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

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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 ;)

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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...

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.

Trip to Best Friends Animal Society in Utah

Michelle and I made an amazing trip to Best Friends in Kanab, Utah for their "How to Start an Animal Sanctuary" seminar, in April 2007. It was one of the most moving and remarkable things I have ever done. This group is truly an inspiration to anyone who wants to help homeless animals. I'd love to model a shelter in Wisconsin like them someday.