January's Facebook Fan of the Month

By Alecia
30
Jan 2012

Debby is our Fan of the Month for January. She decided to do something a little different than the Q&A from last month; she insisted on writing her own blog post! We could not be anymore happy with what she has written and know that you will love her story as well! :)

"My story begins a long time ago as a little girl. I was in love with our family dog, Sassy; a big old brindle boxer that guarded me, played with me and loved me with all of her might. She was the first dog of many that would come into my life.

As I grew, my love for animals grew right along with me. I brought home every stray that I found and loved every dog I saw beyond reason. I think that is something you are born with and when I began having my children, they inherited that trait.

The first dog that we had when my kids were old enough to participate was a stray that someone dumped. My kids encouraged her to “stay” by feeding her when I was at work. She was a mixed breed “mutt” (the best kind really). We ran ads in 3 different newspapers for weeks to see if someone would claim her, and when no one responded, we had a family meeting and decided to adopt her. Her name, fittingly enough, was “Finder”, because we did…. :o) And a few weeks after she was licensed and vetted, we found out she was pregnant and probably the reason she was abandoned. She was with us for 15 wonderful years and we loved her beyond measure.


During the time we had Finder, my 2nd oldest daughter brought home a puppy she found running loose on a very busy highway. The pup was dirty, scraggly, and very hungry…. my first impression was “eeww…” stinky and we already have a dog. We need to find her a home. But the minute I held her in my arms, I knew she was my dog. Another “mutt” but just as beautiful as Finder for sure. Her name was Maggie and we loved her to pieces.



When we had to have Finder put down because of a cancer that couldn't be operated on, Maggie went into a grief that we couldn't console. She made herself sick and had many visits to our vet. At that time I did some research on “pet grief” and found that there hasn't been as much research done on it as human grief, but there were some experts that were kind enough to send me all sorts of wonderful articles to read. And then someone else intervened (God looks after the pets as much as He does us, I believe) and my son found a tiny puppy that someone had dumped on South Street in Akron. If you know the area, you know that it isn’t a very nice area and it’s a very busy street and here was this little 6 week old puppy that had no clue where it’s mommy was or why she was cold and hungry. When we adopted her, Maggie’s grief disappeared and Emme, as we called her, found the “mommy” that she so desperately needed. Once again we had 2 dogs. 

Throughout all these years with all these dogs, my kids were growing up and moving out, I had a wonderful new husband, who by the way was a dog lover, too, and our family adored the dogs we had. Then 2008 rolled around…. Maggie was 14 and Emme was 9 and they were healthy as can be, or so we thought. One day when my granddaughter was visiting and we were playing on the floor, Maggie came upstairs to see what was going on and her back legs gave way. She started flopping around on the floor trying to get her legs to do what they were supposed to do and her attempts to gain control of her legs were futile. I rushed her to our vet and Dr. Robyn found a huge tumor in the crease of her leg. I can’t tell you how many belly rubs I’d given this dog and I didn’t see it. The tumor had gotten so big that it now had taken the use of her back legs away and had spread to other organs in the meantime. All the while, we were unaware and I felt SO guilty and awful. Dr. Robyn gave her a shot and said if it was going to work we might be able to give her a little more time. So we took her home and we laid her on her favorite pillow and watched her like a hawk. She couldn’t walk, she wouldn't eat and we were devastated when a week later, our vet told us the most humane thing we could do was to put her out of her misery. That was another terribly hard trip to the vet. We brought her home and buried her under my favorite bush. That was a couple days before Thanksgiving of 2008

Now we were back to one dog, Emme…. I was looking forward to being able to spend more time with her, concentrating on her and making her feel as special as she was. She was a little lethargic and we thought she was grieving, which I’m sure she was. She and Maggie had bonded from the first moment they sniffed each other. After a couple weeks of this, I decided to take her to the vet, just to get checked out and make sure she was okay. Dr. Robyn did a routine blood panel and physically she seemed fine. She told me to phone her back in a day for the results of the blood tests. My husband and mother and daughters kept telling me they were sure things were fine, that I was worrying for nothing. I kept telling myself they were right… I was praying they were right. The results of her blood work were shocking to all of us, to say the least. Emme was dying of kidney failure and we were absolutely devastated. On Christmas day, she crawled under the Christmas tree, turned around and laid down and looked at us as if to say “don’t forget what a gift I’ve been”. That was the last picture of her we ever got. She died at home with us 3 days after Christmas and was buried with Maggie under my favorite bush. Within 6 weeks we had lost both of our beloved dogs and I was inconsolable.

People kept telling me to get another dog and I just felt like I couldn't… I just couldn’t get over my grief of Maggie and Emme dying so close together. It just wasn't fair… Emme was so young and still had so much life in her. But little by little I started to get curious about what dogs were out there. I wasn't even sure how to go about looking for a dog, as all of ours were “sent” to us as gifts…(I believed). So I scoured the internet for ads and rescue groups and I found Paws and Prayers. I read all about them and looked at their dogs and loved many of what I saw, but was still reluctant to try to adopt. Then I saw “Gracie”…. she looked so sweet and I have always wanted to have a golden named Gracie and although she wasn't a golden, she was golden in color and I knew needed a loving home to call her own. So I filled out an application and they accepted us to be doggie “parents”. Jen told me that another family had already expressed an interest in Gracie, but that we could come and meet her at the Chapel Hill Petsmart. We did meet her and I fell in love with her, but the other couple drove 6 hours to meet her and they also fell in love with her, so Gracie went home with another family. I was very disappointed and felt like maybe I shouldn't be adopting yet. But believing that everything happens for a reason, I kept looking. We found a breeder, in a round about way, and they bred boxers. Well, when their female boxer was ready to be bred, a sneaky lab got into their kennel and low and behold, the cutest boxer/lab mix puppies you've ever seen were born. I talked with the breeder and they were giving these puppies away. I told her I wanted a female (all my dogs had been females up to this point) and she said she only had one female left, but there were people coming to look at them over the weekend. I kept putting off seeing them, so my daughters talked me into it and I decided to go and look at them on Monday morning. The one female was still there and when we got there it was love at first “lick”. I picked her up and she licked my face and I knew…. “Marnie” had found her forever home. 

Life with Marnie was so much fun! She was wild and had SO much energy! There is never a day that goes by that Marnie doesn’t make us laugh! We lovingly nicknamed her “Marnie the Maniac” and for good reason. She had an endless amount of energy and it was so good to have a dog again. My granddaughter, Zoey, loved her and Marnie just adored Zoey, too, and we were so happy about that! Marnie saved me from my grief and we just loved her so much.

But I couldn’t stop looking at Paws and Prayers dog pictures. Jen would send me dogs to look at, but I kept coming back to the picture of “Alvin”. A male border collie/lab mix whose face I just couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of. But I kept thinking “he’s a male” and we don’t want any males”. Hmmm…. then why couldn’t I stop thinking about him. Every day I would go to Paws and Prayers website and look for him, thinking he probably was already adopted. And when he wasn’t, I felt relief…. I looked at his picture every day for a long time and finally decided maybe we should go look at him. So my husband and I took the trip and met “Alvin”. He was so shy, but so beautiful and he had this look on his face… the same look that haunted me in his picture. The look that to me said, “we belong together, please make me yours”. And that is exactly what we did. The next day, my daughter and I went to pick him up and the foster lady kept telling me about this “weird thing” that Alvin did with his mouth; that it looked like he was being vicious, but that wasn't what it was. She didn’t want me to see it and be fearful of him and in turn not want him anymore. We went to Petsmart to get his bed and some other things we’d need. He was quiet and shy, but at one point while we were sitting on the bench waiting on my daughter, he gave that wonderful “doggie sigh” and leaned against my leg and I knew we were going to be alright. And about the “weird thing” thing that he did with his mouth….. well, every time we go away and come back, I see that “weird thing” smiling in the door way at us and I’ve never mistaken it for anything other than what it was…. Finnegan SMILES at us! It’s amazing and it makes me laugh every time I see him do it.



Alvin became Finnegan and he settled into his new home just fine. He’s been here over a year now and he’s still shy about some things… someone was abusive to him when he was young, so he’s very fearful of a lot of things. But we are working with him and he’s getting better every day. It’s so great to watch him experience things for the first time, like treats he’s never had before and toys… sometimes now he picks up toys to play. That is more heartwarming than you know… well, I’m sure anyone who is reading this does know how that feels.

We are so grateful to Paws and Prayers for working with us, for being patient with my grief and for waiting for us to find the right dog. Finnegan has been another wonderful gift and he and Marnie are the best of friends. They are the same age, within a month, and just have the most fun playing and romping around. We have been so blessed in the past with all the wonderful pets we’ve had. But I feel especially blessed by Paws and Prayers for their immense love for dogs and doing what they do. Uniting a family with the right dog is a special gift for so many people AND dogs. Sometimes when I look at Finnegan and he walks over to me with that ”grin” on his face, I know he feels as grateful to be here as we are grateful to have him. Thank you Paws and Prayers for every single thing you do to rescue and unite the dogs and cats that you do every single day! You are special, wonderful people and I applaud you for all the hard work you do!"


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Helping Solve the CATastrophe

By Alecia
18
Jan 2012

Sad Cat is Sad

Cats are constantly being ignored. It's a sad, sad truth but just about any rescue would agree. Cats are always being ignored. Hop onto any legitimate rescue page and you'll clearly see dogs outnumbering cats. Even Facebook pages geared towards saving pets on death row like Pet Pardons and No Kill Ohio are primarily flooded with information on this dog or that dog that needs saved although cats are euthanized 10% more than dogs. Now, why is that?

  1.  Over-excess of cats. A lot of shelters, rescues and community volunteers/ advocates are simply overwhelmed by the great number of cats in need. To focus on all of them is also to detract from all of them. Also, as more and more cats come flooding into shelters, others are euthanized to make room for them, so your higher volume shelters may only have a cat for three days which is hardly enough time to vet it, get it on the adoption floor and then adopted out.
  2. The ease of access to cats. This brings us to a couple of different problems, the first being that anyone can get a cat. Just take a look at all of the "free kitten" ads on Craigslist and you'll see what I mean. Anyone can get these cats whether they are responsible owners or not. This means no background checks, no vet checks, no ensuring that current cats are spayed/ neutered, so now, other intact felines may come into the home, reproduce and continue the cycle of unwanted kittens. The second issue (which will also lead us into our third point) is that many people will opt for the free Craigslist kitten when given the choice between them and a fully vetted, spayed/ neutered kitten with a fee.
  3. Lack of support for Rescues that work to save cats and kittens. As noted in our previous blog post about fees, it costs us about $90 to fully vet (FIV testing, boosters, rabies, wormer, flea treatment/ preventative, spaying/ neutering) a cat or kitten which does not include any extended care that they may need. When people opt out of adopting a rescue or shelter cat, they opt out of helping their local rescue or shelter in ending the cycle of pet-overpopulation. We are a very fortunate group to be able to take on the financial hardship of rescuing cats in spite of the fact that we lose money on our cat program annually. Our dog adoptions and donations from our true supporters are the only things offsetting the deficit to make our program successful. Other rescues simply do not have the resources to help out without that support via their fees.

So, the chips are stacked against us but we know we are going to break through this year by implementing Operation Meow! Operation Meow is our personal declaration to find homes for 1,000 cats for 2012! Last year we adopted out 626 cats, but with our main cat gal, Kelly, leading the charge, we KNOW we can accomplish the tremendous goal Jen D'Aurelio (our Executive Director) has set for us!

Operation Meow's primary goal is for finding homes for cats in need. That being said, we are hoping, whether successful or not, that just by leading this campaign we can help raise awareness of the real problem- the over-population of felines. And, of course, getting those 1,000 cats all spayed/ neutered will help cut the cycle of over-breeding so that we can help maintain the feline population's numbers which means less cats and kittens winding up at the shelter. Less shelter cats means less cats being euthanized which means more happy kitties! :)

Reproduction Rate of Unaltered Cats in a 16 Month Period


How you can help:
  1. Share. Spread this post. The more people know, the more they can empower themselves to become responsible pet owners and to set a great example in their community.
  2. Adopt. When it comes time, always opt to adopt a rescue or shelter pet. You are not only saving that animal, you are helping to save all future animals that may find themselves in the same predicament. By supporting your local rescue and shelter, you are supporting all homeless and neglected animals in your area
  3. Advocate. Help find animals homes by sponsoring them online. Urgent Ohio Dogs (UOD) features dogs on the chopping block in Ohio in hopes someone will see them and adopt them, rather than letting them get to the alternative. Facebook's "share" button allows you to easily save photos and bios of dogs with everyone on your friends' list. The more exposure they get, the greater their chances are of being saved. UOD is currently working on an Urgent Ohio Cat page soon to be released as well! Nationally, you can advocate for Pet Pardons which posts dogs and cats on death row all throughout the United States (they are also operating in Canada now too). 
  4. Volunteer. The more volunteers a rescue or shelter has, the more balanced the workload becomes for everyone. Essentially this means that everyone can focus more on finding the animals homes as others are chipping in to help with the daily upkeep, whether it be helping out with feeding, socialization and/ or exercise. 
  5. Donate. As mentioned earlier, we are only able to have a cat program because of our wonderful supporters. Funds are extremely limited for animal rescue and we can only save what we monetarily are able to save. Whether donating to us or another worthy rescue/ shelter, you are directly benefiting the animals and giving rescues/ shelters the means to continue their wonderful work.
  6. Alter. Spay/ neuter those pets! Spunky may be fine now and may be an indoor pet, but when he escapes that one time, you don't know what he's doing... But we have a good idea! Also, neutering your males eliminates the chance of testicular cancer and greatly reduces the chances of prostate cancer. Spaying reduces or eliminates the chances of uterine or ovarian cancer as well as mammary tumors. For more info click here. One of a Kind Pets Spay and Neuter Clinic also offers a low-cost feral cat spay/ neuter package, which helps reduce the numbers of feral cat colonies that also drive up the feline population. If interested in learning more about One of a Kind Pets, click here.
As humans, it is our responsibility to help bring dignity and enrichment into the lives of all living creatures. Whether those creatures be neighbors that don't understand the responsibility of pet ownership, a feral cat colony that you could help catch and release to get spayed/ neutered or an animal on death row you could fight tooth and nail to find a new family for, you (and everyone else reading this) must take responsibility. In the end, there is not much to lose, but oh-so-much to gain! Whether we hit 1,000 cat adoptions this year, or not, we know that Operation Meow is going to be a huge success! :)

Betty says "Thank you!" She is currently up for adoption.
Please visit PawsandPrayers.org for more info.

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The Honest TRUTH About our Fees

By Alecia
9
Jan 2012

This weekend was an awesome weekend for us! We did a lot of adoptions which means we will be pulling a lot of cats and dogs next week, and what could feel better than saving more animals? I know, saving even MORE animals! But I digress.

I, personally, didn't think that this weekend was going to be as wonderful as it turned out. Winter is always our slow time as people don't want to start a new dog walking program with their newly adopted or to begin potty training in the snow. In addition to that, I personally have always felt that days have their own individual tones. The tone that morning, for me, was a very unbalanced one which I thought would leave everyone a little bit "off" of their game. Being the loyal girl I am, I always tend to take criticism a little personally until I remember that the only criticisms we ever really receive at Paws and Prayers are just the result of a vague misunderstanding. So, I wanted to take the time to type something up to hopefully help out those that may not understand what it is that we do here. So, here it goes...

Pocahontas- PDA (heart condition) $3,115
Saturday morning we had received an anonymous phone call from a woman that was upset with our adoption fees. She was interested in a puppy whose fee is currently $300 (the highest that any of our fees will ever go). The woman believed that we were a scam and "knew" that she could get an AKC puppy for the same price as one of our beloved mutts. She felt that if we were trying to find good homes for our dogs, then we should be "selling" them for much cheaper. Of course, a valid point if we were actually selling our dogs. But we don't sell dogs, we adopt them out. 

The thing about rescue is that you are rescuing animals that not everyone wants. You are taking in animals that not everyone can invest the time, money and love into. You are saving animals that others had already deemed "unadoptable." If we were taking in adorable, medically sound, behaviorally stable, youthful dogs, we probably could afford to simply give some dogs away. But we're not that rescue. 

Sky- Victim of double cherry eye
and an over-sized cone $700
Our rescue is the rescue that takes in the seniors, the dogs that jump at the cage and bark at you while at the pound, the sick, the frightened, the deformed, the truly left behind. These dogs do not find homes quickly. In the meantime, they live not in a kennel but in a loving foster home where they are given special one-on-one attention. Our fosters are provided toys, crates, food, treats, collars, leashes, bedding and just about anything else a cat or dog may need to live comfortably in their foster home environment. Fosters are also provided needed items for training and behavioral issues. All of these cost money. All of our fosters have these as needed.

Of course, that just covers the basics. We also medically update our cats and dogs. This includes the spay/ nueter, feline leukemia test, FIV vaccines, dewormer, rabies vaccines and monthly flea preventatives for our cats. For our dogs it's spay/ nueter, DA2PPvL vaccines (distemper, adenovirus, parvo, etc), rabies vaccine, bordetella vaccine (kennel cough), heartworm test, dewormer and monthly heartworm and flea prevention. Again, all of these cost money. Again, every animal needs and receives this care as age and health allows.

Now that is our basic medical updating. This is not including the 60+ dogs that tested positive for heartworm with each costing hundreds of dollars to treat. We had one foster dog that was in such advanced stages of heartworm that she had to forgo the treatment twice. Add that to our dogs with cherry eye, with double cherry eye, with ACL tears and the ones unlucky enough to contract viruses like parvo and pneumonia. Add those to the cats from hoarding cases with mange and ringworm, upper respiratory infections and coccidia. Add those to our seniors, like Olaf, who end up with cancer or skin tags or need bad teeth removed. Add that to the rare, but still present, mystery cases that cost thousands of dollars in exploratory surgeries to find out they have something one in a million dogs don't even contract. Medical miracles, these guys.

Saps- born with a hernia, split open her
abdominal wall $405
Take all of that debt already accrued and add that to this little factoid. Our average cat costs about $90 to update medically. After that $90 is spent, we can still only adopt the average cat out for $60. That is a loss of $30 per cat with every adoption, on average. There is a reason that so many cats are euthanized on a daily basis both locally and afar. There is a reason we are one of few groups that take in cats, and that's the reason. Last year we adopted out 626 cats. If those numbers held true for every cat (which this isn't including special cases requiring more money or taking into account the kittens we were able to adopt out for $100) we would be looking at roughly an $18,000 deficit from simply having a cat program.

We can't adopt every cat out for $90. We can't adopt out a dog that has been treated for heartworm for $379. We cannot adopt out a dog that had pneumonia for $1,212. So how do we stay afloat?

Khadija- Pneumonia $1,212
1.      We are a very lucky group with a lot of amazing supporters. We are not government funded so do rely heavily on donations. Our supporters donate and donate and donate until they have nothing left to give, and once they are at that point, they nag their friends and families to give until their loved ones grow tired of it and smack them a few times. Luckily, it does nothing to their momentum. 

2.      We have AMAZING fosters and volunteers. Anytime that we are at a loss for something, they dig deep, do some research, pull together and bring about whatever is needed. This can range from getting the beds for our kennels used during intake to getting us grants that will assist us through the year. From garnishing us attention through the Dr. Marty Becker Giveaway from last year to simply setting an amazing example of responsible pet-ownership in their community.

3.      Our adoption fees. A lot of times we find ourselves doing a whole lot of balancing: a $300 puppy must help balance out the deficit of a $50 senior ($50 doesn't even cover an office visit). A $200 youth that required little care may help balance the cost of a dog that sadly did not make it. A $250 purebred may offset a $75 mongrel that no one is giving the time of day. A whole litter of healthy puppies may offset the cost of a whole other litter of unhealthy puppies that contracted parvo in transport, as we saw this summer. You never know what you're getting into with the animals you take in so the balancing act is never perfect. We never break even here. 

JackJack- several teeth extractions $248
Those are the top three ways that we have been able to make it over the years. There is no magical cure or fantasy fairy dust that we sprinkle on these guys to get them into homes so that we can pocket the difference. It takes strategy, a lot of checkbook balancing and a lot of heart to save the animals we save. In the end, no one is lining their pockets here. I don't see a cent for all that I do. Of course, puppy breath and dog snuggling is of much more value to me anyways. :P

The one thing that I think does need to be mentioned again, in more detail, is that we do not sell pets, we adopt them out. A lot of people don't understand the difference so I'm going to explain that now...

Spot- Parvo and kennel cough $2,179
When you adopt a dog or cat from us, you're not just adopting that animal but you're adopting an ideal. Your adoption fee is paying to end pet overpopulation, to end euthanasia of healthy castaway animals, to help establish responsible pet ownership, but ultimately, to give animals that would not otherwise have it a second chance. By adopting from any great rescue, you are adopting all of these things and more. I think a wiggly butt or the purring of a kitten more than pays for itself, especially after considering the lifetime of your pet. 

So, for some people, maybe $300 is a little steep. But those aren't our people. Our people are those out there making a difference. Our people speak for the animals with no voice. They're responsible pet owners and don't fund irresponsible breeding. They know the true worth of a pet, not as a symbol of status, but as a real companion; a loyal and loving companion. Our people wouldn't bat an eye at an adoption fee knowing what is behind it. And, hopefully, in reading this, we have found some more of our people today. 

I am going to leave you with one last thought... If you have a rescued animal in your home right now, please go snuggle them. Imagine, if you will, that people didn't have compassion for animals. Imagine that $300 was too steep so there were no rescues, there were no mission statements, there wasn't any relief from their suffering. Where would your rescue pet be right now?

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