vick. A guardian was appointed by the federal judge overseeing the disposition of the dogs. As a result, the vast majority of Vick’s victims were saved. In other words, when Sayres is given the chance to be fully involved, he chooses not to be, even when it means death for dogs at the shelter he oversees; or when it means a lost opportunity to advance this movement, as would befit someone in his position.

 

The Great Betrayal

In 1866, over 140 years ago, Henry Bergh began the modern humane movement in the United States with the founding of the ASPCA. For the rest of his life, Bergh devoted himself to saving the lives of animals in and around New York City. For over two decades, Bergh spent each and every night, regardless of freezing temperatures, walking the streets of New York City tending to sick animals, fighting for their rights, working to save them, and confronting—and stopping—their abusers.

At the time, New York City had the largest horse-pulled railway in the world. In one poignant incident, one evening in February of 1871 during the evening rush hour, working people rushed for the cars, and the horses began to strain with heavy loads through snow and slush. As one overloaded car reached the corner near where Bergh stood, the driver was ready to give the horses another lash when the call came to “Stop!” and “Unload!” It was Bergh. “Who the hell are you?” came the reply from the driver. “Unload!” called the order again. When the driver refused, Bergh reportedly pitched him into a snow bank and unhitched the horses. Often, Bergh would completely stop traffic on the lines, causing traffic jams that would leave thousands of people stranded and cursing to no avail—because one man had stopped all the traffic to protect a single horse.

As hard as Bergh labored to protect all animals, he worked equally hard to protect dogs, particularly against abuses at the hands of city dogcatchers. Through prosecutions of abusive dogcatchers, lobbying for stronger laws and greater protections, and by striving himself to save them, he reduced deaths for dogs at the hands of the city pound by over 80 percent in just one year alone. Henry Bergh would not have killed Oreo.

Today, Ed Sayres sits in the chair once occupied by Bergh. He does not advance the cause of animal protection. He is not a tireless champion on their behalf. He does not faithfully represent Bergh’s vision, nor does he faithfully represent how most Americans now feel about animals. Instead, when given the opportunity to save the life of an animal, he cowers in his office, refusing to return telephone calls, while collecting a paycheck of half a million dollars a year. On the afternoon of Friday, November 13, Ed Sayres had a personal driver take him home. Oreo’s body was sitting in a freezer, waiting to be delivered to a landfill.

Toward the end of his life, Bergh would often lament, “I hate to think what will become of this [SPCA] when I am gone.” Ed Sayres has answered that question for him. And Sayres’ answer: “an agency that kills savable dogs,” would have hurt Henry very deeply.

When I was growing up, the ASPCA represented very little beyond an annual fundraising calendar with pictures of kittens and puppies and platitudes about the human-animal bond. And while we have all grown up to demand more than calendars and killing, the ASPCA has not. And while that agency claims to be a leading voice for the animals and the people who love them, their actions toward Oreo demonstrate otherwise: The ASPCA doesn’t represent the dog lovers at Pets Alive. It doesn’t represent the values of the American people. It no longer represents the fierce compassion of its founder. And it certainly doesn’t represent dogs like Oreo.

URGENT Situations for 3 HomeFur-ever Animals

We at HomeFur-ever would like to make our audience aware of 3 VERY SPECIAL ANIMALS which are in need of URGENT re-homing.  We are desparate to find a foster home, adoptive home, or sanctuary where each of these animals can be provided with the special care they need to give them the best possible quality-of-life in order that they may live out the remainder of their lives with the dignity they deserve. 

The animals are currently located in the Detroit metro area, however, if a suitable home is located for them outside the area we have several options available to insure they would be able to be transported to that location.  Obviously the Detroit area or State of Michigan would be easiest, but we’ll do whatever is needed to provide them with the special care they need.

Please read their stories and contact us  if you can provide assistance or refer us to someone who can.

Case #1 – Scrappy -

Scrappy is owned by a person in a section of Detroit where there is a high rate of animal abuse and neglect.  He does have an owner who keeps him in the house most times, but that is about the best we can say of the situation.  Scrappy’s tale of woe really began when he got loose and did not come home for a couple of days.  Someone in the neighborhood spotted him lying under a vacant home near the porch so the owner retrieved him.  Upon return, his condition indicated to the owner that he had likely been hit by car but even so, he neglected to take him to a vet for medical care.  Scrappy was forced to pull himself around dragging his back legs which were no longer functional. 

When HomeFur-ever became aware of the situation and got involved, we first asked the owner to surrender the dog to us since it was obvious he was not being properly cared for.  The owner refused to surrender him saying, ‘I love him, couldn’t possibly give him up’ – of course our thought was, if you love him so much why isn’t he receiving proper medical care?  So, alternately, we begged the owner for authorization to rush him to our most skilled/experienced vet, where we found out by X-rays that someone had shot him and the bullet was still lodged in his lower back.  If Scrappy had received treatment when found, the Vet thought he would probably still be walking. Unfortunately, by the time the Vet got him, he was unable to change Scrappy’s circumstance.

So, as an alternative and at the Vet’s urging, HomeFur-ever has purchased a cart for Scrappy in hopes that if he could be exercised daily in the cart that his spine would straighten out, which in turn could possibly give him better muscle control in the kidney area thus making him a good candidate for medication to better control his urine; the Vet thought it a good sign that he still had muscle in the anal area.

We trained the owner on how to place him in the cart and spent time teaching Scrappy how to walk in it so he could again become mobile under his own power.  We educated the owner about the importance of daily use of the cart to benefit Scrappy.  In spite of his physical challenges, Scrappy is the sweetest, most loving animal, who easily gives kisses and just loves any attention he is given.  He obviously has a strong will to live and make the best of things.

It has been a couple of months since Scrappy has received his cart, and the owner recently called our Director to tell her that he is tired of cleaning up after the dog and does not have time to put him in his cart.  He is planning to put him down so he can get a puppy.  We have begged him to give us some time to find an alternative arrangement for Scrappy so he can live the life he deserves, but so far have been unable to find a foster or adoptive home for him.  Time is running out as the owner is quite impatient to be rid of him, and we are terrified that he will be put down any day.

Case #2 – Sanford

HomeFur-ever rescued Sanford after he appeared to have been hit by a car. He had two broken legs, one with a compound fracture.  Poor Sanford was in so much pain that he had chewed off his foot to try to alleviate the pain. Unfortunately, that leg was damaged beyond repair and had to be amputated.

You would think he had suffered enough and the story would end there, but such is not the luck of our poor Sanford.  Unfortunately, during his recovery he was frightened and managed to escape from the veterinarian’s office where he was receiving care.  This led to him being missing for several weeks until a good samaritan finally found him hiding under a porch looking for scraps of food.  They saw his HomeFur-ever tag and we were able to get him back to complete his treatment and work toward giving him a much better life.

Unfortunately, due to a shortage of foster homes, Sanford has to live in a foster home that has a lot of other foster animals who are left on their own much of the day while the foster Mother is out working, including some who didn’t like him very much, so there are times when those animals have attacked him.  This resulted in Sanford becoming very timid and fearful.

Even with all of this, Sanford has been a trouper!  He adapted fairly well to the loss of the leg and learned to get around as needed, and as time has passed, he seems to have overcome his fear of other dogs.  Unfortunately, he has now suffered a spinal stroke and is starting to lose his battle to gain a new life.  As a result of the stroke the vet indicates he needs regular physical therapy with a professional, and daily physical therapy at home.  However, the home where he is currently placed is unable to provide this extensive type of care and Sanford’s condition is deteriorating quickly as a result.  We have been unable to find anyone else who is willing to take him on in a foster or adoptive situation.

Case #3 – Celeste

This is Celeste, a VERY small German Shepherd at only 30 lbs. She is somewhere between 10 – 15 years old, and unfortunately is dying from cancer.

She doesn’t have very long to live, so we’ve been trying to find a quiet foster home where she can end her days in a loving environment, but have so far been quite unsuccessful – she is currently living in a foster home with multiple animals where they are doing their best to care for her and give her the calm environment she needs, but it’s not the best situation for her.

She will need hospice care, but there is actually little more involved than giving some meds to keep her comfortable, feeding her in small amounts several times per day, and wiping her eyes to clear away the liquids that collect there. She’s a very quiet girl who doesn’t move very well, but just loves laying outside in the sunshine.  We believe she previously had a stroke, but the meds do help her move better so she can do her business when needed. She still currently has control of her bodily functions, though she does have a very hard time walking.

Each of these animals has had to suffer the worst that life has to offer; we hope that our readers will help us find a situation for each of them that will enable them to live the rest of their lives seeing only the best that life can offer them.  Can you find it in your heart to help?

A New National Initiative: The Shelter Pet Project

Have you ever adopted a new pet?  Where did you get your pet from; the pet store, a friend, a breeder, a newspaper ad?  Did you even consider adopting a rescued animal from an animal rescue or shelter?  Probably not, and you’re not alone.

Consumers tend to have the perception that animals who land with rescues or in shelters ‘have something wrong with them’, whether it be medical or behavioral issues.  In fact, however, such is not the case.  In fact, most animals ending up in such a situation are there because of a situation that has occurred in their owners life such as: divorce, a death in the family, bankruptcy, moving to a place that won’t allow pets, etc.  Some of these animals are surrendered to shelters, most are just abandoned to fend for themselves.

According to The Humane Society of the United States, of the 8 million pets that enter animal shelters and rescue groups every year, approximately 3 million of these healthy and treatable pets are euthanized due to a lack of adoption. While there has been steady progress on the issue (the number of animals put down was approximately 24 million in the 1970s), the continued euthanasia of our best friends and family members is a national tragedy. 

The euthanasia of pets by animal shelters and animal control agencies comes at an enormous moral and economic cost. Each year public and private agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on animal care.   Increasing the adoption rate from rescues and shelters would diminish labor, feeding, and physical infrastructure costs. 

Adopting a pet is a life-changing and enriching experience. When adopting a pet, people are obtaining companions that give them unconditional love, affection, and attention. Adopting a pet from a shelter not only saves an animal’s life, but is also good for our own well-being as research shows that owning a pet has many positive psychological and physical health benefits. The animals rescued from shelters know you’ve saved their lives, and they typically treat their rescuers with lifelong loyalty and affection. And, adopting from a rescue or shelter makes space so that another animal may be rescued in his/her place.

To help get this message out to the public at-large, the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie’s Fund are joining with the Ad Council on a national multi-media public service campaign.  The goal of this effort is to increase shelter pet adoption by showing people that shelter pets are loving, well-adjusted animals who are homeless through no fault of their own.  HomeFurever is proud to endorse and promote this effort.  Click HERE to learn more about this wonderful initiative, and how you can help increase animal adoptions from rescues and shelters.

Two National Fundraising Contests for Animal Rescues/Shelters

Two national pet-listing websites, Adopt-a-Pet and Petfinder, are sponsoring contests to help animal rescues and shelters across the country raise funds to help animals.  Each of these contests is won by votes from YOU for your favorite animal rescue or shelter.

The America’s Favorite Animal Shelter contest, sponsored by Care2 and Adopt-a-Pet.com, is a chance for animal lovers everywhere to raise awareness of the need to adopt shelter and rescue animals while helping their favorite shelter win a much-needed donation.  Their contest takes place from November 5 thru December 16, 2009.  The winning shelter/rescue gets $10,000, and a random shelter/rescue is selected weekly to win $500.

Click HERE to vote for HomeFur-ever in the Adopt-a-Pet contest .

The second contest, sponsored by Petfinder, is on the Animal Rescue Site.  If you will click on the link below and search for “home fur-ever” (you have to spell it that way) and vote for us, you will help our chances of winning a grant that’s part of $100,000 being awarded! You can vote once a day, but if you use Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera, that means you can vote 4 times a day – once on each browser.

If you would like a reminder to vote daily, the Rescue Site offers a free Daily Reminder email service that you can sign up for which also results in extra food donations to shelters if you are a new registrant on the site.  Sign up by clicking HERE.

Voting for this contest began September 14th and continues thru December 20th.  The following are the prizes that will be awarded:

Prizes will go to the eligible Petfinder.com organization with the highest accumulative votes for the duration of the Challenge as specified in the rules.  

Grand Prize:  One $20,000 grant!

Second Prize:  One $5,000 grant!

Third Prize:  One $3,000 grant!

New! Most Touching Story*:  Two $2,000 grants! (judged by The Animal Rescue Site)

State Winners**:  Fifty-one $1,000 state grants (50 U.S. states and Washington DC)

Canadian Winners*:  Two $1,000 grants will be awarded

International Winner:  One $1,000 grant will be awarded.

Click HERE to vote in the Animal Rescue Site contest. 

We would very much appreciate your votes in both contests (daily if your schedule will allow), and would appreciate you informing all pet lovers you know to visit the site and vote as well; HomeFur-ever and all of our rescued animals can really use your help!

Why Should You Volunteer for an Animal Rescue?

Maybe these statistics will answer the question; are you aware that…

• 6 to 8 million lost and unwanted animals enter animal shelters nationwide annually?
• 3 to 4 million animals are euthanized in shelters every year, well over 250,000 per month?
• the leading cause of death of healthy dogs and cats is euthanasia?
• only 1 in 3 animals have a home that lasts their entire lifetime?
• only 20% of animals currently in homes were adopted from shelters?

If the statistics don’t convince you, how about this?

There are few things more rewarding than seeing a family brimming with excitement over their new pet, especially if it is an animal you have come to know and love, and it seems like the perfect match.

Or this?

There are so many situations where an animal is neglected or abused that you might think that this type of work would be depressing.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

When you see a starving, flea infested dog who is trapped in an abandoned building and you know that his life depends on you, the feeling can be overwhelming. But once you’ve rescued that animal, cleaned him up, insured he has medical attention and some food and then placed them in a foster home, you then experience a tremendous feeling of hope. 

Then when you see that dog a few weeks later after he’s been treated with love in that caring foster home and his coat is shiny and his tail is wagging, you are overcome with happiness and satisfaction that you’ve played a role in saving that animal’s life and dramatically improving his circumstances.  Your heart just wants to burst!

If these reasons aren’t enough, we encourage you to visit HomeFur-ever at one of our upcoming adoption events – because we’re certain the faces of the many animals currently in our care will absolutely convince you that volunteering for an animal rescue is one of the most important things you can do with your life!

Urgent Need for Foster Homes in Detroit Metro Area

It was bound to happen, it always does, Fall has arrived and with it the cold, rainy weather that is so dangerous for homeless animals.  And due to the economic conditions in the Detroit metro area, the numbers of homeless animals are increasing at a rapid pace – far more than we at HomeFur-ever or any other of the dozens of rescues and shelters in the SE Michigan area can accommodate with current resources.

In the case of HomeFur-ever, we are urgently in need of foster homes all over the Detroit metro area in which to place the animals we rescue.  In just the last two weeks we have put out emergency notices on Twitter and Facebook asking for foster homes to take in a half-dozen animals currently forced to live outside, most with little or no shelter.  Some of those wonderful animals include:  Bully, Chata, Negra, Cass, Reva, and Moe.  We are currently providing them with food, water, urgent medical care, and as much shelter as we can provide them outside – but we urgently need a safe foster home in which to put them!

We Rescued this Mom and Her Two-week-old Pups

And the story doesn’t end there.  Just this past week we were informed about several animals forced to live outside without shelter, food, or water.  This group included a Mom, 6 of her two-week old puppies, and several other animals.  Unfortunately, by the time we were made aware, several of the puppies had already died as a result of their living conditions.  Our volunteers were devastated!  However, the remaining animals needed our help so we rescued them and have started getting them the medical care, food, water, and shelter that they need.  They are currently in a temporary location and we are desparately searching for a long-term foster home where they can recover and stay until a permanent ‘furever’ home can be found for them.

As the weather continues to get colder, and more families are adversely affected by the state of Michigan’s economy, the number of homeless and abused animals will continue to grow.  That being the case, the need will also grow for more foster homes in which to place the animals that we rescue.  If you would like to help an animal-in-need, please contact us via our website.  We would love to talk to you about our many wonderful animals to determine which one might be most suitable for a foster placement in your home!

Emergency Assistance Needed to Save Sanford’s Life!

Poor Sanford, he’s had a tortuous life, and now he’s fighting for his life once again!

We rescued him after he appeared to have been hit by a car. He had two broken legs, one with a compound fracture.  Poor Sanford was in so much pain that he had chewed off his foot to try to alleviate the pain.  Unfortunately, that leg was damaged beyond repair and had to be amputated.   

You would think he had suffered enough and the story would end there, but such is not the luck of our poor Sanford.  Unfortunately, during his recovery he was frightened and managed to escape.  This led to him being missing for several weeks until a good samaritan finally found him hiding under a porch looking for scraps of food.  They saw his HomeFur-ever tag and we were able to get him back to complete his treatment and work toward giving him a much better life.

Unfortunately, due to a shortage of foster homes, Sanford had to live in a foster home that had a lot of other foster animals, including some who didn’t like him very much, so there were times when those animals weren’t very nice to him.  This has resulted in Sanford becoming very timid and fearful for a period of time.

Even with all of this, Sanford has been a trouper!  He adapted fairly well to the loss of the leg and learned to get around as needed, and he seems to have overcome his fear of other dogs.  Unfortunately, it appears that he has now suffered a spinal stroke or developed severe disc problems and is starting to lose his battle to gain a new life.

We at HomeFur-ever are devastated at all the adversity this sweet boy has had to suffer, and his current emergency situation, so we are urgently trying to raise the funds needed to get him the medical treatment needed to save his life and give him the quality of life that he deserves.  To that end, we are URGENTLY REQUESTING YOUR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.  We would be very grateful for any amount you can contribute toward his medical expenses.  Click HERE to go to our website where contributions may be conveniently made using PayPal.

THANK YOU to Those Who Have Provided Assistance After Our Recent Robbery

To those who have provided assistance after the recent theft of our equipment and supplies:

HomeFur-ever would like to extend our deepest gratitude to those who have provided us with equipment & supply donations, cash donations and offers to volunteer assistance during this time of extreme need. 

While a situation as we recently experienced with the theft of all of our equipment and supplies is never easy to deal with or to overcome (see news release and media coverage if you are unfamiliar with our recent situation), we are VERY proud to say that the assistance we have received from the Detroit community has helped us to continue the care of our animals, and has shown a very positive side of the Detroit metro area.  Additionally, we have received substantial support from outside the Detroit community as a result of our participation on Twitter and Facebook; and we would like our new friends to know how very appreciative we are of their well-wishes, assistance and support.  In times like these the support of your friends – new or old – gives you the strength to do what needs to be done in spite of the obstacles!

Though the gifts we’ve received, large and small, have been too numerous to list here individually, we hope that every group and individual who has offered that assistance to us will accept our sincere thanks on behalf of our group and the animals we care for.

As one might expect, the need continues as we have a long way to go to recover, and to replace what was taken from us and our animals.  However, we are very confident  that our friends and animal-lovers both inside and outside the Detroit community will help us to obtain everything we need to insure that our work helping animals can continue without interuption.

Thank you again one and all for your support of HomeFur-ever Animal Rescue!