Animals pat life

Guest Blogger: Casey Stuver, Critter Camp Intern Animal Friends is pleased to announce a successful close to the 2015 Summer Camp season. We held our biggest season yet - 15 sessions over 8 weeks. A big thank you to our campers - our animals, staff, and volunteers enjoyed having you here! Critter Camp Over the course of four weeks, 32 kindergarten and first graders joined our camp teachers, Ms. Ashley Phoenix and Ms. Kelly Miller, and adult and teen volunteers for a three-day camp to learn about and tour our shelter, meet many animals, and create crafts for the bunnies, rabbits, and dogs to enjoy. The camp followed a three-day themed schedule including Bunny Day, Cat Day, and Dog Day. Bunny Day   Kerri Nevills, an Animal Friends volunteer and foster parent for rabbits, has been a guest speaker at Critter Camp for many years now. Kerri comes to talk to the campers about foster care and how to handle rabbits. This summer, Kerri brought in her own therapy bunny, Aubrey, along with he...

“What are you doing here fella,” murmurs a Good Samaritan. He found a 10-year-old Chow Chow mix, Teddy, on his porch on a frigid, winter evening. Teddy was wearing a collar without tags and dragging some-20 feet of cable. This fluffy, little guy was someone’s dog. Without identification the man had no choice but to set out to find the owners. Alas, his search was fruitless – so he turned to Animal Friends. Upon Teddy’s arrival, it didn’t take long for staff to notice he was alarmingly head-shy. So much so, he needed to be muzzled to complete his physical exam. The medical team found his ear canals to be in terrible shape – it’s no wonder he was incredibly sensitive to touching on and near his ears. Despite knowing the origin of his sensitivity, his chances of being available for adoption didn’t look good. Before all animals (dogs, cats and rabbits alike) can be available for adoption at Animal Friends, their behavior must be assessed by our behavior team. This includes a few tests to ...

  Benni and Samson are both short haired Gemini kitties born on May 25, 2014. They could be considered fraternal twins that speak to each other in a code similar to the game marco-polo. Benni is a curly tailed tabby that loves anything to do with laser pointers.   In fact if you say the word laser in front of him he starts seeking out red dots!      Samson is a black and white longer tailed cat, to make up for his brothers short stubby tail. He much prefers hanging out in the bathroom tub, licking moisture off of the shower curtain, or lounging atop shampoo bottles.      These guys are free to a good home, but CANNOT be split up. Benni and Samson have been glued at the hip since birth so to tear them apart is a big no-no.   They are also strictly indoor cats since they have never been outside.   A smaller home or apartment is fine, as long as they have plenty of toys to play with and the landlord is okay with pets. All we will need to p...

Snip, snip, snip … Cerulean’s foster mom is in her front yard snipping clover. Doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary, except it’s 1 a.m. and she’s worried sick that the young rabbit was refusing new food. In her first year of life, Cerulean had already been to the ICU twice and seen by no less than six veterinarians. Her medical challenges proved to be a bit of an enigma but Animal Friends wouldn’t give up. Normally, Cerulean responded well to her favorite foods (she’s even been known to beg for a banana!) but with every treat refusal, her foster mom’s worry only grew. Cerulean needed to eat. Her foster mom even ran to her local supermarket several times – an apple here, dandelion greens there – leading up to her 1-a.m. harvest. Then it dawned on her – clover! The veterinary staff that cared for Cerulean during her ICU stay reported her love for fresh clover. Holding her breath with cautious optimism, foster mom offered her freshly picked, homegrown clover to Cerulean. And she ate ever...

A little face poked out of a carrier. A face covered in open wounds and sores. Little did Violet know but being brought to Animal Friends was the one of the best things that could’ve happened to her. The couple that had her couldn’t care for her. They didn’t want to deal with her medical issues. Animal Friends staff sees these situations all the time, but this one was different. The mange that plagued Violet was one of the worst cases Animal Friends’ medical staff had seen. Despite being in as much pain as she was, her tail just wouldn’t stop wagging. While there were many components to Violet’s medical needs, she wasn’t just another case to be treated. She was so much more than that! She was a puppy that didn’t know how to be a puppy. And Animal Friends was there to teach Violet that too. In between diluted bleach baths (it helps to kill the mites) and shots of antibiotics and special vitamins, Violet learned to sit and give paw with some practice. And one day, Violet’s favorite staff...

On Sun., Aug. 16 Animal Friends will welcome their volunteers to bring friends and family to the shelter for a special day highlighting the many achievements of Animal Friends volunteers. Animal Friends became a certifying organization that was given the authority to recognize and present the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. Animal Friends wanted to tremendously honor these lifetime achievers. By providing Presidential recognition to these 80 volunteers Animal Friends is hoping that their volunteers truly understand how much they mean to the organization. From 2:30-3:30 p.m. 80 of Animal Friends volunteers will be awarded the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer service. This select group of volunteers will be recognized for giving more than 4,000 lifetime hours of service to Animal Friends. In addition to the ceremony, visitors will be invited to participate in the behind-the-scenes tours on the hour from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Tour participants will learn firsthand a...