All About Boo!

"Boo" is a 6 year old German Shepherd who has been with Precious Paws since very early this year. Unfortunately - and we're really not sure why - Boo hasn't had much interest from people wanting to adopt this gorgeous girl! Boo is Miss. Personality and she LOVES everyone! She really can't get enough of people and she's even good with children. She's a bouncy girl and definitely doesn't realize how big she is (if she had her way, she'd be curled up on your lap like a Chihuahua!). Boo just loves snuggling and playing. She is fully housetrained and quite clean in the house. She is crate trained but she can also be trusted to be alone in the house without her crate. Boo gets along well with other calm submissive dogs and she's learning how to play with other dogs too! She's never had much exposure to cats before but with time and patience, we're sure she would be great to live with cats too.

Although Boo didn't find a home in time for Christmas, she's still very hopeful that she'll find a home to start 2011 off just perfect! And a gorgeous girl like this certainly deserves a wonderful forever home!

Help us find Boo a family to love and call her own - share her story with your friends and family, post her on facebook and spread the word! Boo says thank you for your help and Happy New Year!

Introducing Sweet Pea!

Our latest addition to Precious Paws just arrived last Tuesday evening. This little girl is named Sweet Pea - or so her collar says. We don't know a whole lot about Sweet Pea, other than that someone found her left with another little Chihuahua inside of a box in the park a couple weeks ago. Thankfully someone was passing by and heard them inside the box and brought them to a Toronto shelter. It was the middle of December and being two senior, small dogs, they wouldn't have stood much of a chance if they'd been left for too much longer.






On each of their collars someone had written their names - Sweet Pea and Spanky. Unfortunately the shelter they ended up at had to make the difficult decision to euthanize the little Chihuahua, Spanky, as he had health issues and was not doing well. But little Sweet Pea was transferred to Precious Paws just in time.


Sweet Pea suits her name well. She's a darling little girl with a big personality. She demands attention from people she is comfortable around, even crawls up into her foster mom's lap and whines at her until she gets affection. Sweet Pea was at the vet today for her big dental surgery - being a senior Chihuahua she of course had bad teeth. But she's all fixed up now, with pearly whites to show for it - although not too many anymore!


We try not to dwell on this little girls past, especially because she certainly isn't! She's full of life and love and all she's looking for is a warm lap to curl up in for the rest of her retirement years. Little Sweet Pea will be with us in fostercare until she has found a permanent home of her own - and we're certain that won't take too long. Despite her age, we thinks she's sure to win some special person's heart - and she certainly deserves a happy ending!

Holidays Approaching Quickly!

2010 has certainly been a successful one for Precious Paws Rescue! This year saw us become an incorporated non-profit with a board of directors. We also had two major fundraisers this year - our first annual Golf Fore The Dogs Tournament and our first annual Christmas Gala. We've received so many wonderful contributions from the business community in and around Barrie and we hope to continue building those partnerships into 2011! We also received so much support from our current volunteers and foster homes, as well as the generous public. And I cannot say thank you enough for all the contributions everyone has made - whether that is contributions of time, gifts in kind or monetary donations. We appreciate it all!

Currently Precious Paws has 6 dogs and 1 cat up for adoption. Faith and Benny, two of those adoptable dogs, currently have adoption applications and we are very hopeful that they will be in their forever homes before or shortly after Christmas! What a joyous gift for them! The other 4 dogs and Roo, the kitty, are still very anxious to find their perfect forever families.



Roo is the pet I'd like to feature in this holiday blog! All you have to do is look at this adorable photo to know what a sweetheart this young boy is! Roo is a 10 month old black and white kitten. He is shorthaired and very clean (already littertrained). Roo has been living in a fosterhome with other dogs and cats, he's also had lots of exposure to children. He just loves everyone! Roo is an adventurous kitten and he would love to find a forever home with another young cat that likes to play. He'll keep you entertained that's for sure! Please share Roo's story with everyone you know this holiday season - let's help Roo get 2011 off to a great start - in a new home!

And as always, Precious Paws is in need of foster homes on an ongoing basis. With more and more requests coming in every day for dogs and cats in need - we are unable to keep up with the demand. If you've ever considered fostering or if you'd just like to learn more about what fostering entails - please contact us at preciousrescue@hotmail.com for more information!

Now for the thank you's! There are so many people to thank this year and I know I will forget many, so please forgive me! Thank you to all of our wonderful foster homes and volunteers who support our rescue work on a daily basis. Thank you to our webmaster Scott for all of your incredible work designing and maintaining our website! Thank you to Simcoe Veterinary Hospital for caring for all of our rescue pets with such love and generosity! Thank you to all of the businesses that have donated items for silent auctions, your services and your talents to support our rescue work! All of you have made this year the success that it has been - here's hoping that we make even more advances in 2011!

Kittens!

Although Precious Paws is predominantly a dog rescue, during "kitten season" (spring/summer) we often find ourselves with orphan kittens and sometimes even litters of kittens that we foster, vet and adopt out. This year of course is no different - unfortunately the overpopulation of cats and kittens seems to be a never ending problem. And worse still is that many of these cats and kittens end up in shelters where they are euthanized due to sheer lack of space or illness, or they end up growing up on the streets and then having even more kittens of their own. The cycle never ends!

So far this "season" we have taken in 3 little kittens and very sadly 2 of those babies have since passed away. Little Patrick was an adorable little orange tabby who came to us with his brother, a black kitten named Cole. Patrick was taken to our vet and then cared for overnight at the emergency clinic when he went hypo-glycemic and fell into a comatose stat. He then bounced back and seemed to be improving day by day, was back home in fostercare and doing well until we came home to find Patrick had passed away suddenly. The poor little guy just wasn't able to recover.

Last night we lost the other little kitten, Henry, who was a black and white, spunky little kitten who was also brought in as an orphan. Henry was doing wonderfully, was a chubby, active little guy who was a non-stop purring machine. We still do not know what happened to Henry but last night we found him already gone when we got home from work. No warning. After consulting with our veterinarian - he felt that Patrick likely passed because he just couldn't recover fully from being so underweight when he came to us and with Henry we can only assume that he had a congenital defect that caused him to pass suddenly. As these two babies were not related, it's just a very sad fluke that they have both passed away.

Thankfully, little Cole is still with us and doing quite well. We are keeping a very close eye on him, he's being quarantined and we are not taking any new kittens into his fosterhome just in case but so far so good. We hope that he continues to gain weight and that he can go up for adoption once he's old enough (and neutered/microchipped of course!).

We would love to be able to take in more kittens to rescue, as well as taking in more dogs that need us. But right now (and always it seems!) we have a shortage on foster homes. So the drive is on to find dedicated people who are interested in fostering! If you've ever considered it, please let us know! We would love to hear from you!

And for now - please keep Cole in your thoughts and send him lots of well wishes. I'll keep everyone updated on his progress too!

Golf Fore the Dogs Tournament!

Information and registration forms for our upcoming Golf Fore the Dogs Tournament has now been posted on our website! Please take a look and get your registration in fast! Space is limited!

This tournament is our first major fundraiser and we hope it will be an annual event. We have some wonderful sponsors, including Simcoe Veterinary Hospital, Fox's Bakery and Deli and many more! There are many incredible prizes - including an ATV and a 4 pass for golf at Tangle Creek Golf Club! We'll also be having a silent auction at the tournament giving you a chance to bid on many great items - including collector items!

All proceeds will go directly towards our veterinary bills for our rescue animals and we can't thank you enough for your support! Most of all, this tournament gives me a chance to meet all of our fantastic supporters and tell you more about Precious Paws and just what we've been up to lately!

Visit us at http://www.preciouspawsrescue.ca/ for more information and to print off your registration form for the tournament! Can't wait to see you there!

Faith

Precious Paws Rescue, along with Simcoe Veterinary Clinic, is working with the Kettle Point Reserve near London to have all of the dogs there (owned and stray) spayed/neutered, vaccinated with a 3 year Rabies vaccine, dosed with Revolution and heartworm tested. This project came about when we were asked to take in puppies from litters that had been born on the reserve. We realized that just taking the puppies in to rescue year after year is not going to help the situation at the reserve. Unfortunately people there are unable to afford veterinary care for their animals and because there are also so many strays who are also not spayed/neutered, the stray population on the reserve just continues to grow.

The project started because of the incredible generosity of Simcoe Veterinary Hospital - they are doing all of the vetting for free for all 120+ dogs on the reserve. Precious Paws, along with many other reputable rescue groups, is working to get the stray dogs into rescue so that they are able to be vetted and eventually find adoptive homes as well. Another unfortunate problem on the reserve is heartworm. Of the 14 dogs that have been vetted so far, 6 of them have tested positive for heartworm.

Faith is one of those positive dogs. Faith is a 3 year old Lab who has been living on the reserve without a real home since she was a puppy. Thankfully we had a foster home to accept her into, so when she was transported with 4 other dogs to be vetted, Faith got to stay behind in rescue. She is now doing wonderfully in a wonderful foster home. The sad part is that Faith has heartworm and today was her first day of treatment. To start with, Faith will receive a dose of Advantage Multi once a month for 3 months. She will then go on daily antibiotics for another month. Following that she will receive an injection of Immiticide which is an arsenic to kill the worms. Another month later she will get a second dose of Immiticide and 24 hours after that she will receive her third dose. All throughout this treatment Faith must remain quiet and inactive to prevent the worms from migrating to her lungs. Luckily Faith is a couch potatoe and she loves nothing more than to relax and be lazy!

Faith will remain in fostercare with Precious Paws until she has a negative heartworm test, which will be at least another 6 months. The cost of her treatment will likely be over $1000 by the time she is done. So we need some help! That's where you come in! :o)

We have many fundraisers coming up but what we are working on right now is pledges for the 2010 K9 Rescue Me walkathon! Our fundraising goal for this year is $4000 and so far we've managed to raise about $1100 combined between our walkers. The walkathon takes place June 13th at Woofstock in Toronto. If you're interested in walking to support Precious Paws Rescue please email us today for more information; preciousrescue@hotmail.com

If you're not able to walk, please consider making a pledge towards my chihuahua Belle and I! We're walking to support Precious Paws and we would love your help to reach our fundraising goal! Every single dollar counts and every donation big or small is VERY much appreciated! Go to http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=7674 to make your pledge today! Donations are made to K9 Rescue Me which is an umbrella group that Precious Paws belongs to - after the walkathon they make a direct payment to our veterinary bills of the total amount of pledges received. And the best part is - you get a tax receipt for your donation!

Since we began we have successfully rescued, vetted and adopted out more than 150 animals and we couldn't have done it without support from our generous volunteers, adopters and supporters. We are grateful every day for the support you give us so thank you for helping Precious Paws to be the rescue that it is today!

Intro to Precious Paws Rescue...

Precious Paws Rescue was started in December of 2006 shortly after I first moved to Barrie. I started the rescue because I was already taking in a couple dogs here and there from pounds where they were listed to be euthanized. I was then paying to have them vetted, fostering them in my home and then adopting them out (after applications, home visits, etc). In order to be able to advertise the dogs I had for adoption on www.Petfinder.com I was kind of pushed to start up the rescue.

I know many people today are starting up "rescues" all over the place. They have a love for animals and they want to help and they want to do it on their own. This unfortunately often leads to "rescues" that are not spaying/neutering or microchipping before adoption, "rescues" that adopt out dogs before properly assessing them and "rescues" adopting out dogs to families that either are not screened properly/at all or families that are not suitable for the dog(s) in question. Without proper knowledge and experience in the rescue field, many people end up doing more harm than good unfortunately - although they may have had the best of intentions to begin with.

I decided to start Precious Paws only after I had gained many years of experience and knowledge in the field - and always with the understanding that I need to continue building my education and experience to better the lives of animals outside of and within the rescue. I started out working in a shelter - the Northumberland Humane Society - for more than 6 years. Following that I graduated from Northern College's Veterinary Technician program and shortly after that I moved to Barrie and started working in a veterinary clinic.

With the guidance and help of several reputable rescue groups who gave me the encouragement and support that I needed, Precious Paws Rescue was started. Today, I am still working in the field full-time as an animal care and control officer in Toronto and still running Precious Paws as an additional full-time but a volunteer position of course!

As I progressed with Precious Paws we had several people wanting to help out with volunteering and then fostering. Today we still have many of the same dedicated volunteers who first started out with us and many more as well! We are still a very small rescue and we're hoping to stay that way, although we are always looking for more foster homes. Our volunteers and foster homes are absolutely invaluable - without them Precious Paws Rescue would not be where it is today and we would not have been able to rescue more than 150 dogs - have them fully vetted and then adopt them out into wonderful, loving forever homes.

But we continue to network with many other reputable rescue groups - we know that we can never know everything there is to know about rescue and we are always open to new concepts and ideas. We are even now in the position to help out newer rescues by providing advice and support.

What would my advice be to others who want to start their own rescue? Get the experience FIRST. If you have time and space for animals in need and you want to help - partner up with a rescue that is already in good standing - they would love to have you! Foster, volunteer, do whatever you can to get a really good understanding of what is involved in rescue. It is NOT easy. Animals need proper veterinary care, emergencies and unexpected medical issues arise. If you are not willing OR not able to have each and every animal that comes through your rescue spayed/neutered, vaccinated and fully vetted - you should NOT start a rescue. You are not doing the animal world any good if you are not at the very least spaying/neutering animals before adopting them out. You are only contributing to the problem unfortunately. So if you don't have the resources to do this - partner up with a rescue that can! Your help is definitely needed! And then once you have the experience and resources necessary to run a reputable rescue group and you still have the passion and LOTS of time on your hands - only then should you consider starting your own rescue.

This year has been an important one for Precious Paws Rescue. First, we have partnered up with many incredible businesses that have been tremendously helpful to our cause. All of our animals now go to Simcoe Veterinary Hospital in Barrie and we could not be happier with the excellent medical care that they all receive (so happy in fact that my own dogs also go to the vets at Simcoe and many of our foster homes and adopters have also chosen the clinic for their animals!). We have also partnered with ICONIC, which is a graphic design company here in Barrie that now designs all of our promotional materials. Our logo, business cards, brochures, etc., are all designed by ICONIC and as you can see - they do stunning work!

There are so many other companies that I would like to thank for their continued support and most of them are listed on our website under the links section. Please check them out and support them too as we use and highly recommend all of them!

Second, we have also partnered with two umbrella organizations that are registered charities - Helping Homeless Pets (www.helpinghomelesspets.com) and K9RescueMe (www.k9rescueme.com). To be a part of HHP we have signed a rescue code of ethics which all member rescues adhere to. The benefits of joining these two groups are endless but one important benefit is that they allow us to accept donations to Precious Paws through each of them so that our donors can receive tax receipts and the donation goes directly to our veterinary bills.

Third, we have now applied for incorporation of a non-profit for Precious Paws and although we have not yet received our approved paperwork, I did get word that our application has been approved! Which is absolutely wonderful news! Our official name will now be Precious Paws Rescue Inc. and this is a very exciting step for us!

As we continue to grow we are expanding our fundraising strategies. Unfortunately rescue is costly - most of the dogs that we rescue cost us double what their adoption fee is. And often they cost us much more than that once they are fully vetted. So this year we are continuing with our monthly barbeque fundraisers at Sears in the Georgian Mall in Barrie. We are also again participating in the Woofstock Walkathon (another blog will be posted about this!). This year will be the first year for hopefully our annual Golf Fore The Dogs Tournament at Tangle Creek Golf Course in Barrie! With the help of our generous sponsors, we hope that this will be our biggest fundraising event each year and that we will raise lots of funds for the dogs that need us most!

So please keep checking this blog as I do my very best to keep it updated. I will be featuring our rescued dogs, happy adoption stories, fundraisers and events and much more! I'd love to hear from you as well - let us know what you want to know about Precious Paws!

And thank you again to all of our wonderful supporters - we certainly couldn't do it without you!

Cassandra
Founder - Precious Paws Rescue