Bar Cat Program Needs Your HELP!

Ok you know the story about Barn Cats:

Each week the Shelter takes in many feral cats also know as community cats. These cats can be very beneficial to farms and warehouses. They will keep the rodent and snake populations under control. No need for pesticides or poison which is more harmful to our environment. 

All cats will be spayed or neutered, have a Rabies vaccine and an ear tip which shows they have been fixed. They will be offered for adoption through the Shelter. The adoption fee will be waived for approved applicants.

This was all made possible from a Grant that the shelter was able to get. But with all good things they do come to an end, the Grant money has run out. This is where HOPE comes in to help fundraise to keep the Barn Cat Program going. The money ran out a lot sooner this year due to not as much Grant Money provided to the shelter this year.

This month marked 4 years and 5 months since the beginning of the Barn Cat/TNR program in Effingham County. It has since been funded through grants, H.O.P.E., sponsorships, and citizen contributions. At nearly 1700 vetted cats later, we continue to see fewer shelter cat intakes. We continue to work in conjunction with our citizens who help vet community cats and allow these working felines to patrol property, keeping pests at bay.

We can have up to 30+ cats a MONTH! Give or take especially around April-May when it is BAD Kitten Season. It costs HOPE $55 per cat to do everything at the vet’s office. Therefore, we are in great need of donations to make all this happen. This is soley based upon donations. And no this is NOT part of the county budget, nor will it ever be. They do not provide like that for shelter animals and honestly most shelters fall into this category. So before hating on the county look around at others they are the same or treat their animals with NO respect. There are so many who criticize the shelter for killing animals but this program works and it saves lives that would have just been put down due to no room.

So help us help them by donating today. Any amount helps and it is all a tax deduction. You can send a check to HOPE at P.O. Box 2601 Rincon, GA 31326. Please help us save a life! The shelter staff does not want to look at them and tell them they are not wanted either. They love it when they leave adopted! Every little bit helps people! Every Bit!

Christmas Pet Food Giveaway Nominations are being taken now!!!

We are thankful for everyone who has helped HOPE throughout the year with donations and such. We are going to host a giveaway from today until Dec 16th, so basically one week. The giveaway is for a needy family to help them out by HOPE providing a bag of cat food or dog food to the family. We have 20 bags of dog food ranging from large to small bags and 20 bags of cat food again ranging from small to large bags. No guarantee as to what size bag you will get.

All bags of food have been donated by various places and from various sponsors that are to remain anonymous . But we can say the Effingham County Animal Shelter is donating one bag of dog food and one bag of cat food to show their appreciation in all that HOPE does for them. That said, they have also offered to be the storage facility for the 40 bags. When the winners are selected and notified they will pick up their bag from the shelter. The nominations must be local to the Effingham area to be able to pick up their bag!

Please send submissions to hope31329@comcast.net. This is for nominations only and not for yourself. Provide the following information of the family you are nominating:

1. Name including first and last name
2. Phone number
3. Email address
4. If they own a dog or cat (only select one for nominations)
5. Explain why this family needs this right now. Be descriptive.

 

HOPE will select 20 dogs and 20 cats to receive the Christmas Pet Food Giveaway. Owners will be notified by phone/email and they will have until the end of December to pick up their bag of food. If they have both a dog and cat, they will be told which bag they will be picking up from their nomination. Any bags not picked up by Jan 2nd will be forfeited and a new person will be selected or it will be given to the shelter or a rescue.

Good luck everyone. And please share this. Thank you!

Drinkwell Pagoda Pet Fountain Giveaway!!!

HOPE has been contacted by PetSafe to host a giveaway of a PetSafe Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain. This was a great opportunity to work with a great manufacturer that has many different types of pet products from training to feeding and beyond. The giveaway starts today and will end Nov 14th. The winner will be announced the week of 17th and hopefully have shipped before Thanksgiving. Now please be aware this product will be shipped from the manufacturer not us.

The PetSafe^® Drinkwell^® Pagoda Fountain is a stylish, ceramic fountain that freshly filters and continuously recirculates 70 ounces of free-flowing water for pets, keeping it cleaner and fresher than a normal water bowl. The ceramic design is more hygienic, easy to clean (top-rack dishwasher safe) and looks great in your home. The upper and lower dishes provide two drinking areas for pets, and the dual patented free-falling streams add oxygen for freshness, which encourages pets to drink more.

Did you know your pet needs approximately one ounce of water per pound of body weight each day? Ensuring proper pet hydration is extremely important to PetSafe. “Dehydration in pets is a serious issue that can lead to major health problems,” Randy Boyd, president and CEO of Radio Systems Corporation, makers of the PetSafe brand, said. “PetSafe is proud to offer products such as the Drinkwell Pagoda Fountains that provide unlimited access to fresh, free-falling water, which is essential to a pet’s overall health and well-being.”

In addition to providing the moving water source that cats (and dogs) seek, PetSafe’s Drinkwell pet fountains aid with proper metabolism, energy conversion and temperature regulation, as well as promote healthy kidney function and prevent urinary tract infections and disease in pets.The PetSafe^® Drinkwell^® Pagoda Fountain is priced at $99. In addition to the Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain, PetSafe offers a wide variety of innovative pet fountains and accessories, including its Drinkwell hy•drate™ Filtration System, which provides pets with fresh, filtered water in any water bowl.

PetSafe is a proud sponsor of the DIY Blog Cabin 2014 project. After garnering the majority of votes during the DIY Network’s Blog Cabin 2014 People’s Choice voting period, PetSafe^® brand is proud to announce that Himalayan Blue will be the next color offered for its popular Drinkwell^® Pagoda Fountain. More than 390,000 votes were cast for the next pet fountain color, with Himalayan Blue beating out Taupe by receiving 76 percent of votes.

This can be yours by filling out the form below. Be sure to tell us why you want it and be creative, tell us about your pets and how you think they could benefit from the Pagoda or how you think they would like it. Please tell us if you would like White, Red or the new Himlayan Blue and provide a second color choice as well. We will let Petsafe know which color but please note if your first color choice is not available they will provide your second choice. Please note this is recommended for cats and small dogs.

Name(required)

Email(required)

First choice color(required)

White

Red

Himalayan Blue

Second choice color

Tell us why you NEED this and be creative.(required)

Submit

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Recent Adoptions from the Effingham Co Shelter Have Created Havoc

 

At a recent pet adoption event the Effingham Co Animal Shelter adopted out several kittens. Of the ones adopted two tested positive for Feline Leukemia and another tested negative. The positive tested kittens were humanely put to sleep due to the nature of the disease. This was not the fault of the shelter as the shelter employees did not know they had Feline Leukemia. They would not have adopted them out if they did.

The shelter is county ran with county funds and the county does not provide the funding necessary to test each animal for everything that could be wrong with them. Upon adopting an animal, it is discussed at the adoption and within the paperwork to take the animal to the vet for a full check-up within 3 days to include the proper testing for each type of animal.

The proper testing to be done by the adopter for dogs or cats are as follows (this is just routine testing but the adopter has the right to refuse any of these procedures but it is recommended to do them) :
• fecal flotation for detecting intestinal parasites
• blood tests for detecting heartworm and tick borne disease exposure
• general blood screenings to identify potential breed-related medical problems and conditions

At the adoption event as well, several puppies went to rescue. Of these puppies they did have several types of worms and also were at the beginning stages of getting sick. They were wormed almost a week prior to the event and given a physical evaluation by the attending veterinarian on record. But the wormer they were provided did not handle all worms they currently had. They appeared healthy enough for the adoption event so they went. During the event one was appearing sick and the rescue decided to take them all. They did receive the medical care needed for them all to get on a healthy track.

The shelter is providing worming to each and every dog that comes into the facility and it is logged on the dogs chart within the shelters paperwork. This is to aid in strays that come in with worms and also to aid puppies that are more susceptible to getting worms. The wormer the county provides is for basic worm types dogs can get but it does not kill all kinds. This is one of the new improvements the shelter is doing this year as in the past they did not provide wormer except at the time of the veterinarian of records visiting day.

Due to the recent activity, the shelter is going to be bringing more adult dogs and older puppies as well as adult cats and older kittens to adoption events. This way the young puppies and kittens can get a little more care with them to try and prevent people from adopting a potentially sick animal. The shelter does the best they can within the requirements set forth from the shelter procedures booklet that was created by the veterinarian on record and the county commissioners’ approval.

The shelter just happens to have had a setback with this and all on the same day at the same event. But they are confident that in the future they will be working towards more healthy adoptions and trying to look the animals over a little more closely to try and prevent this. They are very saddened by what has happened and are trying to do what they can to prevent or at least lessen the chance of it happening again.

The shelter will be providing a rabies shot and vaccinations to each animal once adopted before leaving the facility. This is a new step in the right direction but will be implemented within the next week or so. This was another new improvement the shelter is doing this year. The adoption fee will include the rabies and vaccination shot. The only other thing the adopter will need to do it set up an appointment to get the animal spayed or neutered within the required 30 days. If you have additional questions about this, please feel free to contact the shelter with your questions or concerns at 912-754-2109.

HOPE is working with the shelter to try and create a puppy shot plan to where shots can be administered to every dog under the age of 1 year to aid in Parvo, sickness, and diseases as soon as they come into the building or within one day or so. They will receive the age appropriate shot regimen needed to boost their immune system. This will aid in healthier puppy adoptions. It is still a work in progress and we will let you know when it is finalized.

HOPE is also looking into the possibility of helping with an additional wormer that could aid in conjunction to their regular wormer to aid in all worms being handled. This is only in the beginning stages due to the recent events; therefore we will let everyone know if we are able to do this. We are HOPE-ful we can! All of this is only possible by your donations as HOPE is donation based for all the help we provide to the shelter.

 

BY: The HOPE team

Help us put in a Cattery in at the Effingham County Animal Shelter

Everyone knows you go to a shelter to look at a cat and you walk into a room with nothing but kennel cubes stacked and cats in each. You cannot touch them you cannot see then do anything but lay there or pace back and forth in their little cube. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a facility and have cats in a cattery where you can see them playing. Where you can watch them being a cat, where you can go over and actually pet and interact with them? This is exactly what the Effingham County Animal Shelter is going to do. They have to raise $2500 by March 1st to begin construction.

They are taking an old storage room and changing the flooring for easier cleanup, adding an industrial exhaust fan to aid in cat not getting any upper respiratory infections, adding a six foot tall, five foot wide and three foot deep cattery cage with various levels for running around on, and specialized cat cubes for the overflow of cats that will not fit into the cattery at that time. There will be a window in the wall so the cats can be viewed from the waiting area and also a new door with a window within it so walking past you will see the cats playing.

A cattery like this. This is not the exact one.

Cat cubes like these.

All if this to try and help with cat adoptions and make the cats feel more at home to aid in their adoptions. A more comfortable cats equals a more at ease cat when looking for that perfect one to bring home. Won’t you help us help the shelter with raising donations for the new Cattery.

Donations can be provide a variety of ways:

1. Mail to HOPE at P.O. Box 2601 Rincon, GA 31326 and put “Shelter Cattery” in the memo
2. Go to the donate button on our page on the right and donate, but also put “Shelter Cattery” in the notes so we know what it is for
3. Bring a check or cash donation to a HOPE event and let us know what it is for. Next event is at the Tractor Supply Feb 15th from 10am-2pm
4. Mail to Effingham County Animal Shelter at 601 North Laurel Street Springfield, GA  31329 and put “Animal Shelter Cattery Fund” in the memo
5. Drop off a check donation to the shelter and please put “Animal Shelter Cattery Fund” in the memo

All donations to HOPE will be calculated on Feb28th and we will take the donations to the shelter to turn them in. Being hopeful we will have raised the entire amount so the cats will have a new cattery to call home temporary until they get into their new furever home.

How do you know if your cat has an eye infection?

As our cats don’t know how to communicate with us directly or let us know when they are ill, we have to be mindful in any change in behavior.  While eye infections are more likely to occur in dogs, cats can also develop eye infections. There are many different types of eye infections, but the most common one is conjunctivitis.

As always, the first thing to do if your cat has an eye infection is to take her or him to your veterinarian to find out what kind of infection it is.  If your cat is blinking a lot or you see any type of discharge or white mucus around the eye area, there is something wrong.

There are a variety of infections that a cat can get in its eyes.  For the most part, vets generally recommend eye drops for your cat and they will typically cure the infection.

There are also some treatments that you can try at home to help your cat through the infection.  Again, your veterinarian is the best judge of how to treat the infection, but the below can help ease your cat’s eye pain and speed up the recovery.

Try using a soft cloth on your cat’s eyes

A wet cloth used to wipe away any discharge from the cat’s eye is an effective means of keeping the infected eye clean. Use the same type of cloth you would use for a warm compress and wet it with warm water. Or you can use a fragrance-free baby wipe made for sensitive skin. Wipe the eyes as often as necessary and discard the cloth after use.  You should repeat the compress every hour until the infection clears.

Herbal Supplements

You can also try some herbal supplements to help fight the infection and relieve the itching and redness in your cat’s eyes. These supplements usually include aconite chamomile, calendula and eyebright. Your veterinarian can recommend the appropriate does for your cat and if he or she thinks they are appropriate given your cat’s condition.

Eye Wash

An eye wash is an effective treatment for cats with infections caused by a foreign object stuck in the eye. Simply rinse your cat’s eye with saline solution, which is available in the eye care section of any drug store or pet shop. This flushing of the eye is often enough to remove the object and speed up your cat’s recovery.

Diet

If you feed your cat a well-balanced, high quality diet, it will help his or her immune system. Diets rich in vitamins A and C are excellent for eye health in cats. Providing vitamin A or C supplements (ask your vet for recommendations) or feeding a diet with plenty of vegetables such as spinach, kale and carrots guarantees your cat’s daily recommended intake is met.

Natural remedies

There are some natural remedies that are available in some pet stores or natural foods stores. These medications can help your cat kick an eye infection naturally. Check with your veterinarian for recommendations and let your vet monitor your cat’s progress when taking the medication.

With the right care and treatment, your cat’s eye infection will heal quickly.  You can find more advice on your cat’s care on petpav.com, our pet social network that is like Facebook for pets!

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