Emily's Animal Rescue Journey

What a Weekend!

2011-10-01T22:21:00.005-05:00

What an amazing weekend in Wish Upon a Paw world! On Friday, Natalie and I saved 6 more kittens that were rescued by The Lost Companion and we did intake on them to make sure they were all healthy and took them into foster care; then Saturday we had an awesome Adoptober! Adoptathon and supply drive event at Pet Supplies Plus in Appleton and had lots of visitors and one adorable kitten Daisy find her forever home; then Saturday late afternoon we rescued 5 more kittens from The Lost Companion and took them into foster care - WOW! 11 more kittens rescued and 1 more kitten adopted - life is good!

Deb and me in Fremont where we picked up the first round of kittens from her on Friday evening...

Isabella, a precious little dilute tortie we rescued on Friday night!

Natalie held Isabella on the way home - and Isa got frisky! She was all over and very entertaining - silly girl!

Natalie and Beckum on Saturday at Pet Supplies Plus - everybody fell in love with Beckum!!!

Wonderful volunteer Sara and precious Miss Izzy, an 8-year-old doggie we brought along from the Neenah Animal Shelter!

Miley gives Becki some lovin' - Miley is sooooooooooooo loving!!!

Gina with Callie, one of our precious baby kittens available for adoption - Callie loves to give sandpaper kisses and snuggle up to you close!

Izzy snugggling up on my lap - yes, I am in love with her - too bad my hubby is severely allergic to dogs, or she would be mine!

Me and Izzy - my new fave doggie ever!

Daisy is so lucky, she went to a wonderful family who will love her to pieces!

Beckum, a handsome 4-month-old boy from the Neenah Animal Shelter, may have found his forever home today!

Our young friend Aidan and Callie - new BFFs!

Another pic of Aidan and Callie bonding :)

Wolfie - an adorable longhair gray tabby we rescued tonight!

Turner - a precious longhair tabby/Maine Coon mix we rescued tonight!

Petco Adoptathon and Kissing Booth a Success!

2011-09-18T12:56:00.005-05:00

What a great day yesterday! Three Wish Upon a Paw kittens found their new families, and we raised more than $170 to help the homeless pets in our care! Cooper the Wonderdog was a big hit in his kissing booth and flirted with all the ladies and gentlemen who visited our booth! Thank you to Pam, Sara, Paula and Natalie for making this day absolutely beautiful!

Cooper the Wonderdog never tired of giving free kisses!

Who could resist this face?!

He was a natural for this job!

And yes, we painted his nails pink halfway through the event...he loved it!

Sara and Vinnie had a fun time hanging out!

Kaiya and Natalie gave Cooper a much-needed break from his long shift!

11 Kittens Rescued!

2011-09-05T13:37:00.006-05:00

Natalie and I rushed to help Deb Schulz of The Lost Companion Rescue in Wild Rose when she called us saying she had pulled 11 kittens from a sad situation. They were all sick and she didn't have anywhere to go with them as she currently has many of her own cats, fosters and ferals she already takes care of. We ventured out to Wild Rose the afternoon of the huge storm and made our way around huge downed trees and sagging power lines to her little farmette in Waushara County to help.

Despite having no power and the oppressive heat, we managed to combo test all the kittens and treat them all with clavamox for their upper respiratory, and clean their ears and eyes...the first step to getting these babies healthy!

Here's Deb and me at the end of the long day...

The babies were a little unsure on the way to their Wish Upon a Paw foster home...

Most of them had goopey eyes and some couldn't even open them, poor babies...

By the end of the night when everybody was cleaned up and medicated and safe in their Wish foster home they were all pooped out...

By the next day everybody was settled in and feeling much better...

They have quickly adjusted to being in a quiet, safe, loving foster home...

After they are nursed back to health, spayed and neutered, these babies will be available for adoption through Wish Upon a Paw! Stay tuned to www.wishuponapaw.org for their petfinder listings once they are ready!

Testing testing 123...

2011-09-01T11:12:00.001-05:00

Hi all my blog fans, sorry I have taken some time off but I will be back soon posting on this blog...stay tuned!

Saving Cats Across Wisconsin!

2011-02-06T19:46:00.002-06:00

This weekend we saved homeless cats and kittens from both The Lost Companion Rescue of Wild Rose and Catkins Rescue of Fifield Wisconsin! OARS typically takes in our cats from other rescues and shelters when they are overfull. We are so happy to be able to have the resources and support to help some of the rescues who are in more rural areas or don't have the resources to keep some of these homeless kitties in their care. One of the kitties we rescued was in care for four years!

Emily (me!) from OARS and Laura from Catkins, with donations we were able to share with them - we took in Precious, who had been with them 4 years since kittenhood, and two shy kittens, Mia and Tio

Natalie from OARS and Melissa from The Lost Companion, with Mingo, an FIV positive kitty we took in from them who had been living outside for a long time

Tio, a little kitten from Catkins - a shy little boy who has a loving, playful side

Mia, Tio's sister - also very shy but getting lots of lovin' in an OARS foster home!

Handsome Huck gets even HANDSOMER!

2011-01-28T16:40:00.004-06:00

One of our OARS foster kitties, Huckleberry, got a grooming today, donated by Jen at the Doggy Day Spa! He was such a GOOD BOY for the whole royal treatment...in fact, Jen said he was the EASIEST cat to groom she has EVER had! What a good boy, and now he feels so much better since he knows he is LOOKIN GOOD! :)

First came the bath...he wasn't real fond of that but Denise used her gentle touch to keep him calm

Drying time...he was so patient with us..

More drying...

And more drying...

Combing...

More combing...

All done! His fur is now silky, gorgeous and poofy!

Now he's back in foster care, lookin' fine and ready for his forever home!

Again, thank you Jen at Doggy Day Spa for donating this royal treatment to make our handsome Huck even handsomer! Visit them at 1345 S. Commercial St or www.doggydayspa.biz.

OARS Celebrates our 1000th Adoption!

2010-12-17T23:21:00.004-06:00

We are truly blessed this holiday season to celebrate a true HOLIDAY MIRACLE! Our sweet, beautiful girl, Miracle, has been adopted, and it was our 1,000th adoption!

Our sweet Miracle came to us months ago and has been in loving foster care homes since. She is a loving soul, despite having a rough start to life. She was found malnourished, and her tail was improperly docked. A wonderful person took her in, brought her to a vet for repair on her tail, and gave her a second chance at life. Miracle truly IS a miracle, and we are blessed that her foster home took such wonderful care of her and that a loving new forever family found her and brought her into their lives!

Here are snapshots from our beautiful, magical 1,000th adoption!

Kitty Perry: Proof that semi-feral kittens can be tamed!

2010-12-12T15:09:00.002-06:00

Kitty Perry came to OARS as a wild little semi-feral kitten...she ran from us, hid and could barely be touched. After weeks of holding her, petting her, playing with her and all-around giving her as much love as possible, she is now a happy, healthy, friendly little lovebug! This sweetheart is now available for adoption and ready for her forever home. Take a look at this sweet girl now!

Beautiful Kitty Perry

Sweet, loving little tortoiseshell

She loves attention now!

She loves to be petted and have her tummy rubbed

Kitty Perry loves other kitties like her foster brother Timone

OARS gets in the holiday spirit!

2010-12-05T15:27:00.006-06:00

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Orphan Animal Rescue Holiday Open House with Santa on Saturday! We are so thankful for those of you who brought much-needed donations for the homeless pets in our care. We are 100% donation-supported and could not do this without your support! Take a look at how our volunteers and our homeless pets are getting into the holiday spirit!

Bailey, Macy and their humans had a great time with Santa!

Popka snuggles up in his adoption room

Our lobby was beautifully decorated...thank you Paula!

Another view of the beautiful lobby

Luna and Sophie framed by some of the decorations our wonderful volunteer Paula put up

A little visitor got a kick out of sitting on Santa's lap :)

Sarah, Santa's favorite little helper!

Sarah and Santa dancing!

Santa has a gentle touch with doggies...

Stanley and Delila were very good this year!

Some of our volunteers who worked hard during the open house

Frosty helped organize the Santa hats and reindeer antlers...such a good helper

Dillenger says, "Santa went that way!"

Misty was snug in her bed

Beautiful Ava gazes at us with her soulful eyes, saying, thank you for supporting OARS so I could be saved...

Shawn with baby Einstein

Two of our younger visitors were happy to meet Santa!

Brooke and me go to tell Santa how we've been good this year! :)

Reckless says, thank you for donating cat food so I no longer have to go hungry!

The kitties all snuggled up after a long day of playing...Misty and Chevron together and Winnie and Einstein together

...and Winnie says, to all a good night.

OARS Holiday Video 2010

2010-11-17T21:36:00.003-06:00

Check out this awesome video that shows why all we OARS volunteers do what we do! :)

Watch the OARS video here or copy and paste this link:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=c9a1d28406fc5300421467&skin_id=1703&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Timone and Moo get a photoshoot!

2010-11-05T23:51:00.004-05:00

Thank you Alex Nelson Photography for donating your time and talents to take pictures of Timone and Moo, two OARS adoptable kittens!

OARS 2nd Birthday Pawty a Blast!

2010-09-25T23:27:00.007-05:00

Thank you to everyone who attended our OARS 2nd Birthday Pawty and Volunteer Appreciation Event! We had a great turnout and are forever grateful for the wonderful support our community has shown us, to help us help homeless pets!

OUR LIFESAVERS:

Our group of founders/core volunteers

Suzy and Christina M

Shawn Murphy H

Sharon W

Peter S and Bryce H

Nicole and Nate B

Natalie N

Mallory K

Linda J

The amazing Krueger Family

Alex N, Tim B and Steve K

Sara W, Jenny S and Sarah R

Gail M, Dennis A and Carol L

Donna M

Donna G

Our wonderful dog foster care homes

Our wonderful dog AND cat foster care homes

Our amazing Center cleaning team

Our awesome cat foster care homes

Casey and Marian B

Carrie and Clint H

Carole S

Bob B

Amy and Steve K

Awww, what a cute cake!

OARS Hits our 800th Adoption!

2010-09-13T00:05:00.002-05:00

HOORAY! Yesterday at the OARS Adoption Center, a magical thing happened...we hit our 800th adoption! What a wonderful thing to happen, right before we celebrate our 2nd birthday this coming Saturday at our volunteer appreciation event and birthday pawty! Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters who worked so hard to make this happen! Here are the adoptions that led up to it...

This wonderful family adopted our sweet kittens, Cassanova and Chloe!

Peanut, a long-time volunteer favorite, with his new loving family!

Forrest Gump with his new mama...our 800th adoption!

Two babies saved by surrogate mama yesterday!

2010-08-30T23:38:00.004-05:00

What a magical thing to witness - we had two, two-week-old orphaned baby kittens who were in desperate need of a surrogate mama, and amazingly, one of our volunteers found a mama and a solo baby...we put them together, and mama took the two newbies immediately and started licking them and letting them nurse! Mama Sweetheart is saving their lives! Her own little baby, Teddybear, is an absolutely irresistible poofball who stole all our hearts!

Fun at the OARS Brat Fry!

2010-08-09T23:02:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the VW Bug Club for letting us provide brats, burgers and veggie burgers to their hungry attendees at their Classic Car Show on Saturday! Lots of OARS volunteers turned out to offer help, showcase adoptable dogs and help sell raffle tickets! A good time was had by all!

Liz and Carol helped serve up the food with a smile!

Jaime gets some lovin' from Chance!

Adoptable OARS dog Max met many new friends and hammed it up for the camera!

Denise and Corey helped sell raffle tickets while Shawn helped show off Max!

Sharon and grillmaster Bryce made sure everyone had a delicious meal!

OARS Brat Fry & Supply Drive a Success!

2010-08-02T00:34:00.005-05:00

Thank you to everyone who came out and volunteered or supported us at the brat fry and kitten supply drive on this beautiful Sunday! We raised more than $400 at the brat fry, the dogs had a blast, and the company was wonderful! So much fun!

We had lots of wonderful people come out to support OARS!

Some of our visitors met adoptable dogs like Hannah, who snuggled up to this couple!

Miracle loved having her tummy rubbed!

Millie was a total ham for the camera, she is so photogenic!

Kiwi and Muffin loved the extra attention they got today!

Precious little Kenzie came and met lots of people and played in the dog run!

Bridgett and Miracle played and played and played together!

Some of our younger volunteers had a blast with the pups...

Strawberry Shortcake and her sister Sweetie Pie snuggle up together - look, they form a heart!

O'Malley says, I enjoyed extra attention today too!

Smores, Daisy and Peaches are pooped out after the long day of meeting people!

Marvin was totally pooped out too after a long day of being handsome and meeting people :)

12 Kittens Rescued Tonight!

2010-07-16T00:34:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful kitten rescue night! 12 kittens came into the safe harbor of OARS this evening. 9 from another rescue, Lost Companion of Waupaca, and 3 from the bushes outside a large business, where the employees rescued the kittens and called on us to help in the emergency situation. We are so happy to be able to help these orphaned babies!

Shawn, our wonderful vet tech volunteer, and Denise, our wonderful willing-to-do-anything volunteer, helped us combo test all the newbies!

The 3 teeny tiny babies...

The litter of 4...

The litter of 5...

Fox Valley Cat Clinic Open House/Brat Fry a Success!

2010-07-10T23:52:00.004-05:00

Thank you to everyone who came by to tour the new FVCC facility, enjoy a brat and stop by the OARS booth! Special thanks to Steve, Amy and Jaime, who helped set up the tent; Sara W and Sarah R who wo-manned the booth; Michael and Sara G who were stellar grillmasters; Lisa, Sara A, Marian and Carolyn who fulfilled the food orders; Denise and Jodi who helped with the adoptable kitties, and Russ who helped with everything! It was a great team effort for a great cause, orphan animals!

Fox Valley Cat Clinic

Their wonderful new facility in Menasha

Lots of visitors!

Sara W and Sarah R, retail goddesses!

Sara and Russ working their booth magic

Sara cools grillmaster Michael off in the heat!

Carolyn and Marian working the booth!

Brat Fry and Cat Tree Sale a Success!

2010-06-28T23:26:00.004-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to volunteer and support the homeless pets of OARS this Sunday. Humans and pet friends alike had a wonderful time!

Brat fry!

Brat fry!

Roo the adoptable bunny gets lovin' from Donna and Sarah!

Enjoying a fab lunch cooked up by Tim B!

Lisa and Sarah cuddle with Toby, who they fostered!

Sarah and Hannah prepared a poem for Steele, and adoptable OARS kitty!

They also prepared a poem for Cassie, our sassy girl! :)

Tom spends some quality fun time with Houdini

Purple Paw Parade Recap - Awesome Day!

2010-06-01T20:08:00.005-05:00

Thank you again to all the amazing support you all showed OARS and the homeless animals in our care - we raised nearly $8,000 at this phenomenal event! Way beyond our expectations! ALL this money will go directly to provide veterinary care and supplies for the homeless pets. Thank you again to everyone who volunteered and supported us on this beautiful day in May!

The walk begins...

Our wonderful supporters and their four-legged friends walked 2 miles for the homeless pets of OARS!

We were touched by the number of people who came and showed their support

The doggie's shirt says "Who Rescued Who?" So cool!

We even had one participant show up with pledges and he walked the entire way - with a walker! So awesome!

Another rescue dog who attended the event :)

The paw print/painting booth was a favorite!

Some of our wonderful volunteers serving the food

We had great booth sponsors and fun games for the kids

All in all, a beautiful day for a wonderful cause :)

37 homeless pets spayed and neutered this week!

2010-05-20T23:24:00.004-05:00

Thanks to the wonderful services of the Spay Me Clinic, which is run by Shelter from the Storm rescue out of Madison, 37 OARS pets were spayed and neutered this week! This included 34 kitties and 3 dogs. These babies won't be making more babies!

Dog and two teeny tiny baby kittens rescued today!

2010-05-16T00:25:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who supported me today in my dog rescue of Sunday the cattledog and the two itty bitty one-week-old babies! Sunday is doing great in her foster home and Bennett and Smith, the babies, are doing well with their new surrogate mama, thanks to a very caring OARS foster volunteer!

Sunday with her new foster mama in Neenah!

Sweet Sunday on her ride from Madison to Neenah

Sunday along with the other 40+ doggies in the van!

Teeny tiny babies!

Bennett and Smith, the one-week-old babies!

Pup Rescue!

2010-05-09T15:46:00.004-05:00

Thank you to our amazing volunteers who helped transport, do intake exams and treatments, and are fostering these wonderful pups, who we rescued yesterday from an overcrowded shelter. They are all so loving...they now have a new chance at life and finding loving new forever families...a beautiful thing.

Buck, a super-loving little flirt who loves everyone he meets! I love that he has his paw by the Orphan Animal Rescue logo...he says, this is who rescued me!

Baby Abby...sweet tiny girl :)

Trixie gives Linda a thankful hug...she was a great co-pilot on the drive to OARS...

Sweet, shy little Penny...so happy to no longer have to live outside all the time...

Penny gives Amy a thank you kiss!

Oh little Hudson...talk about puppy dog eyes...

Loving, beautiful girl Hazel...so happy to finally be on her way to a new life after being at a shelter for more than a year...and now on her road to recovery...

Sweet Caramel, Penny and Buck's sister...so happy to be with a wonderful OARS foster home now!

What a Week in OARS World!

2010-05-02T22:56:00.006-05:00

Wow - just wow. In one short week, we saved homeless kitties from two overcrowded shelters, kittens from the perils of being outside alone, solidified a new hosting partner, helped our homeless dogs find their new forever homes and so much more. It's amazing what can happen when we all work together for a greater cause.

A mama with her babies, rescued from a window well by Lost Companion Rescue of Waupaca and taken in by OARS

One of the 4-day-old babies we rescued

Sweet, sweet Sydney from Lincoln County Humane Society - we already have an adoption application on him!

Baby Puff - a flame-point Siamese mix kitten we took in from LCHS!

Wonderful volunteer Linda with Findley at our PetSmart Adoption Event!

6 baby kittens rescued from outside

Sweet Honey, who came to us from Neenah Animal Shelter

Oh Findley, such a loverboy...such a good boy this weekend at the PetSmart event

The Dog House and Pet Center is now hosting adoptable kittens on-site for us! Cleo is with them now!

My foster boy Clooney is recovering well from his surgery!

One of the baby peanuts we rescued - Little Heathcliff!

Spring Adopt-a-Thon and Bray Fry a Success!

2010-04-12T23:40:00.006-05:00

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the OARS Adoption Center yesterday for our adopt-a-thon and brat fry! We are thrilled to say that three adult kitties went to their forever home, and another adult kitty was adopted, and possibly two of our dogs, because of this event!

Everyone enjoyed the brats, burgers and Boca veggie burgers (my personal favorite). Thanks to Nicole and Tim B, Nate and Sarah, Natalie, Russ, Louise and hubby all for running the show; Corey, Denise, Mallory and Jodi for running the adoption Center, and Linda and friend, Sharon W and Amy for cleaning, planting, taking up a fence, weeding and other chores; and everyone else who made this event successful! We couldn't do it without you!

Sarah with Booker T, the star of the day!

Booker loves all the ladies - here he is flirting with Mallory

Booker thinks he's a lap dog :)

The boys grillin'

Kitten and Puppy Baby Shower So Much Fun!

2010-04-03T23:09:00.004-05:00

Thank you to everyone who came by and showed their support and donated puppy and kitten baby items for the homeless pets of Orphan Animal Rescue today!

Our wonderful baby shower gifts, donated by so many caring people who stopped by!

Baby kittens

Sarah holds baby Will

Shawn and baby Will all snuggled up :)

Linus and Fuzzy Bear, brothers back together for some puppy play time!

Nate gets a sloppy puppy kiss from Fuzzy Bear!

Our sweet Mara :)

Linus is one pooped puppy!

Holly checks out the cat towers :)

Yuzzie, one of our OARS adoptable doggies!

My Foster Room...the land of unwanted misfits

2010-03-28T21:26:00.004-05:00

My sweet, silly OARS foster kitties are so sad it's almost comical...my orphans and oddballs...Luigi with his recovering wound on his head, Clooney with the mysterious wound on his side, Lilly with her hair loss on her legs, and Ted E Bear who's a walking skeleton and will barely eat or move. They are a lot of work, but thanks to Dr. Carrie Harness of American Animal Hospital, who even stopped by my house to visit and treat them, and the supporters of Orphan Animal Rescue - because of them I can get the treatments they need - they are all on the road to a speedy recovery!

Oh sweet, silly Clooney...the handsomest loverboy ever! This precious tabby on white baby has a mysterious wound on his side...that just doesn't want to heal. Dr. Harness gave him laser treatments and I'm giving him medication and we'll nurse him back to health...in the meantime, he has to wear a cone so he doesn't pick/lick at his wound. Poor guy! But boy, he gets around pretty well with it on, even plays like a maniac, he is such a spunky kitten!

My Luigi...my sweet boy, who I've had forever...first he breaks open his neuter sutures and needs to wear a cone and be medicated for two weeks. Now, he somehow managed to get a chemical wound on the back of his head and his tongue. I've been nursing him back to health with the help of Dr. Harness, who donated laser treatments, which sped his recovery by about a million times! He looks so much better and will soon be ready for adoption!

Here's Luigi's wound, almost healed...

Poor Lilly...this sweet 7-year-old girl's owner had to give her up due to losing his job...she has some kind of food allergy, combined with stress, that is causing her to lick the hair off her legs. She is with me for medication and intense lovin' to heal her emotional and physical ailments...she is such a lovebug here and seems very happy.

Ted E Bear....this poor, beautiful Maine Coon mix kitty's owner died...he then ended up at the Lincoln County Humane Society in Merrill, Wis...then he came to us...then he went to Corey for intense care and socialization...then he came to me. I still have to force feed this poor boy, who is about 4 pounds underweight (very severe) and will barely eat anything. He is depressed and misses his owner, poor guy. We will not give up on him, he deserves a chance and we'll do everything we can to save this sweet boy!

Dog and Kitty Rescue Tonight!

2010-03-18T23:35:00.005-05:00

Orphan Animal Rescue's wonderful volunteers rescued 6 dogs, 3 puppies, 2 cats and 5 teeny tiny kittens tonight from an overcrowded shelter. THANK YOU to all our amazing volunteers for making this lifesaving rescue happen!

Hersheys Kisses

Baby polydactyl kitten!

Baby polydactyl kitten #2!

Bridget, the puppies' mommy!

Baby Puppy Linus

Me with Charlie Brown - ha ha!

Donna, our mighty road warrior, with Andre

Bentley, who had been at the shelter for two years

Bentley with his new foster mama Jackie

Princess Helena

Royal Retreat Gets Royal Treatment!

2010-03-11T23:41:00.003-06:00

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers Sara and Nick for painting one of our adoption rooms tonight! The Royal Retreat officially looks a lot more "royal" and of course we'll be giving all kitty residents the royal treatment while they are there at the Adoption Center until they find their new forever homes! Check out the new look while it's under construction!

Watson the Persian is HILARIOUS!

2010-02-22T22:11:00.002-06:00

See Watson wag his tongue - literally, and in a good way! This new rescue kitty to Orphan Animal Rescue is one of the sweetest little guys we've met. He is a beautiful orange and white Persian. He is available for adoption through OARS!

Toby Does Awesome at PetSmart!

2010-02-12T20:59:00.004-06:00

What a BLAST! Toby was such a good boy for Jaime and me today at our PetSmart adoption event. We had so much fun playing with him, he was such a good sport. He met lots of people and even might get adopted as a result! We hope so!

Hi, I'm Toby.

I'm cute.

I love you I love you I love you!

They put a cowboy hat on me. I'm so embarassed.

Aunt Emily got me a stuffed dragon toy. I have no idea how his legs got chewed off! (note the stuffing in his mouth)

Those aren't the toy dragon's feet! I don't know what those are. I don't. I'm innocent.

A job well done. What do we do next? Do I get a new forever family?

Luigi making a speedy recovery

2010-02-03T20:12:00.003-06:00

In my 10 years of animal welfare volunteer work, I've never seen a kitty chew open his neuter sutures...but Luigi, one of our Orphan Animal Rescue foster cats, did, only hours after his surgery! Silly boy. So he is now in foster care with me and has to wear a cone for 7 days while he recovers. Poor little guy, he is so outgoing and affectionate, all he wants to do is love you and be petted. I will keep him safe and sound until he's healed and ready for adoption. It's a lot of work; he needs medications every day and has to be fed out of my hand or while I hold a bowl under his chin, but it's completely worth it. He is such a great cat and will be a wonderful companion for someone very soon.

Pins for Paws was a Blast!

2010-01-16T20:04:00.004-06:00

We had such a great time at our Orphan Animal Rescue fundraiser, Pins for Paws! Thanks to everyone who came out today to support homeless pets. What a great time!

The pirate team - GREAT costumes guys!

The Bowling for Bean team - awesome T-shirts guys!

Shawn's team - they even got sponsors, Bob Burns and Countryview Animal Hospital - thank you!

Shawn's team - they did awesome! :)

Dr. Spay and Dr. Neuter

My team - the High Rollers! We kinda sucked but had FUN! :)

Steph and Natalie!

Semi-Feral Kitty Shows LOVERBOY Side!

2010-01-14T20:59:00.003-06:00

Jasper, the semi-feral kitty I adopted last week, has completely come out of his shell now that he is home with me! Semi-feral kitties mean that they had little human contact during their first weeks of life when they were babies. They take a lot more patience to own, as they are super shy. However, they can be WONDERFUL companions, as evidenced by my sweet baby boy! Once you get a shy kitty home and make him feel safe and loved, he will reward you with tons of loving and affection!

Jasper making biscuits and purring

Another Dog Rescue

2010-01-03T13:09:00.003-06:00

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped us rescue 6 more dogs yesterday from another rescue. Special thanks to Linda Jenschke who went above and beyond to help, and fosters Nicole, Jaime and Debbie. Look at these cuties!

Kyle snuggles up for his trip to OARS

Awwww, Charlie!

Toby - what a cutie!

Stevie Girl - just LOOK at those beautiful eyes!

Linda with the two boxers - these two will need lots of lovin and extra TLC

Dog Rescue Tonight

2009-12-21T00:25:00.004-06:00

Thank you to all our volunteers who came together and helped us take in 9 dogs from another rescue tonight! These sweet little pups were all so happy to be rescued, and showered us with affection and snuggles upon arrival. We were so happy to rescue them!

Jackie, Corey and Louise help with doggie intake!

Louie, what a character!

Fred - what a big LOVERBOY! He loves tummy rubs!

Noelle and Holly both are identical, these precious little girls are sooooooo cute!

Miles is stylin!

Oh sweet, shy little Max

Poor Lefty lost part of his left ear somewhere along the way :(

Whadda Day! Adoption Center Open House Was Awesome...

2009-12-13T22:30:00.005-06:00

Thank you to everyone who came and visited us at the new Orphan Animal Rescue Adoption Center today for the Open House!

The lobby looked great!

Another view of the lobby

And another view of the lobby

And one more view of the lobby...can you tell I love the lobby?!

One of our younger visitors gets lovin' from Godiva!

The Donnas get cozy with kitties in one of the adoption rooms

Curly Sue loves Sarah!

Curly Sue gives a wink! She is so happy!

Curly Sue gots tons of attention....now she just needs her forever home!

Awwwww....Sweet Baby James!

Some of the wonderful volunteers and supporters :) Thank you to all who came to tour and visit!

More Progress at the Adoption Center!

2009-12-05T22:17:00.005-06:00

I can't believe how far we've come in such a short time...thank you to all the amazing volunteers who have given their blood, sweat and tears to make this a reality...here are some more in-progress pics...hope you can all make it to the open house next weekend, Sunday the 13th from 2-4pm at 810 S. Commercial St in Neenah...

Tuffy & Tiny's Tiny Tot Spot

The Office

Princess Laci's Lounge (our lobby)

Another view of Princess Laci's Lounge

Ed's Kitty Kondo

Mackenzie & Magoo's Royal Retreat

Another view of Mackenzie & Magoo's Royal Retreat

Puppy Mill Dogs Rescued!

2009-12-04T23:53:00.003-06:00

We rescued the sweetest little puppy mill dogs yesterday - Curly Sue the shih tzu, Honey the Maltese/Yorkie and Tootsie the Yorkie/Shih Tzu! These beautiful little sweetheart are shy but so full of love and playfulness, we can't wait to see them blossom in their foster homes.

Honey and Tootsie all snuggled up!

Corey helps with intake on the little girls!

Curly Sue got lots of lovin' from Linda!

Awwww.....sweet Tootsie!

Adoption Center..."in progress" pictures...

2009-11-15T22:10:00.006-06:00

We are making steady progress at the Adoption Center...thank you Jesse, Robin, Nicole, Tim, Sarah, Natalie, Tom, Carol, Russ, Donna G, Andi, Donna M, Sue, Kelsey, Laura and everyone else who made today a success!

Here is a sneak peak at some of our "in progress" pictures...can't wait to share the "after" shots!

Ed's Kitty Kondo...a kitty adoption room...we LOVE this bright purple!

Natalie and Amy working in the office...

The lobby...have quite a ways to go here...

The kitchen...I helped haul this dishwasher up the stairs...that was fun!

Mackenzie and Magoo's Royal Retreat...we definitely got royal treatment with the floors that were donated from Capital R Coatings, this is one of the rooms that got one!

Sargeant Buster's Barracks...another kitty adoption room :)

The basement storage room...Donna M helped work hard to organized this more today!

Magic in her Kingdom

2009-11-10T23:20:00.002-06:00

Oh, sweet, frail, fragile little Magic...our 18-year-old foster kitty just wants to be loved...

Adoption Center Making Progress!

2009-11-10T00:08:00.005-06:00

I'm so excited that our wonderful OARS volunteers are making such huge strides in getting our Adoption Center up and running! Thank you especially to Nicole, Natalie, Emily V, Em's Mom, Tim B, Nate, Sarah, Louise, Donna M, Donna G, Della, Jason, Corey, Russ, Jackie, Rob, Rob's sis, Andy, James, Tracie and her hubby, Lori S and all the other volunteers who stopped by and helped out already - we could not do this without you! You are all lifesavers!

A shot of our soon-to-be Kitten Nursery!

Painting a kitty adoption room a favorite OARS color - a brilliant purple!

Louise cleaned and organized the scary basement orange room - now we can use it for litter! Thanks so much Louise!

Louise ROCKED cleaning and organizing the basement!

Our sad little resident kitty Magic...found outside,18 years old, the skinniest kitty we've ever seen..we have a team of volunteers who is checking in on her and loving her up

Despite her being so fragile, she always wants to be by people and will crawl up on to you and knead and purr...for now, she's happy chillin in Magic's Kingdom :)

The lobby is slowly coming together too...

Another adoption room - getting the floors in soon...

The boys were hard at work painting and doing other boy stuff like fixing a pipe (we think!) and hauling furniture :)

Phoebe finds her forever home!

2009-10-31T14:18:00.005-05:00

One the the dogs from our last Arkansas run, Phoebe, went to her forever home yesterday! She is a chi-weenie and about the cutest thing I've ever seen. She is super sweet and loving and I adored her so. She is now with a wonderful family in Oshkosh!

They even bought her the cutest little pink outfit, she is so adorable!

It's a Puppy Paw-ty!

2009-10-25T16:59:00.002-05:00

Oh my DOG I love my foster puppies! They are nonstop entertainment.

How could you NOT love this mug! Howie is such a flirt.

Woo HOOOOOOO! PAWTY TIME!!!

LookOUT! It's a puppy pileup!

Fwwwwaaappp!! I ruff you!!!

And my favorite shot, because it sums up exactly how I've been feeling the last couple months... :)

Rescue Dogs in The 101 Dalmatians Musical at the PAC

2009-10-13T21:52:00.003-05:00

There are 15 rescue dogs in The 101 Dalmatians Musical, coming to the PAC in Appleton - I cannot wait to see it! One of the doggie "stars" of the production is Rascal, and here is a video about him: http://vimeo.com/6836283

Plus the people in the production perform on stilts! It sounds really cool. I'm looking forward to seeing it opening night. Plus, the Performing Arts Center is offering OARS supporters a 20% off ticket price for opening night, plus of this, 5% goes to OARS! Hooray! If you want to order tickets, please call 920-730-3760 and mention special code OARS so we get credit for it.

So cool, you have to check it out!

17 Dogs and Puppies Rescued!

2009-10-12T23:11:00.007-05:00

Thank you to all our amazing volunteers and supporters for helping OARS save the lives of these sweet dogs! We rescued 17 dogs and puppies from an overcrowded high-kill shelter outside of Memphis. Nicole and TIm drove down, Corey and Natalie did all the medical intake, Amy was our supply queen, and James, Jackie, Rob, Linda, Debbie, Judy, Jamie, Glen, Donna, Della, Laura and Chris helped with dog handling during intake (who am I forgetting?!!)

Wow, intake was really fun and very smooth, we're really getting the hang of it now. Thanks to all our foster volunteers for providing food, shelter, safety and love to these pups while they await their new forever homes!

Meet our sweet new doggies available for adoption!

Emma the terrier mix puppy

Princess Annabelle the chiweenie :)

Bianca the Lab mix

Schipperke puppies!

Zoey, sweet Schipperke mama of our 4 new babies!

Wolfie the shih tzu pup

Scooter the terrier/beagle mix

Mariah the Lab mix puppy

Kiki the Pomeranian

Ella the Corgi mix

Ed the dashund mix

Buster the Lab mix

Boomer the Lab mix

Puppies and Kitty Rescued Last Night!

2009-10-06T23:03:00.004-05:00

I ran up to Merrill, Wis. last night to rescue 3 dogs and a kitty from the Lincoln County Humane Society. Liz, their Director, is awesome, and is working very hard to keep their shelter no-kill. I took in Gumby, a border collie mix 8-week-old puppy, Archie, a tiny little chihuahua (who I am now in love with), Juneau, a GORGEOUS white husky puppy mix, and the most beautiful cat I've ever seen - Sir Lovesalot, a Lynx Point Siamese who is one of the most loving little guys I've ever met. It was a really quick, really fun road trip!

Archie says, let's go!

Gumby - what a cutie patootie!

Juneau - gorgeous, gentle little boy!

Sir Lovesalot, the most gorgeous loverboy ever!

Baby Kittens on Day 1

2009-10-05T23:22:00.003-05:00

Oh, these little baby sweethearts are irresistible! Thank you Donna M for taking care of mama and these 3 newborns!
Last week we had what we're affectionately calling a "Kittensplosion" - 13 baby kittens came into our rescue, all semi-emergency situations...so many kittens, so little time...

Lookit, part of his little umbilical cord is still on his tummy!

Baby calico - such unique coloring, almost all black but tiny white paws and orange on her nose!

Awww, baby tabby!

How to Give a Puppy a Bath

2009-10-04T23:24:00.004-05:00

Thank you Donna M for helping me give the foster baby puppies a bath on Friday! Donna is an awesome groomer, she owns Dapper Dog Grooming in Appleton, dapperdoggroom.com, and she donates all her services to help us keep our foster doggies CUTE! We bathed, soaped, dried and groomed the shih tzu baby puppies and it was so fun, they were such adorable floofballs when we were done!

Step 1: Washing - See the video!

Step 2: Soaping - See the video!

Step 3: Drying - See the video!

Step 4: Grooming - See the video!

Puppy Bathtime!

2009-10-01T23:23:00.005-05:00

Our first little baby shih tzu puppy, Panda Beans, went to her forever home tonight! So I had to give her a bath. She was such a good little girl! What a trooper. She was so beautiful and clean after her bath, what a cutie patootie!

Update on Pippi

2009-10-01T23:21:00.003-05:00

Our sweet Pippi Purrstocking, who I affectionately now call "Poofyhead," is doing well! She's recuperating from her ear surgery well. Poor thing also needed a tooth removed, has an ear infection in her other ear, and has a slight heart murmur. Oh Pippi! We'll do everything we can to save this loving little girl. Thanks to angels Emily V, Della S and Kathy B for sponsoring her surgery and saving her life!

SAVE PIPPI!

2009-09-27T23:42:00.003-05:00

Help us save poor Pippi Purrstocking!

My sweet, super-duper loving foster kitty, Pippi Purrstocking, was diagnosed with cancer last Wed. :( She needs to have her ear removed, poor baby, and it will cost OARS $600. Please spread the word to kind pet-loving folks you know to help us out, we really need it right now, because every spare penny we have is going toward our Adoption Center right now...if you or anyone you know can help, please have them go to our home page, www.orphananimalrescue.org and click on the Donate Now button to make a secure online donation...please, please help us save sweet Pippi...

Pippi Purrstocking is the ultimate purrgirl...

Octoberfest - Awesome!

2009-09-27T15:28:00.005-05:00

Thanks to all our incredible OARS volunteers who donated craft items and helped out at our booth!

Nicole, Amy, Kerry, Donna, me, James and his tiger paw :)

We made nearly $1,800 at this awesome event yesterday. Plus we all had a blast talking to people about our lifesaving mission and telling them all about our new Adoption Center in Neenah we hope to have soon. Thanks again to everyone!

Left view of our booth - wow, we had so much awesome stuff donated - I admit I went a little nuts. I bought a ton of homemade pet-themed greeting cards, a blanket, a T-shirt and some kitty toys - we had the coolest stuff on the Ave, it was so much fun!

Booth view from the right - there were so many fun pet items, people had so much fun shopping! We'll have a lot of these same items at our next 3 OARS events too...

Shih Tzu Babies...More Cute Pics!

2009-09-20T00:48:00.004-05:00

Little Bear is the most hilarious puppy ever!

Okay I can't resist...more pics of our adorable OARS shih tzu babies...they are the sweetest little babies ever! :)

Awwwwwwww, Buttercup!

Little Bear hangs out with his favorite toy!

Grizz tells me what he really thinks

Shih Tzu Puppies Are Irresistible!!!

2009-09-18T23:58:00.002-05:00

Okay, I am completely in love with the baby shih tzus...I am fostering them for the weekend since Donna went out of town...they are so cute, I can hardly stand it! I got like 5,000 pictures of them today and another 1,000 videos... :) Here's one of my favs....

Cool Cat Show

2009-09-13T23:21:00.002-05:00

The Rogue Pirate Cats of the Caribbean Cat Show was this weekend and The Fox River Valley Cat Club graciously invited OARS to have a booth there. Thanks to Robin, Louise, Donna, Natalie, Amy and Nicole for volunteering to staff our booth, and thanks to everyone who made a purchase - we raised $909 at this event, WOW!

Rescued a True Orphan Kitten Tonight!

2009-09-08T23:38:00.003-05:00

Found all by herself...dropped in the country with no mama...this baby kitten was rescued by an animal-loving friend and I went to her house tonight to check on her and give her the care and meds she needed to start getting healthy and strong...she looked really good for being found outside! Her name is Rosie and she's a little purr-girl who loves to make biscuits and crawl on your lap. I love these stories because it really shows how we support the mission of OARS to save homeless pets and change lives, one at a time. This little girl will soon be available for adoption!

Crafts for Pets a Blast!

2009-09-07T23:27:00.002-05:00

Thanks to all who came to our Crafts for Pets fun paw-ty today! We had a blast making doggie and kitty toys, blankets, bags, jewelry and more!

Kerry and Donna with one of their amazing blanket creations!

Sarah models one of Linda's cozy dog coats!

Super cool pet key chains from Andi and Jenny! Thanks girls!

The puppies are here, the puppies are here!

2009-09-07T12:06:00.006-05:00

Our 15 dogs and puppies have arrived! We just can't get over how affectionate and adorable they all are. It's so fun saving these little sweethearts' lives!

Puppies came in around 9pm last night...they are so excited to be in Wisconsin!

Sarah holds one of the baby shih tzus...

Our mighty road warrior Linda still had energy to play with puppies even after her long trip!

Thank you to everyone who helped out, offered to foster, and supported us to make this lifesaving mission successful!

Puppy Fever!

2009-09-01T23:06:00.006-05:00

We are so excited to get our next round of puppies from the little shelter in Arkansas! They are overflowing and have no money, so we are so happy that we have the community support and volunteers to be able to help them and save these little guys' lives. Here are some of our pending arrivals!

Madden - oh my DOG he is so cute!

Mason - awwwww....

Marissa - look at this little peanut!

Markie Mark - doesn't he look like he's in a wind tunnel! What an adorable face!

Mallory - she's stolen our hearts already!

Ally McBeagle, what a sweet face!

And little Brody, Ally's baby...soooooo sweet! And seriously, are those the longest puppy ears you've ever seen?!!

Fun adoption event at Wal-Mart!

2009-08-30T21:31:00.004-05:00

We had a great little adoption event at the Appleton Wal-Mart on Saturday! Thanks to Wal-Mart for letting us bring our kittens and Jack the Jack Russell there, and thanks to Purina for sponsoring this event and donating food, toys and other goodies!

Me with Jack, what a little love-bug!

Me, Nicole and Em V at the event

Shih Tzu puppies on their way soon!

2009-08-28T22:20:00.003-05:00

We are getting the most precious Shih Tzu mama, daddy and 6 puppies next weekend from Arkansas!

Puppies Incoming!

2009-08-27T14:22:00.005-05:00

We're getting precious babies Big Bear and Woolly Bear this weekend! Look at how freaking adorable they are!!!

Look how uniquely colored Woolly Bear is - an all-gray Lab with gray eyes; never seen that before. I can't wait to meet these sweet babies!

Awesome Brat Fry & Adoption Event at PSP!

2009-08-24T23:25:00.004-05:00

Thanks again to everyone who came out to support us last weekend at Pet Supplies Plus! Our brat fry raised nearly $400, which will all go toward our Adoption Center!

Grillmaster James cooks 'em up hot and delicious!

Emily V holds Lucia Skywalker (yes, we thought she was a "he" since female orange tabbies are so rare - whoops! she's a little GIRL!). Her sister, Princess Leia, was also there and met lots of friendly people! They're both still available for adoption!

OARS Celebrates our 300th Adoption!

2009-08-23T22:42:00.004-05:00

Hooray for Egan the kitten! This wonderful family adopted both Egan and his brother, Sushi. Wow, I can't believe we've already had 300 adoptions in just under a year! Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

Honeybun Finds Her New Mommy

2009-08-23T22:24:00.003-05:00

Honeybun was adopted at our Pet Supplies Plus adoption event this weekend! Hooray for our little OARS Honeybun! Here she is with her new adopter mama and her new sister, Abby.

SOS Spay Neuter Run This Weekend

2009-08-23T20:27:00.003-05:00

Thank you to Emily Wiegmann, Amy, Corey, Nicole and Natalie for making this weekend's SOS spay neuter run to Madison a success! We housed the kitties in my insulated garage overnight on Friday and then Emily and Nicole came at 5:45am to load them up and Emily and her fiancee drove to Madison to the clinic! They were back by 5pm and all the kitties - 20 of them - recovered quite well and are now ready for their forever homes! Great job ladies!!!

Jumpin Jack Russell!

2009-08-22T15:37:00.004-05:00

My foster dog for Orphan Animal Rescue, Sam the Jack Russell terrier, didn't want me to leave her outside in the fenced area all alone! She wanted back IN! I love her!

She was adopted today to a wonderful family... yey!

Doodle Crossed the Rainbow Bridge

2009-08-18T22:46:00.001-05:00

Thank you all for your kind words and heartfelt prayers for our sweet Doodle. She passed peacefully over the Rainbow Bridge last night and is no longer suffering. Doodle has inspired us to save even more homeless pets in her honor.

Doodle Update

2009-08-17T23:44:00.002-05:00

Our little Doodle Girl, who we're all pulling for, is still with us...we hope she's now on the upside of her illness...

Here's an update from her foster mom:

"I thought I would find she passed this morning when I woke at 4:30 to check on her - she was still fighting. I gave her fluids and pet her and whispered in her ear "You've been through too much to not make it now - how about a little miracle?". I went back at 7:30 and force fed her some soft food, more fluids and she stood up briefly to greet me. She hasn't used the litterbox in 2 days. She's peeing a bit on her bedding which I change every time I go to her.

I took an early lunch at 11 and gave more fluids and a few syringes of wet food. This time I whispered "Girl, if you can beat this you'll be a queen and live the life you always deserved...promise..."

When I came home from work, Donna was cradling her and I thought it was over...it's not yet.

She stood up a bit more, circled once and plopped back down. I gave a few more syringes of wet food, fluids and rubbed her down with a warm/dry towel from the dryer. I cleaned her eyes and she purred and purred.

She's dry, safe and warm. Listening to NPR and being checked in on every couple of hours.

There's a whisper of hope, it's faint, frail and a little stinky but it's there....."

Doodle, hang in there with us! We'll fatten you up and find you the new loving forever home you deserve!

Saving Doodle

2009-08-17T23:32:00.003-05:00

Sometimes in rescue you're called to go above and beyond, to come together, to exhaust yourself, to test your emotional strength. This is one of those times.

Sweet Doodle came to us after a kind stranger found her and her kittens underneath a dumpster. They rushed the little feline clan to the vet, where all were diagnosed with FIV (which, in a nutshell, is feline HIV, when their immune system is compromised).

The kittens will be fine, but Doodle was in rough shape; she had been nursing her kittens and gave them all her milk and nutrients, which with a kitty who's very skinny in the first place, leaves little for herself. She's really dirty and her poor ears were infested with ear mites--generations of them. The itching must have been unbearable for her.

Still, Doodle immediately jumped up and begged us to pet her every time she'd see us - spinning in circles with delight and purring up a storm. What joy it must've been to her to be in a safe place where she had food whenever she wanted it.

We took Doodle into OARS and go her all the care, food and love that she needed for recovery. She seemed to be progressing slowly but steadily.

Then Sunday we lost a kitten who was in the same foster room with her to a strange respiratory condition; not sure if it was a heart defect. Then about a half a day later, Doodle became depressed and lethargic, and has stopped eating on her own.

We are trying to shower Doodle with love and affection to help give her the strength to go on...we want her so badly to survive...she deserves to be strong and beautiful and happy for the rest of her life. She's hanging in there for now...think good thoughts for Doodle please...

I LOVE Our Volunteers!

2009-08-16T23:30:00.005-05:00

Some of the wonderful OARS volunteers who helped out at the booth: Nicole, Corey, Amy, Louise, Robin, me and Jennifer.

Wow, what a great event! The Valley Pet Expo was held this weekend in Appleton up at Player's Choice. We had a great volunteer turn-out, it is just awesome to see how many wonderful local supporters we have, all in it to help save more homeless pets!

The event overall was great - we met a lot of wonderful fellow rescuers, learned a lot of exciting new things, and got to play with cats and dogs. Our booth also won second place and we raised nearly $550, which is really needed right now to help us purchase our Adoption Center we are all dreaming of. And, the best part is, we adopted out 4 kittens! Woo hoo!

Crafts for Pets Pawty!

2009-08-12T20:25:00.004-05:00

Thanks to all the ladies - and one guy! - who showed up for our Crafts for Pets Pawty at Natalie's house last night. It was really fun! We shared a LOT of great ideas for how to make crafts to sell to help raise funds to purchase our Adoption Center and save even more pets!

Nemo kept us entertained by testing out all the catnip toys. :)

One Wiener at a Time...

2009-08-09T23:23:00.005-05:00

Babes selling brats!

The things we do to help homeless pets!

Whatever it takes to raise money for our adoption center...even melting in the muggy sun for hours at our brat fry! Thanks to Kerry, Amy, Emily V, Emily R, Shawn, Nicole, TimA, TimB and Emily V's wonderful parents for joining us to help out today at Pick N Save in Neenah. We made a little over $300 today and talked to a lot of wonderful people, so it was very much worth it!

My hubby Tim helped out with the grillin!

Adoption Event at Pet Supplies Plus!

2009-08-09T00:18:00.005-05:00

Thank you to everyone who came to visit and who helped at the Pet Supplies Plus Adoption Event!

We had a great adoption event today! We got applications on 3 kittens, 1 puppy and possibly for 1 of our adult girls. Special thanks to Corey, Amy and Della for helping out today! And thanks again to Pet Supplies Plus for letting us use their back room to host our adoptable kitties and dogs!

Our Black Lab puppy Cooper was pooped out by the end of the day! Here he is, sporting his OARS leash underneath our OARS banner. Such a cutie!

Cooper the Puppy and 9 Kittens Rescued!

2009-08-06T22:31:00.003-05:00

Natalie, Amy, Steve and little Cooper!

Tonight Natalie and I rescued 9 kittens and one little Black Lab puppy! We are happy to partner with Lost Companion Rescue out of Waupaca to help them out. They have tons of kittens in need, so we were delighted to have a few adoptions this week that we could help them out. The kittens are irresistible, and Cooper the puppy is precious! So fun!

Rescued 6 Kittens Tonight!

2009-07-30T22:17:00.003-05:00

Baby Nacho is adorable!

Awwwww, we rescued 6 kittens tonight from Lost Companion Rescue! Natalie and I named them Rainbow Brite, SpongeBob SquarePants, Garfield, Opie, Baby Nemo and Baby Nacho. Baby Nacho is my absolute favorite; I have fallen completely in love with him and wish I could adopt him. Too bad I already have 4 and my hubby says no more (I'm working on it!). :)

Visiting PAWS Chicago

2009-07-27T23:10:00.009-05:00

Yesterday Nicole, Natalie, Amy and I went down to Chicago to tour PAWS Chicago and meet with some of their volunteers to gain insights and advice from them based on their experiences. This model rescue is no-kill and mostly volunteer-run, and helped decrease Chicago's homeless pets euthanasia rates by 50% over the last 12 years. It all started with a small group of people who saw that there had to be a better way. It was truly inspiring.

PAWS Chicago front entrance

Natalie looks in on Koda, a dog for adoption, in their front window

Their Adoption Center lobby

Mr. Moustache reaches out to us, saying "help more kitties like me!"

One of the kitty adoption rooms

Oprah's dog adoption room she sponsored, complete with cute little doggie house!

Spot says, please take me home with you!

They had a rooftop dog park where the doggies can run and play, it was so cool!

Mr. Moustache says, you can help kitties like me, look at me, I'm so cute!

Natalie, Amy, Nicole, a PAWS Volunteer, and me in their lobby - they were so nice and helpful to us!

10 More Pups Rescued!

2009-07-12T23:27:00.005-05:00

I LOVE this shot of Ruby! Such a silly lovergirl!

We took in 10 more dogs and puppies from Arkansas; 4 border collie baby girls, 2 Black Lab mixes, an Aussie mix, a Beagle mix, a Husky mix, and an All-American-who-knows-what-she-is-but-she's-cute mix. :)

That brings our total to 50 dogs and puppies rescued from the Arkansas shelter, in under 2 months! Wow! We are so happy to be able to help save these sweet doggies's lives and help them find new forever homes up her in WI.

Molly is our cute All-American mix girl; she has the sweetest demeanor and just adores people.

Sally was the cutest little one of the bunch - the only white one in a sea of black dogs. She looks like the RCA dog!

11 more puppies from Arkansas!

2009-07-02T01:19:00.008-05:00

Oh my DOG! We got 7 Jack Russell/Husky mix pups! We were so curious what they'd look like - and they are even cuter than we thought possible!

Wow, what an amazing weekend! We had so much fun with the absolutely irresistible puppies that we got from the shelter in Arkansas. I just can't believe how great the need is down there for help. All of these precious babies were scheduled for euthanasia. And up here, we already have nearly all of them adopted, in less than a week! We are so excited to be able to help these pups. Their temperament couldn't be better - we just can't get over how loving and sweet they are. Thanks to all the volunteers who are helping us with care and coordination, and especially to Corey, who is doing an amazing, hard job for us - coordinating everything for these dogs. She is truly a lifesaver!

Archie - he was a last-second addition to the run - we just couldn't say no to this one-of-a-kind little baby!

Baby Coalie - quite possibly the cutest Black Lab pup baby I've ever seen!

Dixie and Jackson playing! Their foster Dad says they are the most docile, affectionate pups he's ever met!

Teddy and Tandy...two absolutely adorable little Jack Russells...so, so sweet.

16 Kittens Rescued!

2009-07-02T01:13:00.004-05:00

Our new volunteers Jenifer and Eric with one of their kittens they adopted!

Okay so I'm finally getting back to updating my blog! Sorry for the delay! As always, every spare second has been spent rescuing kitties and dogs. So...I'll start the update with a note about the kitten rescue I helped with 2 weeks ago. We rescued 16 kittens from a rescue out of the Waupaca area. What sweet babies! I picked them up in Omro and then brought them to my house. One of our wonderful vet tech volunteers helped us test them all for feline leukemia and FIV - they were all negative thank goodness! - and then we gave them out to wonderful foster home volunteers. It was such a fun day of baby kitten rescue!

Kerry, me and Corey doing a feline leukemia/FIV test on a newbie

One of our wonderful new foster mom, Jenn's, daughter with one of the kittens!

22 of the 24 dogs & puppies from Ark. find homes!

2009-06-11T23:18:00.002-05:00

4 weeks later, we are happy to report that 22 of our 24 dogs and pups have found loving new forever homes...we are down to only 2 adoptble doggies left...Candy and Gracie. Above is Jay, the last of the litter of 12 baby puppies we adopted out. What an amazing ride! Completely exhausting, but completely worth it!

Baby Girl - from Arkansas - finds love in Michigan!

2009-06-11T23:15:00.003-05:00

Sweet little Baby Girl, the dog I ended up fostering for the longest, found her new forever family in Michigan. 4 little girls shower Baby Girl with affection and love all the time! I am so happy for our little girl, who was a stray in Arkanas in a trailer park...who came all the way up to Michigan and is now a part of a wonderful, loving forever family. Hooray for Baby Girl!

Ernie Finds a Family!

2009-06-11T23:12:00.002-05:00

Our sweet puppy mill dog, Ernie, has now found a new forever loving family! Thanks to Donna Matusewic, who took Ernie from me and socialized him and helped him realize that he's a sweet dog who should enjoy running and playing just like any other dog! Ernie is doing so WELL now, in his new home in Appleton. Hooray for Ernie!

NEW Arkansas doggies arrive in Wisconsin!

2009-05-10T02:13:00.013-05:00

The fearless Co-leaders, Linda and Laura, just about to depart from Neenah yesterday...they left at 1 and arrived at 1am in Arkansas. Long day!

Well they made it here! We were so happy to welcome our new 24 canine friends to my home this early morning...quite a big group of our volunteers showed up - thank you to all of you - and helped get the dogs through the intake process and then comfortable in their crates.

There is a full range of doggie looks and personalities with us - from adorable babies to sweet funny-looking little terrier girls...they all melted our hearts. What a day for a rescue!

They'll stay at my house for now until we can get them all in to the vet to be checked and get any other shots or treatments they may need before going to their new foster homes...and then eventually of course to their new loving forever homes! These dogs will get adopted quckly - they are all so loving and sweet and beautiful. What a wonderful thing for us to be able to rescue them from death row...and take them to new loving homes!

The next morning they met the Marion Shelter ladies and PAWS rescuers and fit as many wonderful dogs as they could into their two vehicles. Now they're safe forever! See pictures form their morning in Marion at the Marion shelter's blog:
http://www.petsworthsaving.blogspot.com/

Our intake area in my heated garage was all set up and ready for the incoming dogs, with cages and carriers lined up. I also got the fence done, which was the BEST part of it, because we were able to just let them go from in to out to do their doodie, and the dogs just loved the fresh air and running around free!

It was total puppy mayhem!!! So much fun!!!

Ain't nothin' but a puppy party! :)

All the intake was done in my heated garage

This was one of the babies from our litter of 12

Avery the chihuahua hovered by his foster mom most of the night, what a cuddly boy

Jasmine - what a pretty little girl!

Lil Lady....what a hilarious picture! She's such a little sweetheart!

Sophie with that sweet look upon her face...

We'll update with more pics soon. It's 2:30am and time to go to bed! :)

Ernie Makes Progress

2009-05-09T19:32:00.002-05:00

I transferred Ernie to a different foster home so I could foster some of the 24 dogs we're getting from Arkansas this weekend...and she is absolutely wonderful. She has years of experience with puppy mill dogs and has made amazing strides with our sweet Ernie. Her names is Donna and I got an update from her today on Ernie:

"Today Ernie decided to be a dog. He started eating, drinking, running in the yard, showed interest in playing with a toy in the house, and now he is even chewing on a cow hoof ... they are very stinky but dogs love them!! He does not stiffen when I pick him up and sometimes he even seems to make an effort to raise himself when I lift him. He was treated for tapeworm today and has his dental on Wednesday. After that he will be neutered... Today he has made remarkable progress. I can tell he jumped a psychological hurdle. Oh, happy day .... :-) "

It is so wonderful to hear our sweet Ernie is doing so well! Soon he will be ready for his new forever home!

My Puppy Mill Dog: Ernie

2009-05-04T23:20:00.001-05:00

I picked up my first puppy mill dog tonight. Another rescuer went down to MO to a puppy mill "auction" and tried to get some of the older dogs that no other breeders would want. There were some sad stories and it was a brave, hard thing for her to do.

Welcome Ernie to OARS, our first puppy mill case. He has been very easy so far. He's docile and friendly, wags his tail a lot and loves to be petted and really loves being held close in a blanket. He isn't eating much and did pee on the floor once, but he's had a rough last couple days and is probably scared and confused.

This poor guy spent his last 9 years in a tiny cage in less-than-ideal conditions, surrounded by other purebreds like him, doing the same thing. When called upon, he had to mate. That's why he was there. Little human interaction. Little love.

We can show him the love he deserves, and it is a cool, amazing, beautiful thing.

Emily and Ernie :)

Little diva in the making ;)

2009-04-28T15:00:00.002-05:00

I'm happy to report that the 2-week-old kittens in my basement with feral mama are doing wonderfully! They are fat and happy and absolutely beautiful. My favorite is little Kittystina Aguilera, a gorgeous little tortie who has a tan spot on her head and tan little baby paws. She is already a little diva, as you can tell in her picture, she is waving to her fans. ;)

And more puppies saved on Sunday!

2009-04-20T23:53:00.006-05:00

Sunday night a volunteer brought us four beautiful 8-week-old Lab mix puppies from a shelter in Arkansas (she drove 11 hours one way!), where they were scheduled to be euthanized. These babies are completely irresistible! 2 yellow lab mix boys, 1 black lab mix boy and 1 pale buff lab mix girl with BLUE eyes! They are playful, sweet, loving and precious!

Natalie, Nicole and me with the babies right after they arrived in Wisconsin!

The little girl would snuggle up under my neck on my chest, she was just a little doll!

They went to the vet today and checked out healthy, yey!

What a rewarding thing, to be able to save these babies!

OARS Baby Shower on Sunday

2009-04-20T23:44:00.003-05:00

The OARS Baby Shower was an amazing success! We had around 80 people stop by and bring wonderful baby gifts for the 28 kittens and 9 puppies we have in our care (and we have 16 more kittens on our waiting list, with new requests coming in every day!) - it was such a fun event! Everyone got to cuddle with kittens and puppies and enjoy some treats and games for the kids, a great time was had by all. We raised nearly $600 and received around $300 worth of in-kind supply donations - which are VERY much needed right now! Thanks to everyone who came to the shower!

2 dogs saved on Saturday

2009-04-20T23:39:00.004-05:00

I picked up Rocky on Saturday and took him to one of our OARS foster homes. Poor Rocky's family had lost their home to foreclosure and could no longer afford to care for him. They loved him so much! It was very rewarding to be able to help this family. Rocky is a big sweet loving docile purebred Yellow Lab. I took his pictures and video and put him on petfinder, and we already have 2 potential adopters who want to meet him!

Then I stopped by my friend and fellow animal advocate Linda's house to take pictures and videos of Levi, her new foster dog. He is a big doofey sweetheart. He has gorgeous coloring, he is a catahoula leopard dog mix with a white face and paws. He is very playful and affectionate. He was hanging around an Amish farm, a stray without a home, for a long time, until someone contacted Linda and OARS to help. We already have had 3 inquiries on him too, hooray!

My first foster puppy!

2009-04-20T23:35:00.002-05:00

I picked up Baby Girl, a 5-month-old Lab/Beagle mix pup, on Friday night in Winneconne. She was the sweetest, easiest little foster baby ever. I really lucked out for my first puppy fostering experience! She is housetrained, crate trained, spayed, knows commands, and super affectionate. Plus adorable! Her family could no longer care for her with 2 other dogs, 3 cats and 2 small children, she just had too much energy. By Sunday OARS had found her a new wonderful forever home! And it was meant to be - with an OARS volunteer who had been looking to adopt a female black Lab/Beagle mix for nearly 6 months since her beloved black lab/beagle mix dog had passed away. She nearly cried when she saw her. It was meant to be - a match made in heaven!

It was an amazingly rewarding experience. Just a little sacrifice of time and energy to help this family and puppy in need!

And then there were FIVE

2009-04-16T22:26:00.004-05:00

What an adventure last night! We got a call from a girl who's mom had found 4 orphaned baby kittens in the middle of her barn. 2 of them were cold (this is very bad) and so she took them in her house and warmed them up with a hairdryer. We had just taken in a mama with newborn babies from Wolf River Vet Clinic the day before, so she called us to see if we could take the orphans and put them on that mama to see if she would be a surrogate. So I was off to a barn in Hortonville last night.

When I got there a half hour later, mama had shown up! This was GREAT news because the best chance for newborn babies' survival is to have mama's care and milk. The lady wasn't sure how old they were, but she knew they were young. Well, turns out mama was feral (wild) and it was quite the ordeal to get her in the carrier with her babies. Especially since they were hiding way back in the hay bales. But, by some miracle, we got them all in a carrier, I got them home, and they are settled in their carrier (mama wouldn't come out) in a big cage in my basement bedroom.

I've been checking in on them and mama and babies are doing well! The amazing thing is, last night there were 4 babies - 2 orange tabbies, a calico and a tortie - and tonight there were FIVE! Another orange tabby was in the carrier this morning! Poor mama had been in labor through the whole ordeal last night. If I would've known the full situation, I don't think I would've tried to capture them - would've left them alone for a couple days, since it's not that cold, and then gone in to rescue them. But, they are all doing well, and we will take care of them and raise them until the kittens can be adopted. Then mama will be spayed and returned to the barn where she can live out her happy feral life. :)

All is good in kitten rescue land.

Foster babies hangin in there

2009-04-05T22:01:00.006-05:00

What a rough weekend. I got two baby foster girls, Zinnie and Bug. Only 7 weeks old, and still so fragile. Both of them were showing severe signs of upper respiratory on Friday night, so I brought them into my basement bathroom, which I use as emergency sick-care/quarantine. Friday night was rough; Saturday morning was worse.

I ended up at the emergency Animal Referral Center Saturday afternoon after I thought I was going to loose Zinnie and Bug was pooping blood...poor little babies. I was there 3 hours, and the vet was very helpful. I got some medication and high-calorie food and good instructions for lots of TLC.

Saturday night and Sunday morning I spent checking in on them and force-feeding special food and KMR milk every couple hours. After lots and lots of care and love, I think they've pulled through...here are some pics of them from tonight...I think they'll make it. Bug, as you can see, is eating on her own and playing with toys. Zinnie has a ways to go, but I have faith. They are the most adorable, sweet little babies.

Semi-feral? Not anymore!

2009-04-05T21:53:00.002-05:00

My foster cat Chloe was dubbed "semi-feral" when she first came to us. She was such a scaredy cat...she hid in the rafters in her first foster home, and was very standoffish. However, she slowly came out of her shell...

Now, she is quite possibly one of the sweetest, lovingest kitties ever! She adores attention, and comes by me every time I'm in the foster room, demanding attention and pets and she LOVES to have her tummy rubbed. It took us a few weeks, but we were able to socialize her...now, she is ready for her new forever home, filled with love to give that special someone. We never gave up hope on this little sweetie!

Oh and she adores her foster sister, Susie Q. This picture is of her giving Susie kisses.

What a Weekend

2009-03-30T20:42:00.002-05:00

We had a very successful weekend at the WBAY Pet Expo in Green Bay! We raised $1,337.69 at this event, which will go straight to pay for our veterinary bills. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth.

Donna, Amy, Natalie and I had a great time - met lots of wonderful pet lovers, both who stopped by our booth, and also stopping by their booths too. The ladies from Lost Companion were great! It's so awesome to be partnering with them and helping them out with adoptions, since they're so rural and adoptions are harder for them. We hope to save many more kittens with them this year!

And Baby Kittens!

2009-03-30T20:40:00.002-05:00

These precious little babies will soon be ready for adoption too. They will be at the OARS Baby Shower on April 19th from 1-4pm. For more info go to our Events page: http://www.orphananimalrescue.org/News&Events.html.

Oh my GAH! Look at these puppies!

2009-03-30T20:36:00.003-05:00

These are the cutest little puppies EVER! We'll be getting these little peanuts in a few weeks after they're weaned from mama. They are Chinese Crested/Pomeranian mix babies. How irresistible!

Which Brought Us All Together...to form OARS

2009-03-30T00:51:00.001-05:00

We are truly blessed by what happened next on our journey.

Seven of us decided it was time to start our own rescue. A rescue dedicated primarily to helping cats, kittens, dogs, puppies and some small animals...to save their lives, one at a time. We would provide compassion, love and the highest quality of care for each animal, in the comfortable and loving environments of our own homes. And if any extra care and nurturing is needed for pets who may otherwise be deemed unadoptable--the shy, the sick, the orphaned, the injured, the abused, the neglected, the unwanted misfits...well, we'd take them too. Because every life is worth saving.

A lot of hard work and 6 months later, we have our official 501(c)(3) nonprofit status letter from the IRS, we've saved 186 animals, placed 133 into new loving forever homes, and raised enough money to barely cover our vet expenses and supply costs (ALL donations go directly to the pets - we don't have any staff, we're 100% volunteer-run). We have seen support from the community that is absolutely wonderful. We are so excited at what we will be able to do for homeless pets in Wisconsin as we continue to grow.

This is us - the Core 7. It's truly amazing what 7 motivated women can do. We hope to find more motivated animal lovers to join us and make our impact even greater!

And Along Came Smoochie...

2009-03-30T00:41:00.001-05:00

Smoochie stole my heart from the minute I picked her up at the shelter, because she was the runt of the litter and about half the size of her siblings. The vet tech didn't think she'd make it through the night. But with careful, monitored force feeding of Recovery food and KMR, round-the-clock, and lost of other efforts like keeping the humidifier running and the foster room a good temperature and also of course lots of loving and handling and playtime...Smoochie made it!

Smoochie was adopted twice and came back to me. She was returned the first time because the woman said having a cat was too much responsibility (what? try a dog!) but I was happy to have her back. I think adopted her to a friend, who tried it for a few months, but her older adult male cat just did not like little Smoochie. So Smoochie came back home to me again.

I told my husband it was meant to be. He reluctantly agreed. He is such a good husband, did I mention that before?

And then there were four.