It’s the holiday season at Pets Alive. There’s a foot of snow on the ground here in Middletown, New York and more is falling right now. Pets
Alive is 80 acres of magic, and this is the most magical time of the year. Boxes of cookies and treats appear out of nowhere, and this is
the time when we receive cards and letters from all of the wonderful people who saved the lives of the animals in our care.
The wall in the Brick House outside our office becomes speckled with photos of the animals who found their forever homes this year, a sea of
smiling faces — human, canine, feline and even equine. We all have memories of the people and animals that we’ve met so briefly here this
year, and we all have those special memories of the animals and people we will never forget. It’s amazing to read the cards, look at the
pictures and get that feeling again, remembering and sharing a special moment that warmed us months ago, a respite from the weariness that
sometimes casts its shadow around here.
It’s those moments that leave their imprints on our hearts, amidst the time away from our families and loved ones — the missed birthdays and
other occasions, the inquiries from our friends and families asking us where we’ve been, the understanding spouses, the getting up in the
middle of the night to meet a transport of scared dogs that were headed for the gas chamber or a deadly needle. The endless stream of animals
needing our help that never seems to slow down.
The gnawing in the pit of our stomachs every time we worry about where the next month’s funds are going to come from.
This is Matt, sitting here in my family room, typing this on my computer. Roscoe, the dog with the 2 luxating patellas that needed
expensive surgery is curled up next to me on the couch, and Tyson, the little black dog that I picked up from a transport and fell in love with
immediately is snoring peacefully on the other side of me.
Kerry is at home anxiously awaiting the arrival of a transport of 14 dogs that were headed for the gas chamber in North Carolina. She was
outside earlier in the snow with her 4 dogs, including Jake, the puppy saved from a needle in Georgia, and Scrumpy, the one-of-a-kind Corgi mix
who is “awkwardly designed,” with his front legs shorter than his back ones and other interesting features. He’s only alive because of a
clerical error. It’s quite a story and he’s quite a dog.
There are a year’s worth of stories here thanks to the generous support of people like you. We often speak of how fortunate we are to be here
at Pets Alive, and we truly feel like we have the best jobs in the world.
As the Pets Alive employees and volunteers pass the door of our office they stop to read the cards and letters on the wall, contemplating their
own personal favorites. We will often hear people sharing those stories, remembering an animal that touched their heart. It makes us
smile.
We appreciate your support and ask that you continue to support us in the coming year. We have some funding challenges and it’s one of our
biggest worries for 2009. Share some cheer this holiday and donate to Pets Alive. Your help is what keeps us going.
As we take a day or two off with our families we will take a few moments to reflect on our success this year and all of you who have made it
possible. Thank you to everyone who adopted an animal this year, to Rob and Marisol Thomas for their help, both financial and spiritual. Thanks
to all of our generous volunteers and supporters. We truly can’t do this without you. We love you all.
Thank you for the cards, emails, notes, telephone calls, pictures and other expressions of your support and affection. We read them all and they have made
a tremendous impact on us. One of the donation checks that came in this week had a blue post-it note attached to it that said “I’m SO GLAD you didn’t go under.”
Yes ma’am. So are we.
From our families to yours, and from our Pets Alive family to yours, we wish you a joyful holiday season and look forward to a 2009 where we can save more animals
and make more of an impact on the community and the country.
Kerry Clair & Matt DeAngelis
Pets Alive Executive Co-Directors
And the entire Pets Alive staff
Filed in Uncategorized by kerry on Dec 22, 2008. There are 0 comments.
Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on November 24th the following animals were adopted: Tucker, Baylee, Dante, Miles, Nina, Julie, Roc, Lady, Buddy, Trixie, Dorothy, Glinda, Harley, Oz, Toto, Juggles, Buddy (again), B.P., Bert, Glinda, Jupiter.
The following cats were all adopted too: Frankie, Johnny, Shady, Stevie, Daisy, Betsy, Reddy, Miss Kitty and Fiona. Nine cats! OUR RECORD! Dale said to tell everyone that she “rocks”! Of course we must also mention Kerri, our adoption coordinator, who has been doing an amazing job of placing our dogs. Amazing! Thirty animals went home in twenty days. How sweet is that? Have you checked our forum lately? Our adopters often post updates and pictures of the dogs and cats they adopted from us. It is the best part of my day to go there and read those. Be sure to check it out!
Hi Everyone. Matt here. Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. The old Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times” seems to have been cast upon me.
I’m already getting warmed up to have the Christmas blues this year. I used to spend each Christmas with my Mom (that’s me and her on the left), who as many of you know passed away a few months ago. This week also marks the one year anniversary of the loss of my favorite dog of all time, Emma. We now have six dogs at my house, including Roscoe the Plotthound and Tyson the little guy, and while I love each of them very much there was a bond between me and Emma that I am finding is irreplaceable, much like the bond between Kerry and Jasper. She was like a friend that was always with me, and I find myself missing her each day, much like my Mom.
Each time an expected animal transport arrives at Pets Alive, our hearts melt as the doors are swung open and we witness the fear and confusion of our new charges who have not yet realized that they are indeed finally safe. We SLOWLY and carefully remove each life knowing that it may take some time before they learn that we are here to help them, not hurt them. They are then moved to an isolation area, where we keep them for a quarantine period. During this time we get their medical needs sorted, enter them into our database, do a prophylactic deworming, and get them ready for adoption.
As part of their routine intake, we make sure each pet is altered, vaccinated, microchipped, and heartworm tested. We also test for e-canis, anaplasma and lyme disease at the same time. If a particular animal is not fairing well in the kennel environment, we do our absolute best to set them up in some other part of our building. For those of you who have visited our facility, you’ll witness dogs living in every crevice of ‘human’ space. Nothing is off limits…offices, kitchens, laundry rooms, EVEN bathrooms (only spacious ones of course). It’s difficult but we truly attempt to triage each case based on potential illness or those with severe behavioral set backs. Sometimes the kennel is just not the optimal environment for a dog that is terrified and we find putting them in rooms where there is less noise and confusion, but some human traffic helps them get over this faster than leaving them in an environment where they are so frightened.
Shea was a dog that came into our hearts by fate. It was a Sunday in June and we were anticipating a transport of dogs to arrive from a high kill facility in Tennessee. Shea just so happened to be on the transport although she was not one of the dogs we were expecting. But seeing this young, beautiful, sweet yellow lab mix greet us at the side of the vehicle, we knew that we could not send her back to an unknown fate. So we gladly brought her inside and while trying to track down her medical history, we set her up inside a separate room where she would not be around the other dogs at our facility. The transporter bringing her had no idea who she was or where she had come from, she had pretty much just found her in a situation where the owner had died and all the dogs the person had been caring for had just been “set free”. We had no records and no history and Shea was so sweet. Going back to the town she came from would have meant certain death as the kill rates in that shelter were well over 96%.
Unfortunately within the first two days of her quarantine period we became concerned that Shea was not feeling well. She did not have a good appetite and she was pretty quiet, although we could not be certain if this was typical behavior for her, or indeed she was ill. So for the week of her quarantine we continued to keep her separated, and could coax her to eat some food. We tested her for heartworm, lyme disease, anaplasmosis and erhliciosis. We drew blood for a normal CBC/chemistry panel. While awaiting the results, a family happened to come by looking for a dog. Immediately you could tell that this was not just some typical family. They were one of those families that are so devoted to their animals that you’d consider giving them one of your own!
While Shea was being taken out for a walk, the family made her acquaintance and instantaneously became smitten by Shea’s charm. They knew Shea was meant to go home with them. When we explained the situation of Shea not feeling perfectly well, they stressed the fact that she would be an only dog, and they were fortunate enough to be home full time (and thus could care for her around the clock). We explained that at this point bloodwork was out but we were still unsure what was wrong and warned it could be something serious. They advised that their vet was a close family friend, they contacted her, and she was already willing to see their new pet first thing in the morning. Since we were still awaiting the results of our blood panel to arrive from the weekend, we promised to have them immediately faxed directly to their vet that next day.
After the first week in her new home, Shea took a turn for the worse. Within a matter of days, she became neurologic. Her vet was perplexed by the new set of symptoms. We kept in touch with her vet (and family) to stay abreast of her condition. It came as a complete shock when we learned that Shea’s condition had progressed to the point that she needed to be euthanized. Due to the fact that vaccines are not completely protective especially if they were not administered in a proper fashion (such as the timing of boosters), the vet performed a necropsy in order to try to ascertain some answers for this baffling case. It took several weeks to determine that Shea had indeed fallen victim to the deadly disease canine distemper. The most disturbing fact is that this could have been prevented if Shea had received normal inoculation series, especially as a puppy.
As I look back, I am beyond grateful Shea found her forever home with this incredible family. They loved her from the moment they saw her, to the moment they made the selfless and humbling decision to end any suffering. It weighs heavy on all our hearts, but in the end, we realize that not only could Shea have died a painful, tortuous death on a cold cement floor, but she could have lost the only chance (no matter how short it was) to appreciate that she was undeniably loved! And as much as we will never forget this beautiful soul who was never even destined to arrive at our facility, Shea will never forget the selfless sacrifice her family made for her. I have no doubt Shea will be waiting for the day that they will be together again as the family they were destined to become.
(Written By Janet)
Filed in Case Studies by kerry on Dec 12, 2008. There are 2 comments.
Amelia is a Sharpei that came to Pets Alive about 7 months ago. She came from the south and had been a stray living in a junk yard. She gave birth to a litter of puppies and all of them, except for one, were killed by workers at the junk yard, or by a roaming pack of stray dogs. Amelia was determined to protect her last puppy with her life if necessary. When a kind neighbor saw the dog, half starved to death (because she would not leave her pup to forage for food) and fiercely aggressive at anyone who came near, she took pity and called the local shelter. This shelter sent out an ACO and they darted Amelia in order to sedate her and capture her.
The shelter was a high kill shelter though and dogs like Amelia stand zero chance of survival, as 95% of all the animals that walk through their doors are euthanized. Pets Alive took tremendous pity on Amelia and all she had been through and we decided to take her here.
It’s the holiday season at Pets Alive. There’s a foot of snow on the ground here in Middletown, New York and more is falling right now. Pets
This is Matt, sitting here in my family room, typing this on my computer. Roscoe, the dog with the 2 luxating patellas that needed
Thank you for the cards, emails, notes, telephone calls, pictures and other expressions of your support and affection. We read them all and they have made
Sanctuary animal updates:
I’m already getting warmed up to have the Christmas blues this year. I used to spend each Christmas with my Mom (that’s me and her on the left), who as many of you know passed away a few months ago. This week also marks the one year anniversary of the loss of my favorite dog of all time, Emma. We now have six dogs at my house, including Roscoe the Plotthound and Tyson the little guy, and while I love each of them very much there was a bond between me and Emma that I am finding is irreplaceable, much like the bond between Kerry and Jasper. She was like a friend that was always with me, and I find myself missing her each day, much like my Mom.
Each time an expected animal transport arrives at Pets Alive, our hearts melt as the doors are swung open and we witness the fear and confusion of our new charges who have not yet realized that they are indeed finally safe. We SLOWLY and carefully remove each life knowing that it may take some time before they learn that we are here to help them, not hurt them. They are then moved to an isolation area, where we keep them for a quarantine period. During this time we get their medical needs sorted, enter them into our database, do a prophylactic deworming, and get them ready for adoption.
Amelia is a Sharpei that came to Pets Alive about 7 months ago. She came from the south and had been a stray living in a junk yard. She gave birth to a litter of puppies and all of them, except for one, were killed by workers at the junk yard, or by a roaming pack of stray dogs. Amelia was determined to protect her last puppy with her life if necessary. When a kind neighbor saw the dog, half starved to death (because she would not leave her pup to forage for food) and fiercely aggressive at anyone who came near, she took pity and called the local shelter. This shelter sent out an ACO and they darted Amelia in order to sedate her and capture her.