Petfinder Blog

Jan. 12, 2011--Today is our last day here in Chester, SC, for the Animal Lifeline outreach trip. We are definitely sad to be leaving, but are very happy that we were able to be part of such an amazing project. Although the student volunteers have gotten a lot accomplished so far, today will be a long day for them, seeing that it's their last day of work, and there is still a lot of work to be done and only one day left to do it.

Chester County Animal Control now looks like a completely different shelter compared to how it looked when first got here on Sunday. There are now rooftops
over the outdoor kennels, which will drastically improve the lives of the dogs who stay in them, especially since there is a lot of rain and a decent amount of snow here.

Another huge accomplishment completed by the student volunteers is the new cat house. It is now completely constructed and all that's left to do is paint it. Previously, the cats were placed in small enclosures that didn't give them room to do much of anything, but with this new cat house, which is about the size of a large storage shed only taller, the cats will have room to play, jump and do the things that cats love to do. This will dramatically reduce the amount of stress on the cats, which will make them much more adoptable.

The Gulf oil spill had an impact on more than just the wildlife along the Gulf Coast -- it also affected the pets and shelters and rescue groups in Gulf Coast communities.

The Petfinder.com Foundation is giving $150,000 to shelters affected by the spill and groups who transported pets from those shelters and took them into their own care. (Learn more about the Gulf coast oil spill grants here.)

Nine shelters and rescue groups in Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana received grants to cover general operating costs, including St. Bernard Parish Animal Control Center in Violet, LA, from which we recently received a heartwarming follow-up story about a dog named Lucky.

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently helped 80 shelters and rescue groups across the country by awarding $143,000 for FVRCP vaccinations.

FVRCP vaccinations help protect cats against three contagious diseases: feline viral rhinotracheitis (a severe and highly contagious upper respiratory infection caused by a feline herpes virus), calicivirus (which can cause pneumonia) and panleukopenia (also called feline distemper).

Distemper can be a big problem if it spreads throughout a shelter. Jenny Colucci, a volunteer with grant recipient Stamford Animal Care & Control in Connecticut, tells us, "A few years ago, our shelter experienced a devastating outbreak of distemper among our cat population. We lost over 20 precious cats and kittens to the disease. The only surviving cats were those that we knew had been vaccinated. This grant will help us reduce the chances that this will ever occur in our shelter again and keep our cats safe from disease."

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently awarded Indiana's Newton County Animal Control a $5,000 disaster grant to help it recover from an electrical fire.

The fire started in a fuse box and then spread throughout the shelter. Fortunately, the staff smelled the smoke from their offices and called the fire department, who extinguished the fire. The staff and firefighters were able to get all the animals safely out of the shelter. The pets are now temporarily housed in the shelter's small office in a separate building.

Here at the Petfinder.com Foundation we just awarded two disaster grants to help two rescues rebuild and recover from natural disasters.

One grant went to the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley in Howes Cave, NY, which recently suffered major wind damage to its roof. Subsequent rains caused flooding damage inside the shelter, and staffers are still using buckets to catch the water. The water is causing ongoing damage to the building as well as harming the pets who are still living inside. The shelter does not have insurance that will cover this damage.

On Thursday, May 27, Animal Lifeline's staff and volunteers left West Virginia to head back to Pennsylvania. But their work will have an impact for a long time to come. Just look at this great video about the trip to see how much this small group accomplished.

On Friday, Devon set off on a trip to rehab West Virginia shelters alongside 27 college-student volunteers. The trip was organized by Animal Lifeline and funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation and Animal Planet's R.O.A.R. Here's Devon's latest update from the field. Plus -- Denise Bash and Jen Daley of Animal Lifeline are writing in to answer your questions about pet rescue and transport all week! Write your questions in the comments section below.

It's hard to believe I have only been in West Virginia for four days. Every day we have worked at least a full 12 hours. If the sun didn't go down every night I have a feeling we would be able to work a few more, but with such a large task at hand, the long days are well worth the sacrifice. Within the last few days we have gotten an incredible amount of work accomplished.

Sunday we all split into teams and I was able to be part of the shelter educational outreach program. Not only did I help prepare and run the program, I was also able to listen to the presenters and learn about the realities of animal sheltering. Among the presenters there were a behaviorist, a veterinarian, a vet tech, and an adoption and transportation specialist.

On Friday, Devon set off on a trip to rehab West Virginia shelters alongside 27 college-student volunteers. The trip was organized by Animal Lifeline and funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation and Animal Planet's R.O.A.R. Here's Devon's latest update from the field. Plus -- Denise Bash and Jen Daley of Animal Lifeline are writing in to answer your questions about pet rescue and transport all week! Write your questions in the comments section below.

The outreach project here in West Virginia is unlike anything I have ever been part of. Within my first hour of being here I had already helped save a life by being part of a rescue for a dog we found wandering along the side of the road. We took the dog, whom we had named "Cammy," to the holding facility of the Clay County Animal Control, which was the first site that I had visited.

As the program assistant for the Petfinder.com Foundation, I get to experience many events for animal welfare. One of my most exciting events will be starting today: This morning I will be flying into Charleston, WV, to be part of an outreach program with Animal Lifeline.