Bye Bye Jupey!

Juniper was adopted last week by a wonderful family of 4 (including 2 cats)! She will now be residing on a mountain top with her new family, and her new KONG ball which apparently is strong enough to endure her wolf jaws. Congrats to the Kong because I've never seen anything survive that mouth! June left in a very healthy state and she is continuing to battle her heart worms. She has lots of energy these days so I know that she is getting better!

On behalf of Ju and myself- I want to thank everyone who donated and cheered her on through her recovery! She is alive because of you!

Thanks to Pet Vet on Patton and Izzy's Coffee as well for all of their support!

Below are a few photos from her stay with us and from her new hone. We will miss you Juno! And we love you!

Her first family vacation.

Her new mom, Lisa!

She smelled SO bad when we got her.

We bonded a bit too much..

4/23/10 We did it!

Good news! June is done with her check ups for the time being because all of her infections and mites, etc. are gone! She is on antibiotics and she is feeling really well. Still a little tired, but her true personality is really starting to show. Benjamin and I took her to the vet this morning and talked to Dr. Osbourne about the best direction to go in. There is a treatment for the heartworms that kills them over a two day period with injections. This costs about $600 dollars and it is very potent. Dr. Osbourne doesn't think this would be a good route, atleast for now, because of the various things her body has been fighting. June started a heartworm prevention (once a month) and this will start to kill the baby heartworms, and eventually the adults as well. This is considered the alternate and inexpensive way to kill them over time. We are going to see how she does for now and her next check up will be in a month and a half. If she is stronger at that time, and her new owner or I decide that the faster treatment is necessary, then we will look into pursuing that. In the meantime, she can be active! That means finally going on walks!!

I will keep her for a few more weeks to make sure she is responding well and is healthy. After that I will start the adoption process. So for now, I guess a thanks is in line for everyone that donated! We no longer need donations, we did it!

Juniper Vet Visit #1

Yesterday Juniper had her first exam to look further into her heartworms and treatment, as well as make sure she is overall healthy and strong enough for the treatment. I had my fingers crossed the whole time, hoping everything would go smoothly, but June is in worse shape than we thought. When I took her from the shelter, it was mandatory that she was spayed. I was weary of this and yesterday the vet confirmed that spaying a dog with heartworms is not the best idea. So, her stitches are infected and she has developed an abdominal infection as well. On top of that, she also has two types of intestinal worms and ear mites. With all of these different things her body is trying to fight, she is not well enough to begin the heartworm treatment. So, this week she started her antibiotics and medicine to try to heal the infections. Her ear mites and intestinal worms will be easier to get rid of, and I'm hoping she will feel much better by next week. For now I need to focus on getting her to eat as much food and protein as possible so that her immune system can become stronger.

As for her heartworms, there are male and female worms with babies. This means they can keep making more worms. She is on a preventative now that will stop new worms from growing. The vet recommended going through a treatment that kills the worms over the course of a year or two. This way she can be active and it won't take so much of a toll on her body.

Her next appointment is on Saturday to see how her abdomen and stitches are doing. I do not have a good estimate on how much all of this is going to cost, but I am guessing I need atleast another $100 dollars just to get her healthy. The good news is that the longer treatment is less expensive, so I am hoping to get her adopted before hand. Then her new owner can begin the process with her. I am going to work on adoption flyers this week, as well as a fundraiser towards the end of the month.

Thanks everyone for the donations, and thank you Pet Vet on Patton!

Juniper, out and about.

Today Juniper's foster dad Benjamin and I picked up Juniper from the Humane Alliance after she was spayed. The woman working told us to get there early because she mentioned 'a line'. I had no idea it would be so crowded. There were at least 20 people all hovering in this tiny room as employees were shouting over everyone to form lines. I felt like I was in the social services office again. But shortly after, we got her- very woozy and disoriented I might add- and then we took her home. She has adjusted really well to the house. She walked around for about an hour before she finally laid down and went to sleep. She gets along well with my brother's pitbull Zelda and she has payed no attention to my cat Kitty- yet. For the past few hours she has been sleeping outside in the yard. I think she is exhausted from all of the change.

For the weekend we are just going to take it really easy. Her appointment for her first exam is on Wednesday. After that I am hoping to have a good idea of cost for her treatment. And from there we will start the fundraisers!

Thank you everyone for being so excited about her and helping raise the money! I couldn't think of a better town to do this in.

Juniper 4/6/10

Juniper is an amazing 5 year old Husky that was found roaming the highway last month. She was brought in to a local shelter, and yesterday she was transfered to Solo Hostel Strays. She is heartworm positive, and we have decided to try and treat her though this is VERY expensive! I couldn't let her be euthanized because she is amazingly sweet and she deserves a chance at having a normal and happy life! Our goal is to raise around 800 dollars as fast as possible.

The easiest way to contribute would be to go to donate whatever you can using the 'donate' button! And send this to everyone you know! If you are interested in helping raise money that would be amazing! If you work in a place that allows donation jars, I would be glad to bring one in.

Thanks so much and check for updates!

overdue post!

Hi everyone, maybe I'm bad at blogging but I wanted to write a quick update. Phoebe and Charlie were both adopted into the same family! Kate and Andy are two wonderful people that wanted a new dog, but ended up with two :) Andy actually works at an art gallery downtown that allows dogs, so I can even visit them as they grow up. I am so glad that they are able to live together.



As for other things, March was my month off. Working non-stop plus trying to rescue animals can get really overwhelming, so I needed a mental break. Things are financially hard right now, but this week I am going to ... shelter-shop I guess, in a way. Although, Solo Hostel's funds are dwindling. We do have enough money for one or two dogs though.

There is a shelter in Elizabethtown, NC that is in need of adoptive or foster parents!! They are extremely full. If you know anyone who can make the drive or who lives in the area, please tell them about it. The link to their website is:

http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=NC464&preview=1

I need to acquire a car very soon because a car is really what makes all of this possible, and mine is in California.

On Tuesday I will be going to Henderson County Animal Shelter or possibly Bladen County (the one that is full). I will paste the link to the Henderson County Animal Shelter. If you are interested in any dogs or cats, let me know before I go!

http://hendersoncountync.animalshelternet.com/

Also, now would be an amazing time to donate! I will post more pictures and information about the new rescues this week!

Charlie and Phoebe 1/28/10

Charlie and Phoebe are two three month old puppies rescued from Columbus County Animal Shelter yesterday by Erik and me. Wow, what a trip that was! I saw a post on craigslist from the shelter asking for anyone's help since they have to euthanize a lot of animals tomorrow morning. The minute I read it, the idea of going was stuck in my head and I knew I had to go. My new friend Erik likes adventures as well, so he volunteered to drive the 6 and a half hours there and back! We saw the opportunity to get out of Asheville and make a beautiful day trip all for a good cause!

When we left we knew we weren't going to make it to the shelter in time, so we talked to an awesome volunteer Julie, and she had pulled a lot of dogs before hand. When we got there she gave us these two guys, a shepherd mix (male) and a pitbull/lab mix (female)?

I am really surprised at how awesome these puppies are! It's almost easier having two because they play with eachother, they sleep together, and they keep eachother company. I haven't had anything torn up yet either! Charlie is a total family man! He is down for anything- not to mention very clumsy and adorable! Phoebe longs for that individual to bond with. She studies everyone as if she's looking for something in them. Her sweetness seems to win people over. Both are the best of friends.

They have not had their shots yet, so they won't be available for adoption until next week. Their Parvo shot is Saturday. From then you wait a week to make sure they recover and do not have Parvo.

They will be for adoption as a pair. If you would like to meet them you can contact me at 415.578.8821.

Phoebe

Charlie

so many things.

I'm sorry to be so behind on the updates. Life is getting busier and busier and I am just one person. The feral cat project has been moving along, but I did not trap them yet due to a few things.

Last week I got the cats on a feeding schedule so that they knew what time I would come to feed them every day. The plan was to trap them last Monday, but I came to the conclusion that I needed to better prepare myself financially first. As you know, the spay and neuter is discounted, but this still means 30-50 dollars for each cat. And we could end up catching up to 15?? I did the math and decided to wait until next month.

IN THE MEANTIME!! I have been planning the Fourth Annual Heartbreaker's Ball! This is a tea party that I hold at my house every year on Valentine's Day. This year it will be in Asheville and it is a benefit for Solo Hostel! Everyone has been so open to this and I can't wait for it to happen. Donations will be accepted and at that point I hope to have a lot more money to contribute to fixing the cats. I have been buying a lot of decorations! The walls are going to be covered in fabrics and tin foil and lights! The space will be small and packed, but comfortable and glowing. I look forward to the dancing and games.

Another exciting piece of news is that I went to the court house the other day and recorded Solo Hostel Strays in the books! So now no one can claim this name. I also opened up a bank account so I don't have to keep my personal money and SH's money in the same account.

Thanks everyone for their donations. This is becoming such a fun project.

cheers.

snip or not to snip.

EVERYONE: I could use your help so much this month! I have a new project below that I will be paying for out of my own pocket, so if you have even ONE dollar to spare I would be forever grateful!! The "donate" button is on the top right of the page. Thank you so much!

For the past few months I have been feeding a colony of feral cats that live by a dumpster at an interesting mexican restaurant in west asheville. They have gotten comfortable with me there, but with this winter is so intense and it's becoming more difficult for them to survive. There used to be 20-25 cats, now there are around 10.

My goal all along was to have them all fixed. Unfortunately I can't find them homes because they are too feral and better left to live in the habitat they are used to. However, the great news is that I have hooked up with Friends2Ferals to help me spay and neuter them! Friends2Ferals is a project associated with the Asheville Humane Society to help trap and fix feral cats within 48 hours. The Humane Alliance will spay and neuter for a discounted price as well as get them up to date on all shots. Nancy from Freinds2Ferals has been nice enough to let me borrow her traps and start the process on Monday! With some help from my family, hopefully we will be able to move them safely to my house, and then to The Humane Alliance.

How interesting this will be! God I can only hope they will stop meowing after an hour or so. I will to update this daily over the weekend with pictures and more information.