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Welcome to our page! To help these precious animals get homes quickly, we have reduced all adoption fees!
Lucy Angel prays you will adopt just one more, before it is too late for that special cat or kitten. Back to topAdoption FeesA Helping Paw, Inc. wants to be sure our pets are going to great homes. They've been through so much, don't they deserve a safe and loving permanent home. We require a completed application, an adoption fee to help cover medical costs and a consultation with an adoption counselor. Please bring proof of home ownership or a letter from your landlord stating you are allowed to have a pet. Applications are usually approved within 2 days. Finding the right match is crucial. Pease don't be offended if we feel the pet you are considering isn't appropriate for you and or your lifestyle.***Cat CRISIS! How many more will be killed before people will help them? If you saw a kitten on the street, would you look the other way? This week alone we've rescued 9 kittens from the streets. And there are many, many more waiting to be saved. Without homes or money, we CAN'T help them. The season is just starting, and already we've drained most of our funding. If you have the ability to donate anything at all, we'll take it! I know $10 or $20 doesn't sound like it will help much, but with so little income coming in, it can make the difference between life or death. Adoption Fees: (Includes spay/neuter, rabies, distemper, Fiv/Felv testing, worming, advantage) Dogs - $250 and up. Depending on breed and age. Cats - $89. Kittens - $109. - $129. Full bred and declawed varies. Small animals and birds - please check with shelter volunteers. Back to top Important Info About Your New Kitty - READ NOW Often times humans take cats for granted - forgetting how unique their systems are. Cats are prey animals. Understanding this will go a long way at understanding cat behavior. Why does my cat insist on sleeping on the refrigerator? Why do cats naturally cover their feces? Why do cats hide illnesses? This is all related to being a prey animal. The myth that cats have nine lives seems to have mislead humans into thinking cats are very hardy creatures. A well-adjusted healthy cat surely can be a hardy creature, but what we need to focus on is getting the cat to that point. Most importantly, your new arrival. Fish keepers know all too well that when adding a new fish to their tank they must slowly acclimate or it will quickly die of ‘stress’. For some reason, cat owners think they can just take a new kitty home and simply let it out of the carrier and everything will be find and dandy. This is not a great start for any new kitty. Put yourself in the cat’s ‘paws’ for a moment, how would you feel suddenly being dumped in a foreign land - you don’t know your way around and you can’t communicate with the habitants. New sites, sounds and smells can be extremely overwhelming, and most stressful to any kitty. Cats, as prey animals, must feel safe before exploring. They need a safety zone. A small area where they can adjust to the new surroundings on their terms, providing them a sense of security. A bathroom or other small room does the trick. Allow this to be their zone for three days or more as needed. Upper respiratory infections are a frequent result of cats who have become stressed. I can’t possibly tell you how many calls we get from people stating their new arrival has an upper respiratory infection. Though these infections can be very common is shelter cats, most often it is brought on by stress related to environmental changes. Which explains why a shelter cat can be symptom free for months at the shelter, but within a week of being rehomed the cat gets symptoms. How many times have I heard, but the cat isn’t stressed, he’s acting perfectly normal. Any change in a cat’s environment can cause stress. Unlike dogs, their systems are extremely sensitive. The biggest mistake you can make is to not take acclimation of a new cat seriously, especially if there are other pets already living in the home. The slower you acclimate the cat to its new environment, the better the cat will adjust and the greater you will reduce the chances of the cat developing upper respiratory infections. A slow acclimation over the period of a minimum of two weeks is best. Kittens generally acclimate more quickly. Cats surrendered to shelters don’t get the benefit of a slow acclimation. Sadly, for many this leads to their deaths. It is not uncommon for a cat to come into a shelter hissing, spitting and lashing out. This behavior can last for several days to a week. Deemed unadoptable, these cats are destroyed. On average, approximately 25% of the cats A Helping Paw receives react this way upon arrival. More than 75% of the cats hide in a corner of their cage for near a week. For cats showing a great deal of stress, we will completely cover their cage to reduce environmental over stimulation. Because the cage is a small area and the cat can’t see outside the cage, it can adjust more quickly, calming the cat. The saddest situations we have to deal with are cats who have been given up as seniors who have lived their entire lives in one home. Often times these cats do extremely poorly, shutting down (not eating or drinking) for several days. Though we express our concerns to the owners of these cats, they simply don’t seem to care that changing the cat’s home at this stage in life could possibly kill it. Please never underestimate the sensitivity of your cat. By nature the cat needs to appear ‘strong’. Any signs of weakness could be their death. Cats will rarely appear ‘sick’ until it is too late. Because cats behave this way, it is your job to pay close attention to any subtle changes in behavior. Any change at all should be brought to the attention of your vet. Vets are trained to pick up on these slight changes and diagnose many health issues prior to them becoming a serious issue. Better to treat any medical issue early on than to put it off and face the high cost of care should the condition exculpate or worse, be too late for treatment.Some Answers to Common QuestionsQ: If you want to get more pets adopted, why don't you give them away free or cheap?A: First, if you can't afford an adoption fee, how will you be able to afford even basic medical care, never mind emergency medical care. We expect are adoptive homes to make a commitment to their pets and offer the same good quality care they received here at the rescue center. Second, without the funds from our adoptions, we would simply would have no funds to care for other pets in need. Q: Yeah, but don't you make money on the pets you adopt out? A: Please consider our average monthly expenses are over $2,000 and this doesn't even include rent : In addition, please consider on average each pet we take in costs us an average of $157.00 in medical costs. The cost would be much higher but we have several wonderful vets who offer our pets discounted services. Q: But I can get medical care done cheaper at my vet. A: Please tell us where!!!! Each pet we adopt out is spayed/neutered, wormed, treated for fleas, rabies vaccinated, received between 1-3 distemper vaccines, and felv/fiv combo tested, another words, they've had the works. If you had to do this all by yourself, you would be looking at anywhere from $275.00 to $400. for a cat. Q: Don't you get money from the state. A: Don't we wish, gosh I would have a lot more time on my hands and my teeth wouldn't be ground down to the bone. Unlike organizations who are provided for by town contracts or the state, we rely completely on generous, people who care enough and want to truly make a difference to help us continue the great work we do. Sometimes we are lucky if we take in $200. per month. Try paying the above bills on that! Q: I notice that most of your cats aren't caged, why is that? A: We believe that if at all possible our residents should enjoy a comfortable stay with us while they await new homes. Kitties kept in cages too long, pretty much go crazy and the stress reduces their immunity. We also find that a cage-free environment allows for better interaction between the pet and the prospective adoptive family. It's is hard to judge a pet's personality if it's stuck in a cage. Finding the right match between pet and new family is crucial for a long lasting relationship. Q: Do you offer a health guarantee? A: Let me ask you, did the hospital offer your mom a health guarantee when you where born. Of course not. The only reason pet stores offer health guarantees is to encourage people to buy from them. Should you return a pet to a pet shop, chances are that pet will be destroyed. We are a 'rescue 'organization, unlike many animal shelters who deal in 'prime' pets, a majority of our pets were rescued from the streets, meaning we don't have a back ground to go on. Each pet is vet checked prior to adoption. Should a pet have a known medical problem we will make you aware of it. Some people think that animal shelters hide medical problems just to get a pet adopted, that may ring true for an extremely rare organization who doesn't have their heart in it, but for 99% of shelters, lying to an adoptive home would only put the pet in jeopardy. Obviously you do assume some risks when adopting from a shelter, versus buying from a breeder, but when you consider there are some really horrible breeders who don't breed for health or temperament, I would say this pretty much equals things out. My mom purchased an 8 wk old German Shepherd from a breeder in NH, the dog died 1 week later from Parvo. My oldest living cat recently died at a ripe old age of 18, she was a sickly underweight stray full of worms. Back to top |
News!Come by and say "Hello", meet some of our available cats/kittens and learn more about us. Can't make it Saturday? That's OK, our rescue center is open Tues-Sat 10-5 and Wed evenings till 7PM. For store directions, please call the shelter 508-759-2887. We are also looking for meet & greet volunteers to help on Saturdays or Sundays.
 We can't save anymore lives until we find homes for all the wonderful pets we've already saved! Please adopt just one more. Adopt a friend today and save a life! Our main goal at A Helping Paw is to rescue precious pets who have been living difficult lives on the streets. So many of these pets face death everyday. Many times at the hands of humans ,who simply don't care. All they need is a second chance. Many of these cats and kittens don't know what it means to be loved and tend to shy away from humans initially. Our volunteers put a great deal of time into rehabilitating them so they can find safe loving homes. Many socialize easily once they feel safe and secure, while others take a while longer and of course there are always the few who will remain a little shy. But each and every one deserves to live. It is crucial to get these pets into new homes ASAP! Please won't you open your home to one of these special kitties in need - every single day you will see the difference you have made in their lives by offering them love and security. We are looking for adult homes with truly special caring people who don't mind putting an extra effort into a relationship. Special adoption discounts apply! Please contact us for more information. The faster we can find them homes, the faster we can save the life of another cat or kitten living on the streets VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!Come help us GROW! It feels so great knowing that the gift of your time helps save so many precious animals. Cleaners - groomers - shelter assistants, public relations - fundraising coordinator - donation can distribution - and more!Feline Fantasy Sanctuary Saves Lives!Currently we have over 60 resident pets staying at our sanctuary. If you can't adopt, please consider sponsoring one of our special pets. Our next addtion to the sanctuary is the desperately needed play yard. We need to raise $4,000, so the pets can enjoy the great outdoors safely and secure. Click here to learn more about our sanctuary: ahelpingpaw.org/Offer.html. For only $25 per month you can sponsor a sanctuary kitty!Trappers Needed!There are so many homeless cats and precious kittens living on our streets, with your help we can rescue them and place them in proper homes. We need people willing to spare just a few hours a week to help us trap. Please contact us for more information.We are currently in the process of trying to rescue kitties from the streets. Many are young kittens and we would like to get them before the weather gets much colder as we fear they may not survive. So far we have taken in 60 but don't have enough funds to continue at this time. Estimated cost per kitty for medical treatment etc is $90. If you would like to sponsor one of these special kitties and help get them off the streets please let us know. Are you that X-tra special person who can offer just a little addtional love and care to one of our X-Tra special pets?who have either mild behavior or medical issues? These pets don't do well at our care center so in order to get them homes ASAP, we offer discounts towards their adoption. Who We AreA Helping Paw is a NEVER-KILL, 501 (c) (3), nonprofit organization that is totally dedicated to ending the killing of innocent pets through increased adoptions and spay/neuter. Unlike many shelters who only take in full bred or highly adoptable pets, we are a TRUE rescue shelter, which means we spend countless hours removing homeless pets from the streets and caring for those that aren't 'perfect'. Many of the pets we care for would be euthanized in tradtional shelters. Our goal isn't to place as many pets as we can, it's to place as many as we can into great homes. Every pet we take in gets a second chance at life, and becomes part of our family forever. ng a long time for a home.Back to topContact Us
3166 Cranberry Hwy. East Wareham, MA 508-759-2887 Email: pets101z@aol.com Website: www.ahelpingpaw.org Shelter Hours: Tues - Sat 10-5, Wed 12-7. Please come see our pets in our new facility. We offer a comfortable, home-like setting where you can interact with our pets in a cage-free area. We still have a lot of work to do, so if you can spare a few hours a week, we desperately need your help. Please ask about our discounted adoption fees for our 'special' pets, who have been waiting a long time for a home. Back to top |
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