The Kindness of People or One Person Can Make a Huge Difference

   Rescue is hard.  I have met some of the worst people in rescue and also some of the very best.  It is hard not to be angry with people at times.  The people that dump their pets; the people that try to hurt or sabatogue you when you are just trying to help some animals; the people that don't understand everything that goes into rescuing this one animal; the people that think that rescue is a waste of time; the people that hurt an animal; and on and on.  Really though, those people that are stinkers are few compared to the people that are really great.  It's just that we tend to dwell on the bad experience.  So instead, I want to dwell on some people that have done things out of the kindness of their hearts.  Instead of wasting any thought on the people that aren't very nice, let's focus on the ones that are kind. Here are a few that I think are just great!

Acts of Kindness

• Bing, who is 82 years young, comes every Friday morning to the shelter and picks up the dirty laundry and brings back the laundry that is done for the shelter animals.  Until a month or so ago she was also washing 5 or 6 dogs at the shelter until she hurt her knee.  She always has a kind word to say and is always positive.  We all look forward to seeing her every week.  
• Terry and Sue, who are neighbors of the shelter, just donated their van to us.  They have always been supportive of the shelter even though they are within barking distance, which can be a bit loud at times.  They are always encouraging and promote P4P.  
• Stephanie worked all year raising money for the animals at our shelter and raised $500.00!  She took the money and bought all kinds of supplies from kitty litter to neosporin for P4P.  She delivered a  whole van full of goodies for the shelter.
• Jenna D, a vet tech at HSLAH, took our little pit pup, Bates, home to care for him.  Bates was severely injured and was most likely used as a bait dog.  He had over 100 puncture wounds and one of his ears and ear canal was severed.  Jenna took him home out of the goodness of her heart to give Bates extra special care.  She worked on his back leg infection in the hopes he would not have to have his leg amputated. He didn't!
• Sue and Walt took Kisses under their wing to help her recover.  Several weeks ago Kisses had a severely broken leg and had to have it amputated.  Even though they volunteer for SpotSavers, their group went above the call of duty to help this girl.  Kisses is rehabbing at their home.  
• Lisa K. saw a picture on the internet of a dog at a pound in Springfield that was going to be euthanized.  Even though she had not been involved in rescue and wasn't sure how to go about it, she felt compelled to help this dog.  As I said, rescue is hard.  After asking a lot of questions and hanging in there when the going got tough, 13 dogs were rescued that week that would have been euthanized. And she is helping more! 
• Melissa makes hats.  She makes alot of hats and they are really cute.  Each one she makes she donates the proceeds to help the animals.  This year she sold 286 hats and donated the money to P4P!!!  Hats off to you girl!
• Every person that fosters a dog or cat saves two lives-the one they are fostering and the one we can pull from the pound since we have a spot open due to their fostering.  While you might think fostering a dog isn't that big of a deal it is to the dog or cat they are fostering and to the one that got out of the pound instead of being euthanized.
• Tom made it his mission to set out donation boxes and pick them up when they are full.  He manages to pick up a nice amount of change and dollars each week for P4P.  It is amazing how much just some change adds up to each month.
• Margie took a vacation day from work and drove her own car to Louisville, KY to get one of our dogs that ended up at the pound there.  Many attempts to get a transport fell thru and it was do or die, literally.  So Margie, being that kind of person, drove all the way there and back in one day to get Gordon.  Wow!
• Rebecca took one look at Kelsey Mae's emaciated,  heartworm positive, tired, old body and took her home to heal.  Kelsey came to us from the Springfield pound with 12 other dogs.  She was very shaggy and after she was shaved we all gasped.  There wasn't much dog there.  A few more days and she would have been dead.  Slowly but surely she is getting better.  She is finished with her heartworm treatment now.  
• Denise got a call from a vet office that said a severely emaciated boxer had been found by a hunter while hunting.  Could we take her?  Scarlett was so emaciated she could barely stand.  She had no life to her, weighed 30 pounds and had a very badly infected foot.  Denise took her home to take care of her and she is doing great. Within a week she had gained 8 pounds and the life had come back in her eyes.  Now she is up to 50 pounds!
• Chris started collecting donations at her work to help the animals at our shelter.  She and her co-workers raised $182.10!  The power of a few is great!  She also collected a huge bag of toys for the dogs.  Chris is a very quiet person but her determination to help is heard loud and clear.  Thank you!
• Danielle and Hannah are two, 15 year old teenage girls.  Both girls worked together for a year and a half to raise money and supplies for the animals at our shelter.  They babysat, had lemonade stands, did odd jobs, had a piggy bank, and held a rummage sale to help P4P rescues.  On the Sunday before Christmas they came to Petsmart with a whole truck load of supplies-40 bags of kitty litter, toys, treats, towels, food, and a check for $250.00!  They can't even drive yet and they are out there working to help save more animals.  They are an inspiration.  
• Joan comes on Friday mornings to the shelter to groom our dogs.  Sometimes it is a huge undertaking as we get some real messes.  She never seems to mind and knows that it will make them feel so much better.  The most disgusting dog with matts, dirt and grunge turns into the cutest little dog.  They are so happy and excited to get all cleaned up.  Another shelter once commented that we only adopt out the cute little dogs.  Well, you should have seen them before Joan got ahold of them.  Believe me, they were not cute nor would anyone adopted them in that shape. 
• Katie's Kookies 4 Pets are being made by a 7 year old girl that is determined to help the animals at our shelter.  She sold over $100.00 and gave it to help the rescues at our shelter.  What a cool kid!! 
• Crystal, another HSLAH staff, saw Ritchie and ws determined to help him.  He had some slipped discs in his back and couldn't walk.  The decision had been made to put him to sleep because he was at the end of his rope.  He was in pain and the discs could not be fixed.  Crystal called to see if she could try some hydrotherapy and massage.  She knew a massage therapist that would donate her time.  Along with some medications Ritchie is much improved-up and walking.  Pain under control.  She was his guardian angel.
• When the momma dog of nine, 5 day old puppies abandoned them two days before Christmas my heart sank.  Bottle feeding puppies is really hard and there were 9 of them. Great timing too.  We had hours to figure out what to do and to feed 9 puppies.  Within hours the 9 pups were divided between 4 surrogate moms.  Lisa K, Beth, Jan and Pam all pitched in and the next few weeks of botle feeding puppies every 3-4 hours started. I'm happy to say all pups are doing great and are now 6 weeks old.  Thank you to the 4 sleep deprived people that saved the pups and the day!
• These are just a few examples of the kindness of people.  There are many, many more.  The volunteers, staff and fosters for P4P spend countless hours helping to save the dogs and cats in our shelter.  Every day I am reminded what great people they are to spend their time helping the animals with P4P  They come to help at adoptions, open their homes to foster, help clean the shelter, take pictures of the animals for the web site, answer the phone, look over the applications, do the bookwork, write grants, set up fund raisers, work at fund raisers, take the animals to the vet, go to the pounds, want to help the ones with parvo etc, and provide the support and encouragement needed to carry on. Each person does their part to help and the pieces make a whole that is really awesome.  And really works to help rescue dogs and cats out of the pounds.  Thank you!   
      

Silent Auction at Ravanellis

Ravanellis restaurant in Collinsville is hosting a silent auction at their store to benefit the animals in our shelter.  There are 30 baskets or items to bid on.  Some of the items are a Kuranda dog bed, Keurig Coffee Maker, Dog Stroller, and many more baskets.  Please come check out the silent auction.  It will run thru the month of February so lots of chances to bid.  Big thank you to Ravanellis! 

Please Help Argus!

Argus at Horseshoe in Iso

Argus was at the pound and Nev had tagged him last week.  When she called today to see if he had been picked up, the AC officer said no and that he was very sick.  They thought parvo.  Did we still want him?
If not they needed to put him down.  Now Argus is not a small dog.  He is a plott hound mix and about 10 months old.  Hmmm, what to do?  Off Nev went to the pound with a parvo test , hoping it was not parvo.  It was.  Hmmm, what to do?

Usually we treat the parvo puppies and small dogs here but this is a big dog.  Little hard to contain one that big.  But he was still wagging his tail even though he was sick and that is always a hopeful sign with parvo.  So we asked for help from Horseshoe Lake Animal Hospital.  Sure, come on down.  Off Nev went with Argus to HSL.  It will be touch and go for a few days so keep you fingers crossed and say some prayers. If you would like to help with his vet bill just call Horseshoe at 618-344 -7949 to make a donation.

Off to a Great Start-45 Adoptions since 1/1/12!

    The year has started with a bang.  The first week of January we did 23 adoptions and the second week we did 22 adoptions.  Week one saw adoption of 15 dogs:  Cadence, Piper, Toodles, Chewey, Smalz, Tuck, Alicia, Ginger, Fizzle, Sophie, Judah, Nanette, Gus, Bashful!!, and Gizmo.  Kitties were: Walker, Simba, Buddie, Speckles, Ashes, Porkchop, Pat and TBone.  The second week dogs were Seva, Cassie, Riley, Gracie, Ranger, Quigley, Borders, Bunky, Hedges, Booger, Jagger, Charlie, Alex, Dreyfus, Addie, Bang Bang, BEa, and Pepe.  Kitties were:  Winkey, Tabby, Chante, and Binky. 
   Some of these guys had been at the shelter for a long time.  Bashful had been with us almost a year.  Ranger since June.  Bunky, an older girl,  since May. Chante since summer.  Good for them finally!  Tonto, who came in with Ranger, also went into a trial.  Jagger was the shepard that was living at the gas station in Pontoon.  No one could catch him and a very nice lady set up a live trap for him.  We pulled him from Madison Co.  Nannette was abandoned in a house with her sister when a family moved.  Both were scared to death at Mad Co. but now Nanette is in a new home.  Her sister, Theodora, is a bot more of a challenge but doing well in a foster home.  Gus was adopted by a lady 90 years young!  She was great!  Dreyfus had heartworms and we were having trouble getting the heartworm meds so he has been around since summer.  We have been able to pull quite a few from the pound.  It has been very busy.
   Last week was a rough dog week.  We lost little Henry to seizures.  Ritchie was diagnosed with severe disc degeneration and is having a very hard time walking.  Meds and therapy are not helping.  One of the pups became constipated and had to have an enema.  Yuk.  He is doing great now.  All of the 9 pups that have been bottle fed since their momma left when they were 5 days old are doing great.  All weigh almost 5 pounds at 4 weeks!  They are very cute and happy.  Great job to the four people acting as surrogate moms.  Bottle feeding pups is really hard and time consuming.  Hats off to you!
   We got wonderful news that Nathanial was adopted from Cocker Rescue in Michigan.  Nat was a wreck when we got him.  Terrible cleft palate, deformed nose and teeth.  Bad cherry eye.  Whoa! It was bad.  I have never seen a dog with a cleft palate let alone with one that bad.  I really don't know how he lived.  He was always snuffling around and couldn't have been able to nurse well.  He was the most positive, happy boy though.  Sometimes the other dogs were not very nice to him and he just was always wagging his tail.  He had surgery at Horseshoe Lake AH to fix some of it but it was too bad to totally correct.  We had Nat for many months with no luck with adoption so Cocker Rescue was called to see if they could help.  He got to fly up north and finally got a new home!  Way to go Nathanial! 
   The Stars to the Rescue event at the Peabody Opera House was great!  Every year Tony LaRussa hosts the concert to benefit his shelter ARF.  He also helps shelters in the area by giving us tickets to sell.  This year we were invited to participate.  Luke Bryan, country western,  and  Timothy B Schmidt from the Eagles
sang and were really good.  Many others also.
    Several events are coming up.  Feb. 10-12 will be adoptathon weekend.  We will be at Glen Carbon and O'Fallon Petsmart for the event.  Feb. 25th is Trivia Night.  Make sure you book your table ASAP.  Should be fun.  The info. is posted on the web site and the blog. 

Booger

Gracie

Gus

Pepe

Quigley

Ranger!!

Nathanial!!!

Nathanial

The first time I saw Nathanial I was shocked.  How could this dog survived as a pup?  He had a huge cleft palate which extended way up in his nose.  His teeth were very deformed.  Nat also had a huge cherry Eye.  Only a face a mom could love.  I have to say he scared my dogs.  He made this really strange snuffling noise.  I couldn't see how as a pup he could have even nurse.  Nathanial was such a happy dog.  He didn't know he had any problems.  He was very inspiring.  Dr. Ervin at HSLAH di some surgery on his cleft palate to try to make it better.  He had to remove some teeth and he worked a bit on his nose. Much better but he would always be Nathanial.  We contacted Justine who helps place Cockers.  She called Cocker Rescue and Nat got to fly to Michigan to a new foster home.  We just got word that he is now in a great home and looks beautiful!  And his new name is Snuffles.  Perfect. Thanks Justine.  

So Close...

Henry

We lost our little Henry this morning.  He came to us from St. Louis Co. AC.  Sue picked him out and brought him to our shelter.  He was such a happy, well mannered boy.  Not your typical jack.  Last Sunday I had just finished cleaning the shelter and someone was at Petsmart to see Henry.  They had seen his cute picture and wanted to meet him.  Of course I would get him there.  Off he went and they wanted to take him home to see how he would do.  All was well until Thursday when we got a call Henry was having seizures.  Something was terribly wrong.  We got him to the vet and he seemed OK.  Friday he was acting a little odd.  Saturday he started doing the twitching.  Off he went to the vet again and he had a big seizure there.  Some tests were done and we waited.  On Sunday evening at 5:30 PM he began having grand mal seizures.  He had at least 6 in an hour.  By the time we got to the E Clinic he was sitting up but very dazed.  At the emergency clinic he had more seizures even with meds.  I decided to give him the night to see if the meds would help.  They didn't and he was not responsive.  It was time.  The docs aren't sure why this happened.  His new family was very sad.  They came to Petsmart on Sunday to check on him.  He was so close to his new life. Rescue is always hard but this just doesn't seem fair.  Goodbye my boy.    

Tony LaRussa's Stars to the Rescue

Each year Tony LaRussa sponsors Stars to the Rescue to help area animal rescues.  The groups are given tickets to sell and get to keep the proceeds.  This year Partners For Pets was invited to participate.  The event is at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis and will feature live entertainment. 

Tickets still available. Call Partners For Pets at 618-540-7387.

Stars to the Rescue, St. Louis

www.arf.net

Weekly Update(s)-Dec.19-31, 2011-25 adoptions!!

Leigh with her foster Andy

Slade smiling with his new family

Christmas donations from 4 year old Sutton!

   Last week was a little hectic so I decided to combine both weeks.  We didn't have adoptions at Petsmart Christmas weekend but did some adoptions anyway on Friday at the shelter.  Dogs that were adopted were:  Happy, Talulah, Wishbone!!, Riley, Charlie, Mattie!!, and Virgil.  Two of our long time shelter bound dogs-Wishbone and Mattie finally got to go to a home.  Whew!!  Very nice Christmas present for both. We had lots of very nice people come to foster a dog before Christmas and for the New Year.  Richie, Nanette, Theodora, Dreyfus, Weiter, Delta and the husky, whos' name escapes me, went to foster homes.  Rocky, Mango and Henry went on a trial.
   On the Friday before Christmas, Mary, our Momma dog with 9-5 day old puppies, took off from her foster home and could not be found.  Pam, Jan, Beth and Lisa K jumped right in and took the pups to bottle feed them.  Now I don't know if you have ever tried to do that but it is hard. You have to feed them every 2-4 hours round the clock and the chances of them doing OK are not so good.  They were lucky to have very skilled, dedicated people to take care of them.  Amazingly, all 9 are doing great and getting fat. They are named after the reindeer.  The momma has been seen several times but we have had no luck getting near her.  She has not returned to where the babies were which is strange.  Thank you to all who helped with the little ones.  Miracle! 
   Christmas eve was spent at the Animal Emergency Clinic at Big Bend and 44 in St. Louis.  Little Titus had been having blood in his urine after a neuter and then on Christmas eve, of course, couldn't, well, pee.  He was very uncomfortable so we took him there.  They were great and the fees very reasonable.  Very rescue friendly.  Titus spent Christmas with them with a catheter in.  He had a terrible bladder infection.  All is well now and a big thank you to the staff there. 
   This week the adoptions were for the dogs:  Mica, Lola, Andy, Slade, Lena, Lionel, and Snookie.  Slade was our boy that was left in a backyard when it was very hot.  With the help of Chris and Leigh, Slade was rescued and put in a foster home.  He also had heartworms and was treated as well as a tooth pulled.  A very nice lady was his guardian angel and paid for his care.  The kitties that were adopted this week were:  Jimmy, Tide, Kitty, Noel, Joy, Jones, Opie, Mickey, Claude, Carman, and Peace.
   We had many wonderful people bring the animals at P4P gifts for Christmas.  Danielle and Hannah worked all year and a half raising funds and donations for our rescues.  Katie baked dog treats and sold them to raise money for the dogs and cats.  Stephanie worked all year collecting money to buy supplies for P4P.  Melissa made hats all year and sold them to raise money for our shelter.  Great hats!  Great person!  Many people donated to P4P for a Christmas present to a friend or family.  Donna asked her friends and co-workers to donate to us instead of receiving any presents. 

   Sutton gathered donations through a class Christmas project at preschool.  He is 4 years old!

When we asked him how he gathered all the items he said "Cause I'm so strong!" and curled his arms to show us.  He was quite the charmer.  Sutton and his Mom got coupons for a lot of the pet food at savvyshoppersite.com under the "available items" area.  There are some great coupon deals on pet food and supplies.  Way to go Sutton!!  

   People from all over sent Christmas cards with checks to help take care of the dogs and cats at the shelter. We received many Christmas cards with wishes and pictures of our rescues that are now in a home.  So many great stories and new homes for dogs and cats that were pretty hopeless at the pound.  All of the people that had anything to do with getting that animal from the pound to a new life should feel pretty good about it.  Whether they donated their time or money it all added up to help get them safe.  Every week alot of people give up alot of their time to help this happen.  It was really wonderful and very encouraging.  Thank you!  Best wishes for a great New Year!

Dreyfus realxing in his foster home

Hannah and Danielle

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Partners For Pets Trivia Night-Feb. 25

PARTNERS 4 PETS

TRIVIA NIGHT

PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT P4P ANIMAL RESCUE AND LOCAL SPAY/NEUTER PROGRAM FOR THOSE THAT QUALIFY

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25^TH

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