RESCUE

RESCUE Blog update July 14th, 2010

2010-07-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters!

Lots to update you on so I'll get right into the update:

On 6/15 RESCUE was able to save three new dogs from the kill list. Flynn an 8.2 pound Cairn Terrier that "talks!" Well he doesn't talk but he has the funniest/oddest bark I've ever heard. He sounds like a person imitating a dog! :) Then we have Harley a 72.8 pound red lab. He was given up by his owners because they couldn't afford to care for him any longer. Lastly we have a 13.5 pound spaniel mix of some sort. His name is Theo and he came home with me as a foster dog! Flynn was adopted on 7/8 and Theo was adopted on 7/3. Click on their names for photos and notes from their adoptions.

On 6/15 RESCUE began campaigning for votes via a program called Chase Community Giving. 500,000 charities from around the country signed up to win $20k or the Grand Prize of $250k. On 7/13 RESCUE won $20,000! Hundreds of supporters helped us garner votes for our efforts. We came in 80th place, 1st place in Arizona and the only Arizona dog and cat RESCUE group in the top 200! We are so proud, over the moon with joy and thankful to all that helped us win! Here's the official press release.

On 6/16 RESCUE dog Connor moved into foster care. I'm awaiting a call from the foster parents to learn if they will be adopting him. If not, I have another great potential home for him too. Stay tuned.

On 6/16 little Sebastian moved into foster care. I am happy to report that our skinny little man is putting on weight and enjoying his time in foster care.

On 6/21 Sammy was adopted by his foster parents! Click here for details and photos.

On 6/25 Lydia was adopted. Click here for details and photos and here for an update.

On 6/25 Sara moved into foster care. Sara has had a terrible life and is terrified inside a home. With the help of her loving foster parents we are helping her overcome her fears. The process is slow but we are confident she will learn that life inside is a good thing!

On 6/26 one of our fellow RESCUE volunteers had a yard sale to benefit RESCUE's Bowlarama fundraiser. We are thrilled to announce that we raised $1,600! Huge thanks to Karen, Lucy and all that helped and donated items for our efforts.

On 6/26 RESCUE was the beneficiary of an event hosted by Tommy Bahama's of Scottsdale. The event brought in over $1,100 and gave us a wonderful opportunity to showcase our RESCUE dogs and make more people aware of the plight of the homeless animals here in the Valley.

On 6/30 RESCUE dog Pixie was adopted. Click here for photos and notes about her adoption.

On 7/3 RESCUE dog Silias was adopted. Click here for photos and here an update.

On 7/6 RESCUE was able to save two more dogs from the kill list. Lyric is a shepherd/whippet mix weighing about 31.2 pounds. She is very thin at the moment and a little shy but she is so sweet and does have a spunky side. She also has HUGE ears and big brown eyes. Missy is a super sweet gal, weighing in at a healthy 27.6 pounds. She has a "mohawk" and is giving Flynn a run for his money when it comes to cuteness! :) She knows sit, takes treats gentle and is an easy going girl who also loves to share kisses with you too.

On 7/8 one of our RESCUE volunteers Khrisann hosted an event at Rosita's. Lots of our supporters and volunteers came out to enjoy some yummy food to benefit RESCUE. We raised $187 from the event. Click here for photos from the event.

On 7/9 RESCUE dog Bianca was adopted. Click here for photos from her adoption and here for an update.

On 7/13 RESCUE was able to save two more dogs from the kill list. Dash is a handsome Beagle with stunning eyes and a love of the game of ball! And Meadow is a Terrier/Chihuahua mix. She is a little shy but warms up and is very sweet. I think she looks like former RESCUE dog Cindy for those of you who remember her.

We have three weeks left in our Bowlarama fundraiser. I'm thrilled to say we've raised just over $30k! Our goal is $45k. This helps us cover our expenses for the next five months. Please make a donation of any amount to help our efforts to save and care for the dogs and cats we save from the kill list.

Well that's it for now. Thank you for all your support and for following our journey!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE Blog update June 14th, 2010

2010-06-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters!

It's been another busy couple of weeks at RESCUE. If you missed any of it, here's a recap:

On 5/24 RESCUE dog Grover moved into foster care where he got some TLC while he recovered from a doggie cold. He did very well in foster care, recovered quickly and went up for adoption. Grover didn't last long and was adopted on 6/12. Click here for all the details and photos from his adoption.

On 6/1 RESCUE was thrilled to save three more lives. Bianca is an 11 pound tan Chihuahua mix will lots of energy and love to give. Rudy is a 10 pound Brussels Griffon who likes to snuggle. And lastly we have Sebastian! He is sooooo cute! He has an awesome playful, loving personality! Sadly he is very, very skinny! :( He's only 7.6 pounds. Click on their names to watch a video from their rescue.

On 6/2 Leah moved into foster care. She is doing very well and seems to be enjoying sleeping on the couch and walks around the neighborhood. Her fosters are really enjoying having her. This is a photo of her from her foster parents.

On 6/3 RESCUE dog Rudy moved into foster care. He is doing very well and was even groomed this weekend. The resident dog thought he was a cat at first but is now learning that this little guy is a dog after all, just a small one!

On 6/5 RESCUE was at the brand new PetClub located at Tatum and Thunderbird. We are thrilled to be at this new location and are looking for volunteers help us on the weekends. If you are interested in learning more, please email me at jennifer@azrescue.org

On 6/6 RESCUE dog Farrah moved into foster care. She wasn't in foster care for too long though! She was adopted on 6/9! Click here for all the details and photos from her adoption.

On 6/6 RESCUE dog Raven moved into foster care. She is doing really well and enjoying the company of her canine siblings.

On 6/7 long RESCUE cat Candy was adopted! YAHOO! We couldn't be happy for her. Click here for the photos and notes on her adoption and here for an update from her adopter.

On 6/8 RESCUE was able to save three more lives from the kill list. Roxanne, is a 3 year old spunky black and tan Papillion mix who has black velvet fur. Connor is a 65 lab mix with big brown eyes and is oh so sweet! Lastly we have Silias, a ten year old Shih tzu. Sadly Silias had to have 10 teeth removed but he still has nearly all his molars. His dental, neuter and grooming cost nearly $500. Please help us cover his expenses by making a donation - www.azrescue.org. You can view a video of each of them by clicking on their names.

We had several adoption this weekend in addition to the ones I've already mentioned- Nash, Midas and Gracie all got new homes. To read all the details and see the photos of their new homes, please click on their names.

Late on 6/13 RESCUE dog Callie moved into foster care and just a couple hours ago little Silias moved into foster care. I don't have an update from their foster parents yet so you'll have to stay tuned to learn more about them!

RESCUE's Bowlarama fundraiser is in full swing and we need your help! We have to raise $45,000 to help us cover our expenses for nearly 5 months. Donations of any amount help us with our efforts. Please make a donation at www.azrescue.org and ask others to make a donation too! We can't save and care for these animals without your help!

Thank you for following our journey and for all your support!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE

May 20th, 2010

2010-05-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters!

It's been a busy couple of weeks at RESCUE. Here is the recap:

On 5/1 RESCUE hosted our Cinco Dog Mayo Car Wash. It was a SMASHING success! BEST EVER!! Thank you so much for all your support of our event! Because of your efforts RESCUE raised a whopping $1,914!!!!!! How awesome is that?!! YAHOO!!! Click here for photos and videos from the event.

On 5/4 RESCUE was honored to be able to save two dogs from the kill list. We have Shane a Border Collie mix. He is very sweet and in dire need of some brushing! :) He's a tall guy but only about 21 pounds. Then we have the stunning Farrah. Farrah is a purebred fawn colored Pit Bull. She is such a love bug! She loves to be pet and snuggle in your lap, despite her 52 pound size!

On 5/8 RESCUE dog Frederick was adopted! He got a wonderful home with his new mom Sherron. Click here for all the details and photos.

On 5/8 RESCUE dog Davy and Shane were adopted! Here are the details and photos for Davy and for Shane and here for and update on Shane.

On 5/11 RESCUE was privileged to save three dogs from the kill list. We have the goofy blue merle terrier named Howie. Animal Control had him listed as an Otterhound. He only weighs 31 pounds so we're guessing this 5 year old boy is not an Otterhound but he is a very unique looking terrier. Then we have the very handsome and gentle Midas. Midas is a well behaved Golden Retriever/Shepherd mix with "old soul eyes." Lastly we have Nash, who was named after Phoenix Sun's Steve Nash. Nash is a peppy Chihuahua/terrier mix. He reminds me a lot of former RESCUE dog Tad! He had been at Animal Control since 4/22.

On 5/13 RESCUE dog Howie moved into foster care. He is doing very well and his foster parent thinks he is one of the best foster dogs she's ever had! This is a photo of him from foster care.

On 5/15 RESCUE dog Seth was adopted. Click here for all the details and photos from his adoption.

On 5/16 RESCUE dog Wyatt was adopted. Click here for all the details and photos from his adoption.

On 5/17 RESCUE dog Midas moved into foster care. His foster parents are long time volunteers and foster parents. They have reported that Midas is one of their best foster dogs ever!! This is a photo of him while in foster care.

On 5/18 RESCUE was thrilled to save two more dogs from the kill list. We have little 8 pound Raven. She is a bit timid and afraid of the leash but with patience and love she comes around. And then we have 23 pound Grover! He is such a goofball and looks like a carton character! He was listed as a black Shih Tzu but I don't think that's accurate. He has a very soft, dense fur. It will be interesting to see what he looks like when his fur grows out. He has the face of an Affenpinscher. He has an adorable underbite and is very playful, loving and as mentioned goofy!

We are getting ready to kick off our largest fundraiser of the year - Bowlarama! This event helps us pay for our expenses for about five months. Stay tuned for all the details! We can use all the help we can get in order to reach our goal!

Thank you for all your support and for following our journey!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE

www.azrescue.org

RESCUE Blog update April 28th, 2010

2010-04-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters,

It's been very, very busy at RESCUE! Here's the latest update:

On 4/10 RESCUE dog Jay was adopted! This was a fantastic adoption as Jay had come so far since his arrival to RESCUE. For all the details and photos, please click here and here for an update.

On 4/10 RESCUE dog Adalay was adopted by her foster parents. They snatched her up into foster care as soon as we rescued her from the pound. They were instantly in love. She needed to recover from a cold and get spayed before we could make it official. She is doing very well and now shares her life with a older brother named Coco and her mom and dad!

On 4/10 RESCUE dog Wyatt moved into foster care. Poor Wyatt had developed terrible allergies and needed some more quality care in a foster home. I'm happy to report that he is now doing much, much better.

4/10 RESCUE dog Davy moved into foster care. His foster parents report that he is a PERFECT dog! He is super cuddly, playful with other dogs and so well behaved.

On 4/12 RESCUE was thrilled to be able to save SEVEN cats from the kill list. We have Jude, a beautiful gray kitty. Dylan is a stunning long haired black boy with gorgeous brown highlights. Sicily is a petite silver tabby who has the cutest meow that actually sounds like a duck!! Jude, Dylan and Sicily were found living underneath a house before they were brought to Animal Control. Apparently there were other cats living under the house too but only these three were able to be caught. We also have Rhys, a long haired orange tabby. Rhys has the most beautiful coloring and has a very gentle personality. Eli is a handsome silver tabby that was given up by his owners when they lost their home. Bo is a happy go lucky orange tabby and Rocky is also an orange tabby. Rocky was covered in dirt and oil. :( We gave this cute little apple-headed boy a bath and now he is feeling and looking a world better!

On 4/17 RESCUE held an open house at our Feline Care Center in an effort to provide more exposure to the RESCUE cats. Thanks to a lot of support from our volunteers and supporters, we had a great turn out. We did have one adoption (see below) from the event.

We had a TON of adoptions! To see all the details and photos, click on the RESCUE dog or cats name. Jada, Landon, (click here for an update) Khloe, (click here for an update) Addison, (click here for an update), Riley, Ginger, (click here for an update) Brandy, (click here for an update) Kaylee (click here for an update) Drew!!!

On 4/17 RESCUE dog Gracie moved into foster care. She had a terrible cold but I'm happy to report that she has made big improvements and we expect she'll be going up for adoption shortly.

On 4/20 RESCUE was over the moon to save FOUR dogs lives! We have little Pixie, a 6.3 pound Cairn terrier. She is very cuddly and is happiest in your lap! Then we have three hounds! Leah is the darker and older (3 years old) Blue Tick Hound. Callie is the lighter colored one with a "U" on her forehead! She's a bit more outgoing than Leah. Lastly we have Sara. Sara is probably an Irish Wolfhound mix. She has long leg and ears and scruffy fur. She can be a bit timid but once she gets to know you she is a pretty goofy girl! A huge thanks to two RESCUE supporters who donated some extra money so that we could help save a few more dogs lives. We are so grateful for their support and allowing us to save their lives!

On 4/21 RESCUE dog Lydia moved into foster care. She is enjoying being a spoiled only dog in foster care and her foster parents are enjoying her cute personality!

On 4/27 RESCUE dog Emily moved into foster care too. She is a very sweet, affectionate gal. She loves snuggling with all her human family members and hanging out with her canine foster sisters too!

On 5/1 RESCUE is hosting a car wash - Cinco DOG Mayo - to benefit the dogs and cats of RESCUE. We'd love to have your support of our event by attending or passing on our flyer. Here are all the details!

Well that brings you up to date on all things RESCUE! We greatly appreciate all your support, it really makes a difference and we couldn't do it without you!

Thank you for continuing to follow our journey and we look forward to another great week!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE, a registered 501(c)3

www.azrescue.org

RESCUE Blog update April 7th, 2010

2010-04-07T14:01:00.001-07:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters,

I hope this finds you well. We have a lot to catch you up on but first I want to mention an event that RESCUE is hosting on Saturday, April 17th from noon to 3pm at our Feline Care Center (4122 N. 36th Street, Phoenix). We need your help to spread the word about our event. Do you know someone who is considering adopting a cat or are you thinking of adding a feline friend to your household? This event is for you! We will have over 20 FANTASTIC RESCUE cats awaiting your arrival. They are anxiously looking to meet their potential adopters! We have cats of all ages, sizes, colors and personalities! Each one of them needs a loving forever home! With your help we can find them a home at our event. Please help the cats of RESCUE by posting our event on your Facebook page and/or emailing your co-workers, friends and family asking them to attend and to help us spread the word about our event! With your help our event will be wildly successful and we will be able to find permanent homes for many of our cats. Remember, for every cat we place we are back to save another from the kill list!

And here's what's been going on at RESCUE:

On 3/16 long time RESCUE cat Anastasia was adopted!! We couldn't have been happier for our Annie! She got a wonderful home - click here for all the details and photos and here for a recent update.

On 3/17 RESCUE was honored to save FOUR dogs from the kill list! We have Adalay, who is only 5.4 pounds!! She's very sweet and looks a bit like former RESCUE dog Miriam. She's moving into foster care as I type this. Then we have Brandy who is only about 10 months new. She is a bit timid and appears to have lived her life outside. :( She's not familiar with a leash and is a bit mouthy (it's the puppy in her). She responses very well with encouragement. She looks like chocolate lab, but she's narrow like a Vizsla and currently weighs in at 33 pounds although she is a tall gal. Drew is another youngster who looks like mini version of former RESCUE dog Paige. Drew is only nine pounds and is sooooooooo sweet! Last but not least is Jada. Jada is a solid 67 pound black lab. She knows sit and loves everyone!

On 3/19 RESCUE dog Jacob was adopted! Jacob such a great home, many of our volunteers asked if the adopters would adopt them too! To learn all the details and see photos, click here and for a recent update click here.

On 3/21 RESCUE dog Wyatt was adopted by a retired widower. Unfortunately a couple of days after Wyatt was adopted, his adopter returned him. He was overwhelmed by having dog hair in his home. It had been 15 years since he had a dog and that was a poodle. Sadly he did not realize that dog hair would be a problem for him. RESCUE of course took him back and will continue to work hard to find him his permanent loving home.

On 3/23 RESCUE dog Drew moved into foster care. He has been enjoying his time with his canine foster siblings and getting a lot of love from his foster family.

On 3/25 RESCUE saved Greyson from the kill list. Sadly his big, boy was placed on the kill list because he had diarrhea. :( He was matted and covered in feces when we saved him. I'm happy to report that he has been bathed, groomed and had his teeth cleaned. He couldn't be happier and is a HUGE favorite with our volunteers!

On 3/30 RESCUE saved two dogs from the kill list. We have 8 pound Seth. He is a cute little Chihuahua mix with a part of his ear missing. :( If you rub him just right he'll make a bunch of cute noises. I have it on video so you'll have to check it out to see for yourself.

Then we have 81 pound Ginger. Ginger is an overweight Rottie! She LOVES people despite the fact that her owners gave her up when they moved. With the loving help of our volunteers we will get this "fluffy" girl's weight under control. Our vet discovered that like most Rottie's, Ginger has some issues with her hips. Thankfully she doesn't need any surgery but losing the weight will really be a HUGE help to her. So we decided to move her into foster care. After a week in foster care Ginger has settled in and enjoying daily walks and hopefully as it gets warmer, time in the swimming pool. This is a picture of her in foster care! What a happy girl!

On 4/2 RESCUE dog Jada moved into foster care. Jada is recovering from her recent spay surgery and settling into time with her canine foster brother and loving family.

On 4/2 RESCUE cat Finn was adopted! It was a tough choice for Finn's mom but he pulled out all the stops! To see photos from his adoption and learn about his adoption, click here.

On 4/2 RESCUE cat Savannah got adopted! Our beautiful girl completely stole her new families hearts! Here are the photos and notes from her adoption.

On 4/6 RESCUE was privileged to save THREE dogs from the kill list. We have little Emily. She appears to be a French Bulldog/Chihuahua mix. She is a shy girl but with the help of our volunteers she'll come around. She's tiny but still manages to fit 9 pounds into her little frame! Then we have Kaylee. For our long time supporters Kaylee reminds me of former RESCUE dog Radar, although she is not as energetic - still energetic but not Radar energetic! :) Kaylee is SUPER sweet! She has the most expressive eyes, is a goofball that loves to play fetch but is also happy to curl up for a nap or a belly rub! Kaylee is a Greyhound/Dobie mix weighing in at 57 pounds. She was given up by her owners when they moved. One of our volunteers fell in love with Kaylee's picture and decided to foster her! :) And lastly we have Gracie. Gracie is a gray/brindle Mastiff. She's been a puppy making machine for awhile. :( Even though she is 82 pounds, she is skinny! :( She has your typical laid back Mastiff personality. Gracie has a skin infection and an inflamed eye lid. We are treating both conditions and have her on a high calorie diet to help her gain weight too! If you'd like to help with her medical expenses, please click here. Every dollar helps!

That brings you up to date on all things RESCUE! Please remember to help us spread the word about our Open House on 4/17!!

Thank you for all your support and for following our journey,

Jennifer Berry

President

www.azrescue.org

RESCUE Blog update March 15th, 2010

2010-03-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans,

It's been very busy at RESCUE! Here's a recap:

On 2/27 RESCUE dog Lucy was adopted. Click here for notes from her adoption!

On 3/5 RESCUE filmed a segment for local Fox 10 to promote our upcoming Beauty to the RESCUE event. RESCUE dogs Sonny and Frederick were there to show off their great personalities. They of course were the stars of the show!!

On 3/6 RESCUE dog Wyatt moved into foster care with RESCUE volunteer Khrisann. Wyatt is doing very well and has discovered toys! He is currently having a love affair with a squeaky toy that he carries around everywhere! :)

On 3/7 RESCUE held our 10th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE event. It was a HUGE success! Read all about it and see all photos and videos from the event!

On 3/7 RESCUE dog Sonny moved into foster care with RESCUE volunteers Brent and Heidi. Sonny is almost an identical twin to Brent and Heidi's dog Breeze who is also a former RESCUE dog. Sonny wasn't in foster long before he was adopted. He was adopted on 3/14! Click here for the details.

On 3/8 RESCUE dog Hazel was adopted! She got a great home. Click here for all the details and photos.

On 3/11 RESCUE held new volunteer orientation. We had about 20 people in attendance. We look forward to having them help the dogs and cats of RESCUE.

On 3/11 RESCUE cats Mason and Daniel were adopted!! They got a wonderful home! Click here for the details and photos from the adoption and here for a recent update!

On 3/13 RESCUE dog Olivia was adopted! Our special little gal got a great new home! Click here for all the details and photos.

On 3/13 RESCUE dog Stella was adopted!! Stella was a big favorite with everyone at RESCUE so we couldn't be happier for our big girl! Click here for notes about her adoption and for photos.

I think that brings you up to speed on all things RESCUE! Thank you for following our journey and for all your support!

Here's to another great week at RESCUE!!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE Blog update February 22nd, 2010

2010-02-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

I hope this post finds you and yours doing well. Lots to update you on about RESCUE!

On 2/13 RESCUE dog Mina was adopted! Mina got a wonderful new home. For all the details and photos, click here.

On 2/13 RESCUE kicked off our fundraising efforts for our upcoming 10th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE. The event was a great success!! We received $355 in donations.

On 2/14 RESCUE attended Willo's Home Tour event in downtown Phoenix. Our volunteers and RESCUE dogs had a great time. We had a lot of people stop by our table to learn about RESCUE and what we're all about. Click here for photos.

On 2/16 RESCUE was honored to be able to save three new dogs lives. We have Davy who is a Beagle/cocker mix. He's young (about 10 months old) and a bit shy but warms up very quickly and loves to play. Then their is Jacob, a purebred Brittany Spaniel. It's been a while since RESCUE saved a Brittany but we are sure happy we got Jacob. He is an AWESOME dog. He knows sit, stay and shake on both paws. Lastly we have Wyatt. Wyatt is a Beagle mix of some sort. He's about 5-7 years old. He needs a good brushing or two. Fur is falling off him left and right. Unfortunately Wyatt did have an owner but when they abandoned their home, they also left Wyatt inside. When a new renter came to move in, they discovered Wyatt inside and brought him to Animal Control. Thankfully Wyatt's spirits don't seem to be affected by this. He is a happy, affectionate, playful boy. Click on their names for videos from the day we saved each of them.

On 2/18 RESCUE was able to save three new cats and one more dog from the kill list. We have Cole, a handsome, playful orange tabby. He has a minor injury on his tail but that hasn't slowed this boy down. Addison is the pretty long haired black kitty. She looks has an outgoing personality and beautiful green eyes. And then we have Demitri. Demitri is covered in mats, oil and dirt. However, he is so loving a gentle, albeit a bit scared of loud noises at the Feline Care Center. He warms up quickly and when Debi and I were brushing him, he promptly laid on his side and held his back leg out for us to brush!!!! He will be so handsome when we get him all cleaned up. Lastly we have Khloe, who is not a cat but a Australian Shepherd that was on the kill list. She was an owner surrender but they gave no reason for giving her up. She is very sweet, playful and affectionate. Click on their names for videos from the day we saved them from the kill list.

On 2/18 RESCUE dog Autumn was adopted! Her story and the story of her new parents is very touching. Click here for photos and all the details.

On 2/20 RESCUE dog Ernie was adopted! His new family loves and adores him. Click here for all the photos and details from his adoption.

On 2/22 RESCUE dog Hazel moved into foster care with Ernie's former foster mom! RESCUE has the best foster parents. Here's what Ernie's foster mom Ashley said after Ernie's adoption "I just wanted to let you know that fostering Ernie was ultimately a really wonderful and worthwhile experience. I would love to be a foster again!" And so today Ashley picked up her next foster dog Hazel! Hopefully with her help we will be able to help Hazel find her permanent loving home!

RESCUE's 10th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE event is just two short weeks away - Sunday, March 7th!!! We are very excited about the event. Please stop by and enjoy all the fun festivities that we will be happening throughout the event like:

Two live bands

Mini massages

Haircuts

Baked breakfast goods

Sandwich bar

SHOP RESCUE

Silent Auction

Pet Grooming

And of course our Raffle! We have two great prizes this year - A Year of Beauty at Mane Attraction or $500 CASH!!! You do not have to be present to win the raffle and you can purchase your ticket(s) from anywhere. So far 63 of you have bought your raffle tickets for our event! Thank you so much for your support! Please help spread the word and don't forget to get your tickets today at - http://www.azrescue.org/servlet/raffle. Tickets are just $5! 100% of al the proceeds benefit the dogs and cats of RESCUE!

We rely 100% on the support from our animal loving community! Please help spread the word about RESCUE! Thank you for following RESCUE's journey!

Take care,

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE Blog update February 9th, 2010

2010-02-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

I hope you are well! Here's the latest update on all things RESCUE:

On 1/25 RESCUE dogs Mandi and Duke were both adopted. For all the details about their new homes, click on each of their names.

On 1/26 RESCUE was able to save two dogs from the kill list. Ernie and Jay. Ernie is an adorable terrier mix and Jay is a lab/shepherd mix. Click on their names to watch the video from their rescue.

On 1/27 RESCUE was able to go back to the pound again to save Sonny. Sonny had been given up by his owners and after three long weeks with no one adopting him at the pound, he went on the kill list. Thankfully RESCUE was able to take this sweet guy in. Click here for a video of him from the day we saved him.

On 1/28 RESCUE cat Parker was adopted. Click here for all the details.

On 1/30 RESCUE cat Marcel was adopted. Click here for all the details.

On 1/30 RESCUE attended an adoption event up in Anthem. There was a lot of people at the event and our dogs got a lot of exposure. Hopefully some adoptions will result from our time at the event.

On 2/1 RESCUE celebrated it's 15th Anniversary. RESCUE was created to save, care and place the orphaned dogs and cats on the kill list into permanent loving homes! With the help of our volunteers, support from the community and our adopters we have fulfilled that mission over 9,400 times! Hopefully we won't exist in the next 15 years due to an end of euthanasia! But in the meantime we have much work to do on their behalf!

On 2/3 RESCUE dog Ernie moved into foster care. He is doing well and enjoying playtime with his canine foster sister Tina.

On 2/3 RESCUE dog Frederick moved into foster care. Frederick loves being in foster care. He is an older fellow and enjoys the slower pace of foster life. As you can see from his photo he looks great!!!

On 2/6 RESCUE dog Scout was adopted! Scout has a perfect new home with a 125 pound canine big brother to play with!! Click here for photos and here for video from his adoption appointment!

On 2/6 RESCUE held their 15th Annual Volunteer Picnic. RESCUE has over 250 volunteers and we honored over 80 of them for their service to our amazing organization. We have so many fantastic people that help the dogs and cats of RESCUE every single day, year after year. We couldn't save and care for those 9,400+ lives without each and every single one of them! It's truly a privilege to be surrounded by such amazing, generous people! Click here for photos from the event.

RESCUE has several special events this month and next month. This weekend we will be at the Willo Home Tour and will be having a Bake Sale at Mane Attraction (32nd/Camelback) on Saturday from 9-1pm. Please join us at our events, we'd love to tell you more about RESCUE and introduce you to some of our wonderful animals.

Thank you for all your support, for following our journey and for helping to spread the word about RESCUE!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE Blog update January 25th, 2010

2010-01-25T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters!

It's been a busy couple of weeks at RESCUE! Here's the latest:

On 1/16 RESCUE cat Kirby was adopted by former RESCUE adopter of Max. Sadly, Max recently passed away and his Dad was really missing having a feline friend share his home. Kirby was the lucky one that stole his heart!

On 1/16 RESCUE dog Duke moved into foster care. We already have folks interested in adopting him so stay tuned for the next post to learn about his new home!

On 1/17 RESCUE dog Jack was adopted!! Click here for all the details. And here's an update from his new parents: Thanks Jennifer! You guys are doing great things there at rescue. Glad to see more animals have been rescued! Jack is so well behaved, potty trained, and brings us so much personality and fun. We love him! Terry has been so much help to us as well. He seems to be adjusting well. He does really well in the car, and last night he met our friends doxie, Danger, who also loves to have friends. They played so much Jack slept all the way home and all night right through breakfast this morning. Everyone loves him! He had a vet appointment already and won all of their hearts. He seems to be getting plenty of exercise, and when he is done playing, he hops in his bed and there is no moving him for a while.

Thanks for all you are doing with the animals! You guys all do a good job!

Jaime and Jeff.

PS we will send you a new family picture when we get one!

1/19 was a very busy day!! We were lucky enough to save five dogs from the kill list. The new dogs are Henry, Lucy, Lydia, Landon and Sammy. Click on their names for videos from the day we saved them. Henry, Lucy and Lydia all moved into foster care. All are doing very well and enjoying their time in foster care. They should be ready for adoption soon!

RESCUE's social calendar is quite busy over the next month or two. Please visit our event calendar to see a complete list. Please stop by our events and visit our RESCUE dogs.

Thank you for all your support and for following our journey!

Here's to another great week!

Jennifer

RESCUE Blog update January 13th, 2010

2010-01-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hello RESCUE followers,

I hope you are well and enjoying 2010! A lot has been happening at RESCUE in 2010. Here's the latest:

On January 1st, 2010 RESCUE cat Tommy was adopted! Click here for all the details. His new family reports that Tommy, now Enzo is doing very, very well and they all love him very much!

On January 2nd, RESCUE dog Paige was adopted. Click here for all the details. Paige is already being spoiled by her new parents and loves her new canine brother!

On January 4th, RESCUE cat Aidan was adopted. Click here for all the details. Aidan is enjoying his new home and loves to play with his new feline siblings.

On January 4th, long time RESCUE dog George was adopted. Click here for all the details.

On January 5th, RESCUE was honored to start the New Year off by saving two new dogs -Autumn and Olivia. Click here and here for videos from the day we saved them. Both girls have now been spayed but Autumn is currently sick with an upper respiratory infection and Olivia is recovering from having to have multiple teeth removed and two mammary tumors removed. Olivia has the luxury of recovering in foster care and should be ready for adoption next week! A HUGE thank you to her foster mom Kristi for the amazing care she is taking of our little girl!

On January 7th RESCUE held New Volunteer Orientation. We had several dozen new volunteers attend and we look forward to having them join our amazing organization!

On January 9th, RESCUE cat McKenzie and Tasha both were adopted to a wonderful young man. Click here for all the details.

Also on January 9th RESCUE dogs Louie, Xander and Nicolas were all adopted. Click on their names for all the details.

On January 10th RESCUE dog Apple was adopted! Click on her name for all the details.

On January 12th RESCUE was back at Animal Control to save more dogs from the kill list. The new RESCUE additions are Duke, Hazel and Maddox. Click on their names for videos from their rescue. Duke and Maddox will be moving into foster care this weekend so we are looking forward to learning more about them.

I think that's it for now! I hope you have a great week. Thank you for all your support and for following RESCUE's journey!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE

RESCUE Blog update December 4th, 2009

2009-12-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hello RESCUE Fans,

We've been busy with the RESCUE animals since our last post. Here's what's been going on:

One of our recent rescued cats Mason has ringworm!! Poor guy! We are trying him and he has to be kept separate from the other cats but the volunteers are doing their best to keep him company. Hopefully within the next two weeks he will be completely over this.

We conducted a training class for our dog volunteers to help them understand dog body language, how to safely handle them on leash and how to do an introduction with another dogs. We had a dozen new volunteers attend the class. With this new knowledge our volunteers will be able to help provide even better care to our RESCUE dogs.

Unfortunately adoptions have been down a lot this year. Normally this is our busiest time of the year. Hopefully things will pick up soon. Thankfully we did have a number of adoptions - RESCUE cat Charlotte found her new home - click here for the details. RESCUE cat Giselle has a new home for the holidays too. Click here for the details. RESCUE dog Joel was adopted. Here's an update from his new mom. RESCUE dog Josie found a new home. And RESCUE dog Maximus also found his forever home.

RESCUE dog Rex and RESCUE cat Aidan both moved into foster care. They are doing very well. Rex has an adoption appointment this weekend so hopefully you'll be reading about his adoption in our next Blog update!

On 12/1 RESCUE was honored to save two lives from the kill list. Both are black and tan and both are "seniors." Louie is an adorable Beagle/Chihuahua mix. He is a super cuddle bug and wastes no time jumping into your lap! He is 8 years old an about 15 pounds. He had really long nails when we saved him but we have had those clipped so that should add a little more pep into his step. :) Then we have the lovely Mina who is a Black and Tan Hound mix. She is a sturdy 51 pounds and 10 years old. In typical hound fashion, Mina loves to walk and has her nose close to the ground to catch all the wonderful new smells.

We have a number of special events taking place this month and would really appreciate your support. Please attend the events if you can and/or please ask others to do the same. With your help we can raise some much needed funds for our efforts.

Festival of Trees - click here for details.

Photos with Santa - 12/12 and 12/19. Click here for details.

Donations are down substantially this year and the few expenses we do have are way up. We run on a shoestring budget so we do our best to stretch every dollar as far as we can. Please give what you can. Every dollar helps the dogs and cats of RESCUE.

Thank you for your support and for continuing to follow RESCUE's journey!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE's Blog November 9th, 2009

2009-11-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hello RESCUE FANS!

Another busy week for us at RESCUE!!! :) Here's the re-cap:

On 10/29 RESCUE was thrilled to save five cats lives from the kill list!! We have Benny an active short haired black and white kitty, Charlotte a pretty gray and white girl with green eyes, Finn an orange tabby with a really long tail, Aidan a handsome gray boy and Mason a long haired black and white cuddly boy.

The local Whole Foods on Tatum and Shea started a pilot program called "Recycle your change." You can give your spare change to RESCUE. They have containers located at each register. The program runs through January 17th, 2010. If you don't shop at that store but you have some spare change laying around, perhaps you'd consider driving over to the store to drop it off. Every dollar helps!!

On 11/2 RESCUE dog Gretchen was adopted! Click here for the details and here and here for photo/video updates!

On 11/5 RESCUE held New Volunteer Orientation. We welcomed about two dozen new volunteers to our amazing organization!

On 11/5 local Channel 3TV played a segment that they did on RESCUE and some of what we do. Here is a link to that segment. Please forward the link and/or post to your Facebook page. We really appreciate your personal support of our efforts to help the voiceless dogs and cats in need.

On 11/6 RESCUE cat Graham moved into foster care. He is doing very well! Here is a photo of him from foster care.

On 11/7 Two Plates Full celebrated their 20th Anniversary and the wonderful owner Terri decided to have her celebration benefit RESCUE!!! We had several dogs and volunteers at the event which was also attended by World Famous Animal Artist Ron Burns. The event raised over $1,150 for RESCUE!!! Here are photos from the event. HUGE THANKS TO TERRI FOR HER SUPPORT OF OUR EFFORTS!!

On 11/8 RESCUE dog Blue was adopted!! You may recall from previous posts that Blue is the dog that was gravely ill just last month. He had double pneumonia and distemper. Thanks to your generous donations, RESCUE was able to save his life yet again! Today he is completely recovered, gaining weight and growing by the minute!! He got a fantastic new home - click here for all the photos from the happy day!

On 11/8 RESCUE dog Jack moved into foster care. He'll be enjoying plenty of canine rough housing in foster care!!

On 11/8 RESCUE cats Paisley and Izabella were adopted. Paisley is an older kitty who had been returned to us after 8 years. :( Since older kitties are much harder to adopt, Paisley knew it would take some time but we cared and loved her every day until her new mom adopted her, along with fellow "roommate" Izabella. Click here and here for all the details on their adoptions.

Today RESCUE cat Harlow is being adopted by a single dad and his daughter. Harlow will be a spoiled only child in her new home! We are looking forward to seeing photos and updates on her new life.

Well that's it for now.....stay tuned for the next update and as always, thank you for all your support and for following our journey!

I hope you have a great week!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE

RESCUE's Blog October 28th, 2009

2009-10-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Supporters!

Another busy week at RESCUE....

On 10/20 RESCUE was able to save two more lives from the kill list. Rex, a Catahoula mix who had ear infections in both ears and worms. Apple, a long legged Pug with an adorable underbite. Both are doing well and will be up for adoption soon.

On 10/20 RESCUE dog Gabriel was adopted. Click here for details.

On 10/21 RESCUE spent some time with local TV Channel 3 to do a story on the unsettling rise in animal cruelty here in the valley. We do not have a date that this segment will air but we will keep you posted.

On 10/22 RESCUE dog Frasier was adopted into an amazing home. Click here for details.

On 10/22 RESCUE dog Pepe was adopted by his foster parents. They just couldn't let this little guy go. He now shares his home with his canine sister and two parents!

On 10/24 RESCUE held it's Annual Adopter's Picnic. It was a HUGE success! We had over 60 RESCUE dogs in attendance. Here's a re-cap of the contests:

Best Kisser was won by a landslide. RESCUE dog Ginger could have kissed all day!! :)

Best Costume was tough. We had some adorable costumes. RESCUE dog Bonnie Belle (now Mollie Topaz) was dressed to the nines in a lovely pink and white dress and bonnet, all hand made by her mom! RESCUE dog Katina also was very cute in her candy corn outfit. But the winner was RESCUE dog Tad as a frog. When we rescued Tad we fondly referred to this little man as Tad-pole. Tad's new parents thought it was only fitting that since he was all grown up now in his new home that he should be a Frog! What a handsome Frog he was and is!!

Best Trick went to RESCUE dog Bonnie Belle (now Mollie Topaz). For those in attendance for the previous 6 years you'll know that no other RESCUE dog has come close to beating our little Mollie! She didn't disappoint again this year. Her mom brought her agility equipment and even with over 120 people and 60+ dogs looking on, Mollie was calm and performed perfectly much to the delight of us all!

Bobbing for Hot Dogs was the newest contest this year and it was a huge hit! Lots of RESCUE dogs competed in this event....well many "tried" to compete but couldn't quite figure out how to get the piece of hot dog just below the water in the kiddie pool. :0 But then RESCUE dog Mack, now Buddy came over and showed the gang how it was done by grabbing four pieces. RESCUE dog Ellie with her extra long Basset ears tried and while she didn't succeed before the buzzer ended, she did figure it out and then didn't want to get out of the pool!! :0 RESCUE dog Jake and his sister decided to give it ago and came close but RESCUE dog Laney ran away with the competition by eating a whopping eight pieces!!!

Here are the photos and videos (part I and part II) from the picnic.

On 10/25 RESCUE dog Sammy was adopted. Click here for details/photos of the adoption and click here for an update on his first couple of days.

On 10/27 RESCUE was honored to save two more lives from the kill list. Paige is a beautiful Wheaton Terrier mix. Don't let the photos fool you, she is only 16.5 pounds - full grown. Frederick is a handsome Pomeranian who was in just horrible shape when we rescued him. :( His nails are about an inch long, his fur is matted, his skin is dry and inflamed, he is overweight and it doesn't appear that he has ever had his teeth cared for. :( He got his nails and fur taken care of yesterday and will be getting his teeth cleaned today. Hopefully he won't need any pulled. Poor guy! Despite all his ailments, Frederick is a very happy, sweet boy!

On 10/27 RESCUE cats Paisley and Izabella moved into foster care. So far things are going well. Stay tuned for updates.

On 10/28 at midnight RESCUE concluded it's Annual Pet Idol Contest. Votes were coming in fast and furious late last night. Each contestant was determined to win. It was close but former RESCUE dog Tango came away with the win!!! RESCUE cat Amica and former RESCUE cat Romeo came in 2nd and 3rd and both our cat contestants are donating their winnings back to RESCUE!!!! A HUGE thanks to all of you that voted and help spread the word. RESCUE raised just over $6,200 with this fun event!

Tomorrow we will be heading back to Animal Control to save some cats from the kill list so stay tuned for their photos and videos.

Thank you for all your support and for following RESCUE's journey!

Here's to another great week!

Jennifer Berry

President

October 19th, 2009

2009-10-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

We had a pretty exciting week at RESCUE! Here's the scoop:

On 10/10 RESCUE dog Noah was adopted. Noah is a spoiled only canine with a fun, outgoing Bengal cat sister. His parents have been looking for the right dog to add to their family for nearly two years and then they spotted Noah. Once they meet him in person, it just confirmed their feelings - they were smitten with him and he was perfect for them!! Congrats to everyone!!

On 10/12 we introduced RESCUE dog Frasier to a potential adopter but unfortunately he wasn't the right match. However on 10/17 we brought little RESCUE dog Lola over and she was perfect! She will be a spoiled only child with lots of canine friends in the neighborhood to play with. Her new dad is retired and will be spending a lot of time with her and enjoying their many daily walks together! We couldn't be happier for the both of them!

On 10/12 RESCUE dog Pepe moved into foster care and is enjoying play time with his foster sister while he awaits his forever home.

On 10/17 we introduced RESCUE dog Frasier to another potential adopter named Melanie. Since Frasier has some special needs we needed a particular adopter that suits his needs. As of today things are looking very good and we hope that his adoption will be finalized soon!!! Stay tuned.

RESCUE's Pet Idol Photo Contest is in full swing. Round 2 voting will end in two short days and then the Third and Final round will begin! If you haven't voted, please visit our site and cast your vote for your favorite!

National Talk Show Host Rachael Ray began a contest last week called Mutt Madness. Contestants were hand picked amongst thousands of entries. RESCUE was one of the lucky groups to be selected!!! As such we have won $1,000! But we have a chance to win $50,000! Please check out their website and cast your vote for RESCUE. We are on the left side, third bracket down - RESCUE. Voting for his round ends at Midnight, this Sunday, 10/25. If we advance to the next round we win another $1,000 along with the other 31 rescue groups. So please go online today and help support RESCUE and so many other worthy rescue groups around the country.

I am very happy to report that RESCUE dog Blue is 100% healthy now!!! You may recall that Blue had double pneumonia and distemper. Thanks to donations from our animal community RESCUE was able to provide the life-saving care that Blue needed. He will be neutered this week and then be available for adoption. This photo is of him from this past weekend! He has grown and put on weight! He looks so good! HUGE thanks to those of you that made a donation on his behalf. We greatly appreciate your support!

This Saturday is RESCUE's Annual Adopter's Picnic! We are very, very excited about this event! We have over 60 former RESCUE dogs scheduled to attend the event. We will have photos and videos from the event posted on our Facebook page after the event!

Again, please don't forget to vote for RESCUE in the Mutt Madness!

We hope you have a great week! Thank you for all your support and for following our journey!

Jennifer Berry

President

October 4, 2009

2009-10-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE fans,

The cooler weather has finally arrived. Hopefully it will stay for awhile! :)

Lots to update you on since my last post....

On 9/23 RESCUE kicked off our Third Annual Pet Idol Photo Contest. We have a bunch of adorable stories and photos. Tomorrow the first round of voting will begin. This fundraiser benefits the dogs and cats of RESCUE and we greatly appreciate your support. Click here to enter your favorite pet and/or to vote.

On 9/24 RESCUE dog Xander had surgery to repair his dislocated hip. Xander came through the surgery with flying colors and is recovering very well in his foster home. Today he had his stitches removed and thanks to the love, care and patience of Xander's foster parents we expect that he will make a full recovery. Click here to see post-surgery photos.

On 9/25 RESCUE dog Riley moved into foster care. He is doing really well and his foster mom is enjoying this very animated and playful boy!

On 9/30 RESCUE cat Anastasia had surgery to remove a pin in her leg. Several years ago Ana was attacked by a dog and we had to perform surgery to fix her leg. We started to notice one of the pins working its way out so we had to have that removed. Her leg has completely healed and she is back to her normal self.

On 10/1 RESCUE dog Hunter was adopted. Hunter has a fairly busy life now with 6:30 am play dates with the neighborhood dogs, walks, hanging out with this new family and their friends. But he still has time to snuggle with his new mom and dad who just adore him. They love his personality and his one blue eye - it's very unique and special just like Hunter! Hunter and his parents will be joining us at the Adopter's Picnic and he says he's looking forward to seeing you there!! Congrats Hunter!!

On 10/2 RESCUE dog Blue had to be admitted to the emergency hospital. He had been battling an upper respiratory illness and within a very short period of time he developed double pneumonia and distemper. :( Both these conditions are life threatening if not treated properly and in the case of distemper it needs to be treated very quickly. So on Friday evening Blue was admitted to the hospital so that he could receive 24 hour care to help him battle these illnesses. He received three injections to treat the distemper, was placed on numerous IV drugs and placed in a nebulizer to help loosen up the terrible congestion in both his lungs. Early on Saturday morning I received an update from the vet stating that Blue has improved substantially and if all went well after his 6pm treatment Blue would be able to go home around 10pm on Saturday. Blue was released to his wonderful foster parents on Saturday night and they couldn't have been happier to see him again. Resting comfortable back in foster care Blue has continued to improve and is become more and more animated with each passing hour!! We couldn't be happier for Blue!

Blue's treatment wouldn't have been possible without the medical care available at Sonora Veterinary Hospital. Unfortunately the care required to save Blue's life did not come cheap. Thankfully RESCUE does receive a discount as a non-profit but even with the discount the cost of Blue's treatments were $2,400!! If you or anyone you know is able to help us cover Blue's expenses, we would greatly appreciate it. Every dollar helps! You can make an online tax deductible donation of any amount by clicking here.

This photo is of Blue in foster care prior to going into the hospital! As you can see the poor guy was exhausted! If Blue fully recovers and is not adopted before the Adopter's Picnic we will bring him along so you can meet the dog who cheated death at Animal Control and then again from these terrible illnesses. When I rescued Blue I had toyed with the idea of naming him Lucky but because of his coloring I decided on Blue. Apparently Blue is Lucky after all!!!

On 10/3 long time RESCUE cat Luigi was adopted!!! This was a great day for all of us at RESCUE. Click here for the photos and details. We couldn't be happier for Luigi, now Hoffer and his new dad! Stay tuned for future updates.

On 10/3 RESCUE cat Sadie moved into foster care. She is enjoying time with her foster mom and life as a spoiled only kitty. This is a photo of her in foster care.

Don't forget to enter your pet in Pet Idol or you can vote for your favorite starting tomorrow!

We greatly appreciate all your support and thank you for following RESCUE's journey!

Here's to another great week!

Jennifer Berry

President

September 22nd, 2009

2009-09-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

I hope you are enjoying the first day of Fall! Here is what's been happening with RESCUE:

On 9/11 we discovered that RESCUE dog Xander has terrible hips, particularly the left hip. Sadly Xander's left hip is completely dislocated. Since this is a genetic condition for him and he is still young, it is not particularly painful at the moment, although we do have him on pain medication. In addition to his hip issues Xander had been suffering from a doggie cold so we could not perform the surgery until he was healthy. On 9/24 Xander will go in for surgery to repair his left hip. We expect that he will have a recovery time of 4-6 weeks. We have created a Facebook page just for Xander so please become a fan if you'd like to receive real time updates on him and his journey through this process.

On 9/15 RESCUE was honored to be able to save FOUR dogs lives from the kill list. Please welcome Maximus (or Max for short)! He is a STUNNING purebred black lab. He knows sit and shake and is about 2 years old. He is a typical lab - lots of snobbery love! Then we have Blue and Scout, Great Dane youngsters!! Blue is about 9 months old, is blue in color and probably has some Mastiff in him too. Blue is the "less" active of the two but the bigger boy at 62 pounds!! Scout is about 7 months old, white with tan spots, green eyes and a floppy ear! Scout is skinny weighing in at only 46 pounds but he is ALL PUPPY!!! He will happily greet you with his paws on your shoulders and his nose and mouth in your face!!! :) And then we have our "small" guy of the bunch, Riley who is a black and tan terrier, about 25 pounds and very cute and affectionate!!

On 9/17 RESCUE dog Hunter moved into foster care. As you can see he is doing very well and enjoying his foster home while he continues to recover from his cold.

On 9/20 RESCUE dog Blue moved into foster care and promptly came down with a cold too! I don't think he's suffering too much! This is him in foster care!! Apparently he's working on a yoga pose in his sleep!!

On 9/20 long RESCUE cat Luigi (also known as W.C. Fields) was adopted! He got the best home!! While the RESCUE volunteers have cared and loved Luigi for a long, long time, we couldn't be happier for Luigi and his new dad. They are going to be just perfect together!!! Click here for photos.

On 9/20 RESCUE cat Kingsley was adopted! Kingsley was saved from the kill list after he was given up by his previous owner of three years due to allergies. Kingsley was just beside himself after being abandoned. Not wanting to eat and patiently sitting by the door waiting for his previous owners to come for him. :( But today is a new day and a new beginning for this big handsome boy! His new home has a couple of felines and canines to help keep him company. Kingsley is such a laid back easy going boy that he gets along great with all of them. Although one of his favorite activities is to hang out in the window to observe the birds just outside the window. He has also become a bit more talkative in his new home - always happy to share stories with his new mom! :)I'm happy to report that the hole that was left in Kingsley heart is now overflowing with love from his new family! They are so happy to share their home with him and look forward to a long happy life together!! You deserve it big boy!!!!

On 9/21 RESCUE held new volunteer orientation. We had about 25 new volunteers in attendance. We are so excited to have them join our team! We look forward to seeing them out and about with the dogs and the cats!

On 9/23 RESCUE's Third Annual National Pet Idol Photo contest begins. Click here for more details.

On 9/24 RESCUE dog Xander will be having his hip surgery. Please send your good thoughts his way for a speedy and healthy recovery. We'll keep you posted.

Well that brings you up to speed on all things RESCUE! Thank you for following our journey and don't forget to refer a friend to our page!

Here's to another wonderful week!

Jennifer Berry

Executive Director, RESCUE

September 10th, 2009

2009-09-10T13:53:00.001-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

Here's an update on the past week at RESCUE:

On 9/1 RESCUE saved three dogs from the kill list. Gabriel is a American Eskimo (Eskie) mix. Hunter is a red Merle Cattle dog that was given up by his previous owners because he was too big. Hunter is 38 pounds by the way. And Xander is a red Lab/Boxer mix. All three boys were recently neutered but have since come down with colds so they won't be available for adoption for a little while longer.

On 9/3 RESCUE was able to save another cat from the kill list. Savannah is a gorgeous diluted Calico. This young kitty has already been a mom in her short life. :( She is recovering from an infection in her mammary glands and a kitty cold. She is being cared for by our loving volunteers and we expect she'll make a full recovery soon.

On 9/5 the adorable, smart blue Merle Cattle dog Billie was adopted! Click here for the details on his adoption and photos.

On 9/8, RESCUE's gentle giant Orion was adopted! He got a wonderful home and in the spirit of giving, Orion, now Shadow will be doing his part by becoming a therapy dog! We think he'll do very well and bring smiles to many, many people. Click here for all the details and photos from his adoption and click here for an update from his new family.

On 9/9 RESCUE cat Kingsley moved into foster care. You may recall that Kingsley was the cat that was given up by his owners of three years due to allergies. Kingsley has been a bit despondent due to his loss but hopefully in foster care he'll learn to trust and love again.

On 9/9 RESCUE dog Janey was adopted. She is now sharing her new home with a big (100 pounds) canine brother! They are best friends already. Click here for all the details and photos.

RESCUE has a lot of fun events coming up over the next couple of weeks. Including our Annual Pet Idol Photo Contest and Annual Adopter's Picnic. Stay tuned for all the details.

Please don't forget to refer a friend to RESCUE!

Thank you for all your support,

Jennifer Berry

8/30/09 Update

2009-08-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

Here's the latest since our last Blog update:

On 8/22 RESCUE dog Stella and RESCUE cat Marcel moved into foster care.

Stella has since been spayed but unfortunately has come down with a doggie cold. :(

Marcel is doing well in foster care but the resident kitty is not at all happy about him being there. Hopefully she'll adjust to that cute little man as time goes by!! :)

On 8/25 RESCUE was privileged to save three dogs lives from the kill list. We have Jack a young, rambunctious Corgie mix with eyes that match his fur. Jack was at Animal Control for 31 days!! After going to off-site adoption events and not being adopted RESCUE stepped in to save him. Lola is a feisty, black and tan 5 year old Chihuahua. She loves to play! Don't let the video fool you - Lola is a tiny gal weighing only 6 pounds!! Joel is also a 6 pound little man. Joel didn't have the best life before we took him in. He has a gash on the side of his head that is now healing and several other scars all over his little body. :( I'm happy to report that Joel moved into foster care on 8/27 and is doing very well. He loves to play with his foster brother and sister that are as tiny as him and now has his very own t-shirt that he proudly sports around the house!

On 8/27 RESCUE was honored to save four cats lives from the kill list. We have Daniel a very handsome orange tabby with a very unique color pattern. Graham a white and orange kitty that was given up by his owners when they moved. He sat at Animal Control for over a month with no one adopting him. Graham has a sore over his right eye that we are treating. Kingsley is a big orange boy with furry feet! Kingsley is an "old soul" kitty that was sadly given up by his owners due to allergies. And lastly we have the very affection Nico. Nico is a handsome black and white kitty with silky soft fur and a great personality.

On 8/28 RESCUE cat Austin was adopted by one of RESCUE's long time volunteers Alissa and her husband William. They had lost their beloved cat of 14 years earlier this year. They liked several RESUE kitties but Austin was the lucky one.

On 8/29 RESCUE dog Neda was adopted by an active single woman. Neda will now enjoy long daily walks, hikes up Squaw Peak and leisurely Sunday mornings around the Biltmore area! Stay tuned for photos and updates.

On 8/29 RESCUE dog Billie moved into foster care.

On 8/30 RESCUE cat Duchess moved into foster care.

It was a busy week for RESCUE and we hope next week is even busier!

Please ask a friend to become a Fan of RESCUE!

Thank you for all your support and for following our journey.

Jennifer Berry

President

August 21st, 2009

2009-08-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

Here is a re-cap since our last Blog update:

On 8/4 RESCUE dog Orion moved into foster care. He has been recovering from kennel cough and putting on some much needed weight. We anticipate that he should be over his cold soon and then available for adoption.

On 8/6 RESCUE dog Nate was adopted. Click here for the notes and photos from his adoption and click here to see the latest update.

On 8/8 RESCUE dog Ringo was adopted by past RESCUE adopters of RESCUE dog Chip. Click here and here for photos.

On 8/12 RESCUE Gretchen moved into foster care. You may recall (first photo is from her rescue) that Gretchen was in horrific condition when we rescued her. In addition to her tick covered body, her fur was severely matted and needed to be shaved completely off. :( It's no surprised that she also had a bacteria and yeast infection.

As you can see, (second photo is of her in foster care) she look FANTASTIC now!! She is continuing to receive medicated baths in foster care and we're working on her loosing a few pounds.

On 8/13 RESCUE dogs Frasier and Mindi moved into foster care.

On 8/13 RESCUE dog Roxy was adopted. We hope to receive an update and photos from her new mom soon. Stay tuned.

On 8/14 RESCUE cat Erica was adopted by the same family that recently adopted RESCUE cat Harriet. Click here for notes and photos.

Unfortunately I received another email from Animal Control yesterday stating that they are completely full at both of their locations. Sadly this is the third time this summer this has happened. :( Over the last ten years, I don't remember that ever happening. :( Please spread the word - ask people to adopt and if you know of someone who is considering giving up their pet, please try to help them keep their pet. Every little bit helps reduce the number of animals being killed each day. RESCUE will continue to do it's part to save and care as many as we can.

On 8/18 RESCUE was privileged to save two additional dogs from the kill list. Billie is a stunning Blue Merle Cattle dog that had been at the pound for 10 days. Billie is a smart, young and affectionate dog. He is currently recovering from a doggie cold and then when he is healthy we will neuter him and he'll be available for adoption. Click here for a video of Billie. Stella is a gorgeous white Boxer. She is 55 pounds of licking, leaning and loving!! She is your typical Boxer - exploring everything with her mouth, can't be close enough to her friends, a non-stop wiggle butt, can run circles around everyone and still has tons of energy to play with other dogs!! She is moving into foster care tomorrow, will need to be spayed and then will be available for adoption. Click here to watch a video of her.

Thank you for following our journey and for all your support!

Here's to another great week!!!

Jennifer Berry

August 2, 2009

2009-08-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Fans!

We've been very busy since our last update. On 7/23 we had a fundraiser at Rosita's. Over 200 supporters showed up for lunch and dinner. We raised $250 for the event. Rosita's matched that amount bringing the total for the event to $500.

On 7/28 RESCUE was honored to saved four new lives from the kill list. Pepe is an adorable, young Manchester terrier mix, Sammy is a Lhasa mix, Gretchen is a red cocker spaniel and Noah is a sheltie. Sammy and Gretchen were in terrible condition when we rescued them. They were covered in ticks, their fur was drenched in urine and matted to the skin. :( Both dogs were promptly shaved down and now look and feel a world better!! Click here for Gretchen and Sammy's post grooming photos. Noah sat at Animal Control for three weeks before we saved him. Noah had a terrible infection on his neutering site and was limping on his back right leg. We are monitoring his leg that may have suffered a soft issue injury. Shortly after we rescued Noah his infection became much worse and literally ate a quarter size whole in his skin. :( Thanks to our fast acting vets, his infection was brought under control immediately and he is doing a ton better. Both Noah and Sammy have now moved into foster care.

On 7/29 long time RESCUE cat Harriet was adopted. She is currently a spoiled only kitty but the adopters are considering adding another RESCUE cat to keep her company. We'll keep you posted.

On 8/1 RESCUE attended the 7th annual Bowlarama. We had a blast bowling with our fellow animal rescuers. Additionally this event is RESCUE's largest fundraiser. After several months with dozens and dozens of volunteers and hundreds and hundreds of donors, RESCUE very proudly raised a WHOPPING $47,129!!!!! HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!! These funds are a huge help to our organization. They will help us save and care for the orphaned dogs and cats that we save from the kill list for about 4-5 months! We greatly appreciate all the support of this event. We could not have done this without the dedication of our volunteers and the generous support of our donors. Thank you so much!

July 21st, 2009

2009-07-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE followers!

Here's the latest RESCUE update:

On 7/10 RESCUE dog Merlin was adopted. You may recall that Merlin is the dog with lymphoma. Merlin found the most amazing home with Tammy and Frank. They have created a blog for him. Here's the link.

On 7/11 RESCUE held a "Topless" car wash. Some folks were a bit upset by this as they thought human beings, specifically women were going to be topless. :0 Despite the fact that public nudity is illegal, all our human volunteers (including the men) did have their tops on. The dogs, however did not! :) The dogs were only wearing their sporty swim trunks!! The event was a great success and brought in $950. Here are some photos and video from the event.

On 7/11 RESCUE also had a Bead Party which generated $500 towards ou life saving efforts! Big thanks to RESCUE volunteer Karen for all her efforts in hosting the lovely event at her home. Here are photos from the event.

On 7/17 RESCUE held an Ice Cream Social at Noble Beast Pet Market. We had a great time and the humans and the canines enjoyed their tasty cool treats. The event raised $250. Here are photos from the event.

On 7/20 RESCUE dog Murray was adopted. He got an awesome home with a wonderful home. Murray and the 11 year old boy are already best buddies. Murray will have lots of fun in the pool, hiking, camping and time at the families cabin in Pine.

On 7/21 RESCUE dog Danny was adopted. You may recall Danny was a very, very thin and sick dog when we rescued him. He was only 12 pounds when we saved him now he is a healthy 20 pounds!!! He is also overcoming his shyness and his new parents are very patient and loving. He will be doted on and cared for all the days of his life.

We are looking forward to seeing all of them and other past RESCUE dogs at our upcoming Adopter's Picnic on 10/24!!! More details will follow but all past RESCUE adopters are welcome.

RESCUE has been working very hard raising money for our largest fundraiser of the year - Bowlarama. The event is next weekend. Our goal is to raise $45k! That's sure is a lot of money but it's the bare bones minimum we need to save and care for the dogs and cats of RESCUE for about 4-5 months. With lots of support from the community we have already raised $35k!!!!!!! THAT'S AMAZING!!! For those of you that have made donations or asked folks to make donations - THANK YOU SO MUCH!! We could not do this without your support! Dogs like Murray, Merlin and Danny were once discarded and made their way onto the "kill list. But thanks to your support they are now in loving, permanent homes! Your donations help us continue to save dogs (and cats) just like them. If you haven't made a donation, please make one today! Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated!!

Thank you for following RESCUE's journey. We look forward to seeing you again!

Here's to a great week!!!

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE

July 9th, 2009

2009-07-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE followers,

Lots to catch you up on so let's get started!!!

On 6/27 RESCUE held two fundraisers - a Bake Sale and an event at Tommy Bahama's. The Bake sale helped generate $250 and the Tommy Bahama event brought in 6 bags of dog food and $115 in donations from the public. Tommy Bahama's donated 10% of their sales that day to RESCUE as well totaling $2,000!!! HUGE thank you to Mane Attraction and Tommy Bahama's for their support!!

On 6/28 RESCUE dog Kole was adopted by past RESCUE adopters of Davy, now Chunk.

On 6/25 we put RESCUE dog Merlin back up for adoption. We are very happy with how well he is responding to his chemo drug and we expect at least another year of life for him!!!

On 6/25 RESCUE dog Shani was adopted by her foster parents. Here's a recap of Shani's story.

On 7/4 RESCUE dog Danny bolted out the front door of his foster home. After days and days of searching by the loving, dedicated RESCUE volunteers we finally found him at Animal Control on 7/8. He's a bit dirty but no worse for the wear!! Thank goodness!!

On 7/5 RESCUE dog Sigmund was adopted. He will be the spoiled only child, which we know he will love!!

On 7/7 RESCUE had the honor of saving three new lives. Frasier, Janey and Murray. Janey is moving into foster care today and Frasier might be moving into foster care soon too.

We have just three short weeks left with our Bowlarama fundraiser. We have raised just over $25k!!! But we need to raise another $20k more to help cover our expenses to care and feed the RESCUE dogs and cats. You can help support our efforts by attending RESCUE's "Topless" Car Wash this Saturday from 8am to 1pm, click on the link for more details. The event will feature the RESCUE dogs in their sporty bathing suit bottoms but given the heat, the dogs will be throwing caution to the wind and going "topless" for the event!! :)

Thank you for all you for following RESCUE's journey. Please spread the word!

June 24th, 2009

2009-06-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Followers:

Here's a recap of last week:

On 6/18 RESCUE was honored to rescued six cats from the kill list. Please click on their names to see videos of each of the kitties. Austin, Harlow, Izabella, Kirby, Marcel and Sadie. They are recovering from kitty colds at the moment. Once they are healthy we will spay and neuter them and place them up for adoption.

On 6/19 RESCUE dog Misti was adopted. She was adopted by a young couple who recently lost their canine friend. Misti will be a spoiled only child with lots of attention from her mom who works from home and hikes in the nearby park.

On 6/20 RESCUE dog Kira was adopted by her amazing foster parents. You may recall Kira's story from a previous blog. Her foster parents were instrumental in her blossoming into the happy-go-lucky dog she is today. We are so happy for her and her new family.

On 6/22 RESCUE dog Jake was adopted. Jake now enjoys his home with another older Chessie and his new dad. He gets to go to work with him every day, go swimming, walks and of course tons of time to play ball!!

On 6/23 RESCUE was privileged to save two dogs from the kill list. Mindi a young terrier mix and Neda a brindle aussie mix. Both will be ready for adoption soon.

RESCUE dog Merlin is doing well. We changed his chemo medication again and it seems to be working well. We'll know more after his vet exam later this week. We'll keep you posted.

RESCUE's Bowlarama fundraiser is in full swing. We have five weeks left to reach our goal of $45,000. This will enable us to continue to save and care for formerly orphaned dogs and cats on the kill list for about 4-5 months. Please make a donation to support our efforts! With the economy suffering donations are down dramatically but the dogs and cats still need us desperately. Donations of any amount are appreciated! Click here to donate!

Thank you for your continued support! We hope to see again next week!

June 15th, 2009

2009-06-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE Followers!

Here's a recap of the last week at RESCUE:

On 6/7 RESCUE cat Marley was adopted. Marley was adopted by past RESCUE adopters of Remington Steele, now Rhett. Please click on the above link for all the details.

On 6/8 RESCUE dog Shani was spayed. Shani is the dog we saved with a horrendous case of Demodex. She has made a remarkable recovery. She has her own Facebook page. Please take a moment to check out her story. She will soon be ready for adoption!!! What an amazing dog!!!

On 6/9 RESCUE was privileged to save two dogs lives. Tyler is adorable lab/vizsla mix. Roxy is a spunky cattle dog mix. Roxy is being spayed today and Tyler will be neutered on Wednesday. Both will be available for adoption later this week.

On 6/10 RESCUE cat Delaney was adopted. Delaney was adopted by past RESCUE adopters of Fergie, now Tycho. Please click on the above link for all the details.

On 6/10 RESCUE cat Jonas was adopted. Jonas was adopted by former adopters of RESCUE cat Chantilly. Please click on the above link for all the details.

On 6/11 RESCUE dog Merlin had his one week follow up vet appointment. Unfortunately, we weren't pleased with his progress so far. But we have adjusted his medication, increased his food intake and hopefully that will make a difference. On 6/15 we adjusted his medication again. Hopefully with the new chemo drug he will fair better. He is eating well and appears to have put on some weight. He will have another vet appt later next week.

On 6/12 RESCUE cat CiCi moved into foster care. We'll keep you posted on her time in foster care.

On 6/13 RESCUE cat Lelah and her kitten Tasha had a meet and greet with potential adopters. They are not ready to adopt yet and Lelah and Tasha won't be available for adoption for at least another month. Everyone enjoyed each others company. We'll see if things work out next month. We'll keep you posted.

Thank you for continuing to follow RESCUE's journey. We appreciate your support and hope that you will help spread the word about the work RESCUE does to help save and care for the orphaned dogs and cats on the "kill list."

I hope you have a great week and we look forward to seeing you again.

June 7th, 2009

2009-06-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome back fellow RESCUE followers! Thank you for following RESCUE's journey to save the dogs and cats on the "kill list."

Here's an update on the last week at RESCUE:

On 5/28 RESCUE cat Esme was adopted. She will be the spoiled only kitty. Her new dad just adores her. He promises to send new photos of her in her new home soon.

On 5/30 RESCUE dog Tara was adopted. Tara's new home is with two beautiful white whippets. Tara and her new sisters Ava and Bella become instant friends. Tara's new name is Callie. She was having a blast when we left her and her new parents sent an update that they are overjoyed with Callie and how well she is fitting in!

On 5/31 RESCUE dog Gretel was adopted. Gretel, now Topsy was adopted by the adopters of former RESCUE dog Willie. Her new parents have a place here in the valley and up north. Willie now Sporty will undoubtedly show Gretel/Topsy all the wonders of living near a forest...all the birds, squirrels, bunnies and lizards that they must patrol! More photos of the family to follow.

On 6/1 RESCUE kicked off the seventh annual Bowlarama fundraiser. This event is RESCUE's primary fundraiser. It provides funds for our life saving efforts for about four - five months. Please consider making a donation today of any size. Every dollar adds up and makes a difference.

The number of animals being abandoned in Maricopa Country has reach epidemic proportions. It's very, very sad that so many animals are being dropped off at Animal Control, the Humane Society, with rescue groups, left abandoned in homes and to wonder the streets. RESCUE receives dozens of emails and phones asking for help every single day. It is estimated that between the Humane Society and the two local Animal Control facilities that 120,000 dogs and cats will make their way into those shelters in 2009!!! Sadly that does not include the countless other dogs and cats that good Samaritans take in and find homes for. I have been involved in the animal movement here in the valley for over ten years and I have never seen things so bad. In an effort to help our city help save more animals from being needlessly killed RESCUE issued a challenge. We felt that Arizona needed help in a BIG way. Someone with the ability to get the word out there and effect a change in our city. Oprah's name came to mind. We asked all of our contacts to reach out to all of their contacts to try and get in touch with the folks at the Oprah Winfrey show. Believe it or not but several people who knew people with her show. We did hear back from a couple of their producers. Unfortunately they are on summer break. They will consider us for a story in the future. While I hope that they produce a show on the problem here in the valley, I am disappointed that we couldn't get something going now. The summer months mean even more dogs and cats are going to be abandoned and killed. We need help now!! We aren't giving up and are looking into other options for national exposure. Hopefully we will have good luck! The animals are counting on us!

RESCUE dog Danny (white/tan) is ill with a doggie cold and it

appears that RESCUE dog Mandi (white/black) and caught the same cold. :( As you may recall Danny is very, very thin. Thankfully he is eating and both are in good spirits. Hopefully they will do MUCH better this week. Keep you posted.

On 6/2 RESCUE dog Merlin went to the vet to have an exam. He had been very picky about eating and we thought he might have a problem with one of his teeth. Unfortunately we received terrible news. Merlin did not have a problem with this teeth. He had tumors in his throat that were caused by lymphoma. :( This form of cancer is not curable. We can only treat Merlin with a form of chemo therapy (pill form), a high quality diet and some anti-inflammatory medication. At this point the best case scenario for Merlin is six months. Next week he will have a follow up vet appointment that will determine if the chemo medication is working or not. We will do everything we can to keep Merlin comfortable. Thankfully he is not in any pain and after starting his medications he is back to eating well so we are happy about that. We will keep you updated on his progress. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

On 6/5 RESCUE dog Hank was adopted. Hank found a wonderful home with a very loving family. He has a ton of new brothers, sisters and canine friends. Hank was overjoyed with all the love and attention that they showered on him. He certainly deserves every bit of it! We are so happy for him and his new family.

On 6/7 RESCUE dog Kole and RESCUE cat Marley have adoption appointments. I don't have the results of those adoptions at the moment so stay tuned for next week's update for those notes.

Thank you again for following RESCUE's journey. Please help spread the word about our efforts and we look forward to seeing you again.

Kira's Story

2009-06-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about a RESCUE dog Kira that we recently rescued. Kira is a white and tan colored cocker spaniel. When we saved her she had been at Animal Control for five days. She also had an injury to her eye, a condition called cherry eye. This condition is easily treated. She had surgery to repair her eye the day after we saved her. While examining her the vet also found that she had an ulcer on that same eye. This ulcer covered nearly her entire eye. This is a very painful condition. Thankfully she didn’t have to endure that pain anymore. While she was under anesthesia we also spayed Kira. Kira has completely recovered and does not require any future medical treatment for her eye. Kira’s medical and boarding expenses total $840.

So those are the “facts” of Kira’s rescue. Let me tell you a different story about Kira. When I rescued Kira I was struck by her “empty” gaze. She seemed hollow, vacant or maybe the best word is resigned. It just broke my heart. Obviously she had an injury to her eye but that didn’t seem to bother her. Her heart and spirit seemed broken. I took her out of her kennel and walked her inside to a quiet room. As I spent time with her I found her to be a sweet but timid dog. She was extremely hand shy. When I stood up, she rolled onto the floor and showed me her belly. :( Of course I felt horrible that I had scared her with such a normal, subtle movement.

This is a photo of Kira from the day of her rescue. I’m sure you can see the look in her eyes. She has no spark in her eyes. She seems to have given up on life, on love, friendship, companionship, fun and all the good things in life.

I knew RESCUE could help her. There had to be a little spark of hope left within her. RESCUE has the most caring, dedicated, loving and patience volunteers. We would love and care for on her terms. We would be patient. We would show her that people can be kind, gentle, loving and fun. As the days past and she completely recovered from her surgeries our volunteers began interacting with Kira. Sometimes we just sat in the grass under a shade tree. Sometimes we walked her around the nearby lake. Or brushed her clean soft fur. The days turned into weeks. We could see that spark start to flourish within her. She started to wag her tail, she had a bit of a pep in her step, she seemed to be enjoying our company!!! YAHOO!!! We couldn’t have been happier for her! Our little lost soul had been “found.” We knew there was no turning back now!!

Kira was starting to play with other dogs, she was running around with them, ears flopping in the wind, she even started to play with toys!!! Our young precious girl was beginning to enjoy life and was on her way to becoming a happy go lucky dog!!

This is Kira now. I think she is smiling in this photo! She has moved into foster care and is now learning what it means to live in a house. She was petrified of the TV and ran from the room when it was turned on. When the air conditioning turned on she flinched. She ran into the screen door (well I think we can all say that we have done that a time or two)! But Kira was learning quickly. After just just two weeks in foster care she has adjusted to all these crazy things! She also likes the family kitty, dogs, the swimming pool and TOYS! She is completely housebroken, doesn’t bark, sleeps on her dog bed and is just as sweet as pie!!!

I’m very happy to say that Kira definitely has a spark in her eyes now. Kira is no longer resigned. Kira is a hopeful, happy, silly and loving dog!!! She will await her forever home in foster care. Someone will be very lucky to have such an amazing companion to share their life with. RESCUE is thankful for the opportunity to be apart of Kira’s story. We are honored that we could help her love again.

While RESCUE’s volunteers have freely given of their heart and their time, unfortunately Kira’s medical and boarding expenses are not free. We are hoping that you can help us with that part. Donations of any size help and every single dollars adds up. Please make a donation today! You can make a secure tax deductible donation online at – www.firstgiving.com/bowlarama2009, or you can send a check to RESCUE, 4747 E. Elliot, #29-415, Phoenix, AZ 85044. Additionally, please forward Kira’s story to your friends, family and co-workers. While Kira can’t physically speak to us, I have no doubt that she is eternally grateful to all of us for believing in her and not giving up on her!! We think she is priceless and are so grateful she didn’t give up on us!

Thank you for your support,

Jennifer Berry

President

RESCUE, a registered 501©3 not for profit

www.azrescue.org

May 28th, 2009

2009-05-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE followers! Here's what's been going on at RESCUE:

On 5/15 RESCUE dog Kira moved into foster care. She is doing AWESOME! You may recall that she was the dog we saved with the cherry eye and the ulcer on her eye... additionally Kira was quite despondent when we rescued her. :( I am very happy to report that through the love and care of RESCUE's volunteers Kira has become playful, loving and happy. Her foster mom Susan continues to help her flourish and Kira is becoming quite animated! We couldn't be happier for her! New photos will follow soon.

On 5/22 RESCUE dog Bailey was adopted. His adopter is a former RESCUE adopter of Skittles, now Mia. Bailey and Mia are best buds already and have been playing non-stop! :) Joe, the adopter promises to send us photos soon of the happy family!

On 5/23 RESCUE dog Hank moved into foster care with Bailey's former foster mom Jessica. Bailey was Jessica's first foster dog so she was understandable sad (but happy) when Bailey was adopted. Jessica helped Bailey so much with his confidence and manners and we have no doubt that she'll help our young boy Hank in the same manner. Stay tuned for updates.

On 5/26 RESCUE dog Gretel moved over to our doggie day care location. She is going to have an adoption appointment with the adopter of former RESCUE dog Willie. He has an awesome life and we think Gretel and him will be fantastic playmates. Stay tuned.

On 5/27 RESCUE was privileged to save two more lives. Mandi is a white and black adorable young terrier mix. She is so spunky and fun. When I look at her video now, I think I should have named her Flower. She was a CUTE black stripe up the underside of her tail. She will need to be spayed before going up for adoption but I'm sure she won't be with us for long!! Danny is a whippet/beagle mix, weighing a mere 12 pounds!!! :( He is just skin and bones. But despite that he has an amazing loving personality. He moved into foster care shortly after we rescued him. I'm sure he'll get fattened up in no time. Danny was at Animal Control for nearly a month before we stepped in. He also had some sort of cloth embedded into his neck. :( He lost nearly all his fur on his neck but it is growing back in. We'll get Danny up to a healthy weight, build up his confidence and he'll be a happy go lucky doggie in no time!!

We have several adoption appointments over the next couple of days - thank goodness! It's very unbearable slow on the adoption front. All the groups are suffering, not only from lack of adoptions but with being filled beyond capacity with dogs and cats.

The Humane Society here in the valley only takes in "owner surrenders," which means that strays are not accepted, only animals that someone physically owned. It's very sad that we have an organization that solely exists for the purpose of taking in animals that people don't want! The Humane Society reported this week that they have taken in 2,600 cats during the month of May!!!!! :( I can personally attest to the overflowing numbers of cats at Animal Control as well. They had cats in every open cage and multiple cats in dozens of cages. :( Animal Control reported that they took in over 17,400 dogs and cats during January through April of this year (normally a slow time)!! While RESCUE does not take in animals from the public (we save the dogs and cats that are going to be killed at Animal Control or the Humane Society) we too have seen a drastic drop in our cat adoptions. And the dogs are not fairing that much better either.

I had mentioned in a previous post that the summer months are the most challenging for the animal community and it appears this year will not be an exception. :( While none of this news is good, there are still ways for all of us to help - Adopt, Donate, Volunteer. If you can't adopt, donate or volunteer, you can help us by telling others about RESCUE. Believe it or not but there are people out there that don't know about all the homeless animals that are being killed or about how RESCUE helps save and place as many as we possible can. Please do what you can to help.

We really appreciate your support! Thank you for continuing to follow our journey. We hope to see you again.

May 14th, 2009

2009-05-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello RESCUE followers,

Here's what's been going on since our last post:

On 5/6 RESCUE cat Christian was adopted. His adopters were looking for another cat to keep their 16 year old kitty company. They had recently lost their other 16 year old cat. When I spoke to Kimberlie we had just saved Christian and I wanted to get to know him a bit better before his potential adopters came to meet him. On 5/6 they came to meet him and loved him even more than the photos and videos that I had sent them. :) On 5/8 we received an email that their 16 year old cat had suddenly fallen ill, was rushed to the hospital and after many hours of heartache they had to let her go. :( They were devastated. Losing two of their feline companions in such a short period of time was more than one should bear. But Christian must have sensed their sorrow because he helped them heal and comforted them during their tragedy. Maybe Christian was meant to come into their lives at that time for this very reason...who knows. I know that his adopters are very grateful for him and his companionship. They have renamed him Dusty Bottoms and promise to send more photos soon.

On 5/6 RESCUE dog Diamond was adopted. Her new home is with a couple with no other dogs or cats. Her new dad is retired and looking forward to Diamond's companionship, while Diamond's new mom is an avid 2-3 mile a day walker. This is perfect for Diamond as she is a great snuggler and walker!!

On 5/6 RESCUE kitten Tasha got her first set of kitten shots. She was none to happy about that! She continues to grow and is up to 2.6 pounds. We continue to work on her socialization with other people and cats as well.

On 5/8 RESCUE dog Shani had another check up with the vet. She looked FANTASTIC!!! She continues to do amazing and we should be able to spay her soon. We set up a Facebook page just for her if you'd like to see her progress from when we saved her.

RESCUE and Whole Foods have partnered together for their Wooden Nickel Program. The program will run from 5/11 to 7/5 at their Tatum and Shea location. If you bring in your own bags, they will donate a nickel per bag back to RESCUE!!! Please help support our efforts. Every little bit helps.

On 5/12 RESCUE cat Big Papi moved into foster care. Big Papi is a very chatty Black Smoke Mane Coon cat. He is the only kitty in foster care and has a stay at home mom to chat away the day with. He is doing well and we'll continue to update you on his time in foster care.

On 5/12 RESCUE was honored to save three dogs lives. Gretel is a scruffy 8 pound little terrier mix. Hank is a handsome 45 pound Flat Coated Retriever mix. Merlin is a 93 pound Anatolian Shepherd. While Gretel and Hank were stray dogs, Merlin had an owner. Merlin has ended up at the pound several times. Unfortunately this last time his owner didn't return phones or come to pick up Merlin. All three are safe and being well cared for with us. Merlin is extra lucky because he is enjoying his time in foster care. We'll keep you posted on all three.

On 5/13 RESCUE dog Fozzy was adopted. Thanks to a referral from a RESCUE volunteer, Fozzy found his new mom! He now shares his home with a 9 year old canine brother, a mom that works from home and he only lives a couple of miles from his foster parents!!

I think that brings you up to speed on the last week or so of RESCUE. Thank you for all your support. Please help us spread the word about RESCUE. Here's to another great week! We hope you continue to follow our journey.

May 4th, 2009

2009-05-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Good morning RESCUE followers!

I hope you had a great weekend. Here's a re-cap on last week for RESCUE:

On 4/27 former RESCUE dog Diamond was returned by her adopter. Diamond's adopter took a new job that requires her to travel a great deal. She was unable to pay for a petsitter or boarding while she was away for work so she returned Diamond to us. Diamond is adjusting well and already has another adoption appointment later this week.

On 4/29 RESCUE dog Jake moved from foster care to doggie day care. He is having a blast playing with all the dogs. RESCUE dog Fozzy also went to the vet on 4/29 for his long awaited dental. As I mentioned previously, it appeared that poor Fozzy never had his teeth cleaned. :( As a result, he needed to have six teeth removed. :0 However, none of the teeth removed were his canines or incisors, which is good news. I am happy to report that Fozzy has completely recovered and even went swimming this weekend!! He has some added energy and is enjoying his foster home.

RESCUE dog Shani continues to do really well with her skin condition. I'm hoping for more photos that I will share with you as I get them.

RESCUE kitty Tasha will be receiving her first vaccine this week. While we have a great deal of concern over vaccine protocols it is important to properly vaccine puppies and kittens.

On 5/1 RESCUE dog Misti moved from foster care to doggie day care. Everyone adores our beautiful girl. I'm sure she'll get a lot of wonderful exposure and love from our volunteers while in day care.

On 5/1 I met with GPGLCC in the hopes that RESCUE could make some connections with local businesses to help support our efforts of saving dogs and cats from the kill list. One of the GPGLCC Board Members recently adopted RESCUE dog Ariel from us so we had one foot in the door. I think the meeting went well. There were some wonderful opportunities promised to RESCUE. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they come to fruition. I'll keep you posted.

Unfortunately on 5/3 RESCUE kitty Candy was returned from foster care due to a family allergy. Candy is a long time RESCUE kitty and we were hopefully that this was going to be her forever home. It didn't work out that way, but we won't give up on finding a loving home for Candy. She is a bit upset at the moment but she'll calm down again and the RESCUE volunteers will continue to love and care for her while she awaits her forever home.

The last couple of weeks have been slow for adoptions and as a result rescues are down as well. I did see a bit of an upswing this past weekend which I am hoping will continue for awhile. Unfortunately the summer months tend to be the slowest months for adoption and rescues for the animal movement. This is due to a myriad of reasons like moving, vacations, heat, etc. This summer may follow the past trends or it may not if the economy picks up. We'll see.

The saddest fact about this information is that the summer months are the toughest on the animals in kill shelters. The number of animals that are dropped off or picked up off the streets during the summer months is MUCH, MUCH higher than any other time of the year. :( So the need for RESCUE is great, but without adoptions and donations we can't help save them when they need us the most. But there is hope....YOU! Yes that's right - YOU. You can help make a difference. You can spread the word about RESCUE. Ask people to Adopt, Donate and/or Volunteer their time with RESCUE. All of these things make a difference and allow us to continue our much needed efforts.

Please spread the word about RESCUE. We greatly appreciate your support. Thank you for following our journey. Here's to a great week!!

Enjoy!

2009-04-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

Be sure to scroll all the way down & read the story and thoughts at the end. It's the best part!

A Dog's Purpose? (from a 6-year-old)

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners,Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ''I know why.''

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try to live.

He said,''People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?''

The Six-year-old continued,''Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.''

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you're not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

'Animals come into our lives as gifts from God, for companionship, to teach us, and to heal us. They deserve our very best efforts in caring for them'...

April 27th, 2009

2009-04-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome!

This week at RESCUE was a bit slower. Typically speaking adoptions are slower during late April through September. I'm hoping that if the economy picks up, adoptions will too. Fingers crossed. Summer months are slower for adoption in general due to people being on vacation, out of school, moving and the heat in general makes folks less likely to do things. Additionally with the heat there are not many options for special events to showcase our dogs and cats. However we will continue to be at Noble Beast Pet Market each Saturday in an effort to gain additional exposure for our dogs and cats.

On 4/20 RESCUE dog Misti was spayed. She has recovered nicely from her surgery and is now up for adoption. How cute is she?!

On 4/23 RESCUE dog Ariel was adopted. Ariel's adopters saw her at last weekend's Pride event and fell in love with our little girl. They had a 10 year old dog at home that had to approve too so we set up an appointment and all went well. We are hoping to see new photos from her parents soon. Stay tuned.

RESCUE dog Fozzy has recovered from his doggie cold. He will be getting his teeth cleaned on Wednesday. We are expecting many extractions :( unfortunately. It appears he has never had his teeth cleaned in his life!!! :(

On 4/24 RESCUE dog Shani had her 3 week check up. You may recall she is the dog we saved back on 3/24 with the horrendous case of demodex. I am VERY happy to report that Shani is doing fantastic. She has put on nearly two pounds, she has no more live mites and only a slight infection remaining. We still have a ways to go with her recovery but our little girl is blazing through this with flying colors.

On 4/22 RESCUE dog Ringo was neutered. He had a bit more complicated surgery due to an undescended testicle but was recovering nicely from his surgery. Unfortunately on 4/24 our bouncy boy did something to his knee!! :0 We're not sure what but he seems painful. He may have torn his ACL. We have him on rest and pain meds for a couple of days to see if that helps. If not, he may need surgery to fix that. Fingers crossed that it's just a minor muscle injury. ****Great news!! Just as I was getting ready to post this blog I received a call from the vet saying the Ringo is doing MUCH better!!! So it appears that it was just a sore muscle after all!! AWESOME news!!!

On 4/25 RESCUE had it's spring mailing party. Huge thanks to Karen for hosting the event at her house and to the several dozen volunteers that came out to stuff and seal envelopes. I will be heading out to the post office in a few moments to drop the mailer off to be mailed. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to post the .pdf file online or on our Facebook page. I'm sure the technology exists so if you know of how we can do that, please email me jennifer@azrescue.org and I'll make sure to get it up asap.

On 4/26 RESCUE had a pizza party for our cat volunteers and the volunteers that handle our special events. It was a fun event hosted by RESCUE volunteer and Board Member Debi. She did an awesome job and we had a great turn out. We had two special guests - former RESCUE cat Antonio and little tiny RESCUE kitty Tasha. Tasha is nearly two pounds now and continues to grow and do very well with her socialization. All the volunteers fawned, oohed and aahed over our tiny little girl and she took it all in like a brave little girl.

On 4/26 RESCUE cat Candy moved into foster care with RESCUE volunteer Sheeba. This is their first pet as a family. We are very excited for long time cat Candy and Sheeba's family. It's possible they will end up adopting our beautiful tortie. I'll keep you posted.

That's it for this week in RESCUE. Thank you again for following our journey. Please tell a friend about RESCUE and we hope that you will continue to come back.

Here's to a great week!!!

April 19th, 2009

2009-04-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome,

Another busy week at RESCUE:

On 4/13 RESCUE dog Charlie was adopted by a semi-retired couple who lives here part-time and in Alaska the remainder of the year. Charlie's adopters found us through a friend of a friend who knew Charlie's foster mom. It was love at first sight for everyone. Charlie's parents promise to send photo updates of his journey across the west coast and of his new home in Alaska. Stay tuned.

On 4/14 RESCUE was privileged to save three dogs lives. Please welcome Ringo a 2 year old black and tan Chihuahua mix, Jake is a 4 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever and Fozzy a 10 year old Shih Tzu. Both Fozzy and Jake moved into foster care. Unfortunately Fozzy has come down with a doggie cold but his loving foster mom Khrisann is taking wonderful care of our little patient. Hopefully he won't be ill for too long. Jake attended a special event yesterday and today will be heading up to his foster mom Kathy's cabin in Pine for a couple of fun filled days of running and lounging away the days!

On 4/16 RESCUE was thrilled to save five cats lives. Please welcome CiCi a young black and white kitty with an outgoing personality. Christian is a long haired gray, declawed boy with stunning green eyes. Esme is a gorgeous Siamese with lovely blue eyes. Delaney is a petite Calico young gal with a sweet disposition. Marley is a young, snuggly brown tabby. All the kitties are doing well and hopefully won't come down with kitty colds.

RESCUE dog Shani (the dog with the horrendous case of demodex) is making wonderful strides in her recovery. She feels a world better, has more energy (she even went on a 2 mile walk), is eating well and enjoying all the love and care her fantastic foster parents are giving her. Shani has a bit more to go but she is definitely on the path to recovery!! Stay tuned!

On 4/18 and 4/19 RESCUE attended the Phoenix Pride event. While the event is continuing to go on as I type this, we have received over $700 in donations, the RESCUE dogs are receiving a lot of wonderful exposure and we are hoping that the event will result in some adoptions too.

That's it for this week. Thanks for following our journey. We hope to see you next week.

April 11th, 2009

2009-04-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hello from the world of RESCUE. Much to update you on!!

On 4/5 RESCUE cat Cassidy was adopted. Her new home has an older feline brother for her to play with and her new mom already reports that all is going well.

On 4/6 RESCUE dog Alexander was adopted to a single retired woman. Unfortunately he was quickly returned two days later. The adopter took Alexander to the vet and when he was in the back with vet, drawing blood, he snapped at the vet. The adopter was very uncomfortable with this behavior and felt she needed to return him to us.

On 4/6 RESCUE dog Buster was adopted by fellow RESCUE volunteers Jim & Kat. Jim and Kat have two other spotted boy dogs they adopted from RESCUE over the years and our spotted boy Buster captured all their hearts with his cute personality.

On 4/7 we moved Sigmund, Kira and Kole over to our doggie day care location. Kira's eye has healed nicely and she is starting to come out of her shell.

On 4/8 RESCUE cat Sundance was adopted to a retired couple. Sundance will be an only kitty. She's a bit unsure of her new surroundings at the moment (you may recall Sundance was recently returned to us after 8 years) but hopefully with a bit of time and patience, she'll relax and enjoy the love that her new parents are surrounding her with.

RESCUE dog Misti has come down with a doggie cold. She has a 5:15am cough :0 at the moment but is eating and starting to feel more comfortable in a home environment.

On 4/9 RESCUE cat Duchess had an adoption appointment with a couple who had recently lost their beloved black kitty. Unfortunately Duchess was not in the mood for companionship and was a bit swatty with the potential adopters. They decided that Duchess just wasn't the one for them. Better luck next time.

On 4/9 we had RESCUE cat Lelah's one month old kitty over to our Feline Care Center. Lelah's kitten, who is a girl is now named Tasha. Tasha is at the age when we need to work on her socialization. She went on her first car ride, in a carrier for the first time, meet lots of other people, had her first nail trimming and meet a couple of new felines. Tasha's adorable one pound three ounce body was gently passed from volunteer to volunteer. After an hour, our little girl was wiped out and headed back home to see her mom. While I'm sure Lelah appreciated the reprieve from her never ending motherly tasks, she was happy to have her baby back home.

On 4/9 RESCUE kitty Tommy became ill. He was lethargic, squinty eyed and had vomited. By the next afternoon he had a high fever. We took him to the vet. His fever persisted for another 12 hours but then was back to normal. All his bloodwork came back normal so we're a bit perplexed as to what happened. We'll continue to monitor him and hopefully it was just a bug of some sort.

I'm extremely happy to report that RESCUE dog Shani is doing very well with her skin condition. All of her scabs are gone, she's eating well, not sleeping as much and even went on a one mile walk!!! Her foster mom Tamara is doing an excellent job caring for her and we're very hopefully that Shani will continue to recover.

On 4/10 RESCUE dog Brandi was adopted to a young couple. This is their first dog as adults. They are eager to have a running companion and a canine friend to cuddle with on the couch. Brandi will be the perfect fit for them.

On 4/11 RESCUE dog Ellie was adopted to a loving retired couple. They have another Bassett Hound named Molly and an older Spaniel named Cole. All the canine girls got along famously and Ellie's new parents are just over the moon with joy. They were madly in love with her before she arrived and so when her floppy ears walked through the door they just couldn't get enough of her!! We are so happy to all of them!!

Well that's it for now. Please continue to come back to follow up on RESCUE's journey. Here's to great week!!

April 2nd, 2009

2009-04-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I hope you are having a good week. Here's what's been going on this week in RESCUE:

On 3/29 RESCUE dog Mia was adopted. Mia's new home is with a young couple. Her new dad works from home and will be taking Mia along with him if he has errands outside of the home. Mia's new parents recently lost their dog of 11 years. Mia is already helping heal their hearts. They have taken her on tons of walks, to the vet, to meet Grandma and her dog, which Mia played with the instant they meet! Life is good for Mia and her new family. They promise to send photos soon. Stay tuned. Here are photos from her adoption appointment.

On 3/30 Lelah's kitten weighed 15 ounces. The kitten is moving around a lot more, exploring the world and Lelah is taking excellent care of her. The kitten is three weeks old now.

On 3/31 RESCUE cat Harley was adopted. Harley's new home is a family with a 10 year old boy named Graham. Harley and Graham are already fast friends. Graham even got to stay home from school for two days in order to spend extra time with Harley. Check out the photos on our Facebook page.

On 3/31 RESCUE dog Shani moved into foster care with Tamara. You may recall that Shani is the dog we recently rescued with the worst case of Demodex that we had ever seen. Thanks to RESCUE volunteer Tamara, Shani is getting a high quality wholesome diet, regular medication and TONS of love. We had Shani seen by a second vet, Dr. Dutton on 4/2. Dr. Dutton also said this was the worst case of Demodex that she had seen too. :( She consulted with a skin specialist, Dr. Song who prescribed a very detailed regiment to help our little girl. She has a secondary infection and while I hate to type this, it is possible that the secondary infection could take hold of her little body, causing her to become septic and sadly this could result in her death. I'm very hopefully that this will not be the case for Shani. Qith Tamara's loving care, Dr. Dutton's watchful eye and all our love and support, she will pull through this. It will be a long, slow process but again I am very optimistic that she will pull through this. She is in great spirits despite her condition, getting lots of love and enjoying life with her foster family. I will keep you updated on her condition. Please keep positive thoughts for Shani.

On 3/31 RESCUE was privileged to save another dog's life. Misti was on the "kill list" due to her being shy. Given some quiet time out of the kennel Misti became affectionate and even playful. Misti moved into foster care with Brent and Heidi who were fostering Mia. We named our new RESCUE dog Misti, in honor of Mia's new mom Misti. Misti is doing well in foster care, although it appears that she has never been in a car, in a home, played with toys or walked on a leash! :( Sadly this is not the first time we have seen these behaviors in some of the dogs and cats we save. However, we have found with patience and positive socialization, Misti will come around. Stay tuned on her progress.

On 4/2 RESCUE had a return. Former RESCUE cat Sundance, a red

tabby, was returned to us after 8 years of living in a home with her adopters. They decided they needed to "give her back" to RESCUE. :( Basically the adopters have decided they just don't want to care for a cat anymore, despite the fact that she is "no trouble at all." She is in great health, has no behavior issues and is mild mannered. Sundance was declawed by the adopters at age 5. :( It's very unfortunate that Sundance is being abandoned again, especially at her age. Now that she is nearly 9 years old, it will be very challenging to find adopters that are interested in adopting a pet that is older than 5 years of age. Rest assured, RESCUE is committed to Sundance for her entire life. She will be loved and cared for until a loving home is found for her. This photo is from the day of her return.

All of the recent cats that we rescued - Tucker, Jonas, Giselle and Sophia are all 100% healthy, have been spayed/neutered and are now ready for adoption. We have moved them into the main areas of our Feline Care Center and if all goes well, we will be saving some more cats lives soon.

I think that brings you up to speed on RESCUE events. I will continue to keep you updated on everyone. I hope you continue to come back to follow RESCUE's journey!

I hope you have a great weekend!

March 28th, 2009

2009-03-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Another busy week for RESCUE. Here's the re-cap:

On 3/24 we were honored to saved four new lives!!

Alexander is a 7 year old, chunky German Shepherd mix. He is very sweet and loves to lick you. Despite his photo, he only weighs 75 pounds. He does need to lose about 10-15 pounds. He is in foster care and doing really well. We'll have him down to a healthy weight in no time!

Kira is a 2 year old cocker spaniel.

As you can see from her photo on the right, she has some eye issues. She had an ulcer and a condition called Cherry Eye. We have treated both and she is recovering nicely. Kira is a very mellow gal. Hopefully with her medical conditions taken care of she will be a bit more spunky. Stay tuned.

Kole is a 4 year old Chihuahua mix. Kole is a happy go lucky kind of dog. He loves all dogs and all people. He wants to be everyone's buddy. Sitting in your lap is a favorite of his, although walks are fun for him too.

Shani is a one year old terrier mix with a horrible case of Demodex. This is a very treatable condition. As you can see from her photos she has not received medical care in sometime, if ever. :( We have given her a bath, put her on antibiotics and are treating the Demodex. We are in the process of moving her into foster care so that she can recover more quickly. Stay tuned for updates on her.

Lelah and her baby kitten are doing well. The kitten is now 16 days old, eyes and ears are open and she/he now weighs 12 ounces. The kitten is starting to move around and explore a bit. Lelah is an excellent mom and has been taking very good care of her kitten. Soon RESCUE will start "kitten socialization." Just like puppies, kittens need to be socialized too. They need to learn how to cope with all the things that happen in the world, like getting in and out of a cat carrier, exposure to hair dryers and vacuum cleaners, dogs, other cats, other people, etc. It's actually quite fun! We have "kitten socialization parties" and have the guests take turns handling the kitten, brushing them, clipping their nails, etc. We'll keep you posted on the kittens progress.

On 3/24 Bailey moved into foster care. He is enjoying romping around with his foster sister and going on long runs with his foster parents. The attached photo is of him and his happy tail in foster care.

On 3/28 RESCUE dog Mia had an adoption appointment. Her potential adopters recently lost their dog of 11.5 years. They really want to have a dog in the house again but are struggling with their grief and with some guilt. In an effort to help them with their decision to adopt, Mia will be having a sleepover. They are great pet parents and we hope that Mia will be able to help them heal their hearts! Keep you posted.

Well that's it for now. We hope you are enjoying reading about all things RESCUE. More to follow next!!! I hope you have a great weekend!

March 22nd, 2009

2009-03-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

On 3/19 RESCUE had New Volunteer Orientation. We had about 15 people in attendance. I hope that they enjoy their time with our fantastic organization. We greatly appreciate their willingness to dedicate their time and love to our efforts.

On 3/19 long time RESCUE cat Lacy was adopted. Lacy was adopted by her foster mom. Her foster mom Valerie is a RESCUE volunteer on the "dog side" of our organization. She came to me a couple of weeks ago asking if she could help with cat fostering. Her life was not really conducive to having a dog but she would really enjoy the companionship of a feline. I gave Valerie a couple of names of kitties that could really use her help. She got back to me right away and said that Lacy was the one. She picked her up shortly thereafter and the love affair began instantly. Both Valerie and Lacy were having a grand time. Lacy was showing her true playful personality and Valerie enjoyed her companionship so much. Lacy brought such joy to Valerie's life that she felt she couldn't let her go. So Lacy became an official member of Valerie's home!! We couldn't have been happier for both of them.

You may recall the RESCUE cat Anastasia and her medical conditions

that we were treating. Her primary health concern (the skin infection) has completely healed. Unfortunately Ana's weight continues to be a problem. Ana has only lost a couple of ounces in the last couple of months. :( She is down to a whopping 16 pounds 10 ounces. Last week the weight caused her to limp on her back left leg from a prior injury. The limping has subsided and we continue to work on her weight loss.

Our recent feline additions are doing well and almost completely recovered from their kitty colds. They should be spayed and neutered in the next week or so and then they will go up for adoption.

On 3/20 another long time RESCUE cat Violet was adopted. Violet's new parents have no other dogs or cats and are eager to spoil our girl. We have already received an update and the attached photo is from her new home. A detailed update can be found on our Facebook page under our Photo Album section - Violet.

On 3/21 RESCUE dog Betsy was adopted. Betsy was adopted by a past RESCUE adopter. She is the only dog in a house with three other feline sisters. They are already sleeping together!! Her new parents are already madly in love with her. More details can also be found on RESCUE's Facebook page.

Our recent feline mom Lelah is doing well and her new kitten is growing with each passing day. The kitten is up to 10.25 ounces. The kittens ears are up even more and you can see little slits of the kittens eyes now. By next week she/he will be seeing and hearing all the noises and sights of her foster home.

I think that just about covers all things RESCUE for the moment! Please continue to come back and follow RESCUE's journey. Here's to a great week!!

March 18th, 2009

2009-03-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I hope you are having a great week. I can't believe it's getting so warm already! I hope we have a few more weeks of the 70-80 degree temps before we get into the 90's! :)

Here's the latest updates on RESCUE:

On 3/12 Willie was adopted by a retired couple from Prescott. They have a place here in the valley too so we did the meet and greet at their home and it was love at first sight. Willie's mom was so excited to meet him that she couldn't sleep until she meet him! Teri, Willie's foster mom spoke to Willie's new mom this week and he is doing fantastic. They take him on about 6 walks a day!!! They have renamed him Mr. B....not really sure of what the meaning behind that is but that's his new name. He has an awesome life I'm hoping they'll send photos soon.

On the morning of 3/12 I received a call from Teri who is fostering Willie and Lelah our FIV+ cat. I assumed Teri was calling about Willie's appointment that was taking place in a couple of hours. Teri proceeded to tell me she had some interesting news to share with me. I was a bit concerned but I waited for her to continue. She told me that Lelah gave birth to one kitten around midnight!!!! OMG!!! Due a myriad of issues, Lelah's spay appointment had been cancelled and postoned. She was due to be spayed this past Monday, 3/16. Since we had rescued Lelah just after the New Year, Lelah must have gotten pregnant a couple of days prior to ending up at the pound.

Lelah has been taking excellent care of her new kitten. The kitten (we don't know it's sex at this point) is eating well and yesterday it's ears started to pop up a little. If you look closely at the photo you can see her kitten. The kitten's eyes will be opening in the next week or so. He/she is gaining weight each day and currently weighs 8 ounces. I'll continue to update you on both mommy and kitten via our blog.

On 3/15 RESCUE attended an adoption event held up in Grayhawk.

On 3/16 RESCUE dog Odie was adopted by his foster parents. He had been in foster care for just about 3 months. He fit in so well and enjoyed the many hiking and lake adventures that his mom and dad went on that they felt he was meant to be apart of their home.

On 3/16 RESCUE cat Howie was adopted. He got a wonderful home. He will be a well loved only child. His mom is a nurse and was looking for a kitty to keep her company and she found it in Howie!!!

One 3/17 we saved two new dogs from the "kill list. Bailey is 21.7 pounds. He is about a year and a half and a Catahoula mix, although Animal Control had him listed as a brindle Pit Bull. :0 Bailey is similar in personality to the RESCUE dog Brandi – loves to be pet and snuggled. He literally walked up my legs and sat on top of me and my legs. Apparently he wasn’t comfy enough, so he proceed to make “circles” while standing on my legs until he found the right spot!!! Thank goodness he doesn’t weigh too much!!! Our second dog has stolen my heart (but don’t tell the others though)!!! I’m quite surprised honestly because this dog is really not “my kind of dog.” First of all he’s wire haired...I like the softer breeds and he’s a dachshund!!! Sigmund, or Siggy is all of 5.8 pounds. He is red with blonde highlights. He has the most adorable blonde “faux-hawk” with what looks like blonde, sideburns with just a bit of curl in them!! :) Then he has a blonde mane of hair across his shoulders. And he has very expressive brown eyes. He is very kissy and happy to run around playing chase with you too!

As I type this, RESCUE dog Dusty has officially been adopted!! His new home consists of a loving mom who works from home and three canine sisters. The youngest dog, Rowdi is in agility and Dusty's new mom is eager to have another dog that can join her and Rowdi in their agility competitions. He'll first start with basic obedience training and then move onto agility. There is a big weekend long event this weekend in Tucson so Dusty will be able to see firsthand all the fun that he is going to have.

We couldn't be happier for our fluffy boy. He is very cute but also very active so this is the perfect home for our young guy. And he also will have three beautiful sisters to play with when he is not practicing his new skills. We hope his new mommy stays in touch and sends us lots of photos of his new life!!! Congrats to Dusty and his new family!!!

On 3/19 RESCUE has New Volunteer Orientation. Hopefully we will gain a number of new volunteers that want to join in our efforts to help save and place the orphaned dogs and cats on the "kill list."

Since Twitter is all the buzz, I set up a Twitter account for RESCUE. While I'm not really understanding all the buzz I am open to trying anything that will help promote our cause. Please feel free to become a "follower" at www.twitter.com/AZRESCUE. I'll do my best to give you all the most up to date information on RESCUE as it happens!

One of RESCUE's long time RESCUE cats Violet (pictured to the right) and Candy have an adoption appointment this Friday. We are on pins and needles awaiting the outcome of this adoption. While Candy is also a long timer with RESCUE, Violet has been with us longer and is a HUGE favorite amongst our cat volunteers. Here's a bit more on Violet....

Violet, she is a cat that was adopted out in 2000 and returned to RESCUE 5.5 years later because their 2.5 year old child was pulling Violet’s tail and ears. After nearly a year of this, Violet started to hide away or if cornered she’d smack the child. So the adopter returned Violet back to us and sadly Violet has been with RESCUE ever since. Violet has many loving, dedicated volunteers that have cared for her and she even moved into foster care but she really didn’t do well in a house with other cats so she moved back to our Feline Care Center. One of RESCUE’s supports, a gentleman by the name of Alan ADORES Violet and comes to visit her often. He would adopt her himself but he has a house full of FIV+ cats and so he couldn’t bring Violet into his house but our special girl is always happy to see him.

Violet's potential adopter is leaning towards Violet and so we are hoping that the love affair continues when they actually met her in person. Fingers and toes crossed!!!

I received a call today from Beate, one of the owners of Mane Attraction Hair Salon. You may recall that we had our 9th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE at their Salon just a couple of weeks ago. RESCUE received an additional $500 donation from a supporter that was out of town during our event but still wanted to make a donation for our efforts!!!! YAHOO!!!! We really appreciate the donation and the support!!

I'm working on RESCUE's spring mailer, which will out on 4/27. I'll be sending out an email to our volunteers asking for help with the mailing party which will take place on 4/24. Hopefully the mailer will be successful. RESCUE relies solely on the support from the community in order to continue our efforts to save and care for the dogs and cats on the "kill list."

Well I think that's about it for the moment. More to follow. I hope you continue to come back and follow RESCUE's journey!

March 12th, 2009

2009-03-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the delay in getting the latest blog entry completed. It's been very busy at RESCUE. This entry will be a bit longer due to the delay in getting this completed.

Charlie, the long haired Dachshund moved into foster care on 2/25. He has two other Dachshunds in foster care with him and is really enjoying himself. However he does have an adoption appointment on 3/13 so it may be a short stay for him in foster

care. I'll keep you posted.

Buster is doing well in foster care as well. He is a young dog and his foster parents are working with him on appropriate items to chew on. They have been keeping him busy with hiking and playtime, which he really enjoys.

Brooke was adopted on 2/28. Brooke is the Bluetick hound that was dropped

off at the pound with the family cat when her family lost their home. The cat was quickly adopted but due to Brooke's age (6) she was of low interest to the public. RESCUE stepped in and

was honored to make her apart of our RESCUE family. She now has a loving, gentle family with two kids and a canine brother. I'm confident that with time Brooke will come to feel safe and loved by her new family.

On 3/1 our 9th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE event took place. It was a HUGE success. For all the details please see our detailed blog post - Beauty to the RESCUE Re-cap.

On 3/3 we rescued a new dog, a Whippet mix that we named Brandi. She was spayed yesterday and will be going up for adoption shortly. Brandi is a young, active, smart dog. She loves being petted and if you want her video on our Facebook page, yo

u'll see that she actually will fall asleep while you pet her! :0

On 3/4 Winston was adopted. Winston was on the "kill list" due to his shy, timid nature. His new family is a semi-retired couple who wanted a small canine friend. They fell in love with Winston and were eager to provide him with a quite, loving home where he can blossom.

On 3/5 we rescued four new cats. Jonas is a 6 month old long haired black kitty. He is very mellow, gentle and what I'd call a love muffin. Sophia is a one year old medium haired white and brown tabby cat. She is a recent mom of three polydactyl kittens. The kittens went up for adoption but due to Sophia having a case of mastitis (swollen mammary glands) she could not go up for adoption. Tucker is a big brown tabby. He is affectionate and playful. Giselle is a beautiful short haired mixed breed kitty. She looks like she has some tortie, tabby and cornish rex or Siamese in her. She is a very narrow kitty with a mild mannered personality. All four of the kitties have colds and are being cared for by our volunteers. In another week or two they

will be healthy and we will then spay/neuter each of them and place them up for adoption.

On 3/6 Howie was adopted. He will be an only kitty, which I'm sure he will love getting all the attention.

On 3/7 Fergie was adopted. You may recall that Fergie was the cat that shared a cage at animal control with a leukemia positive cat. While the other cat, Nola had to be sent over the Rainbow Bridge, Fergie used one of her nine lives and escaped exposure to this terrible disease. Fergie, now known as Tycho, shares her

home with two teenage boys and a new feline brother Gabriel. They are already fast friends.

On 3/7 Lexy was adopted. Her new parents are a retired couple with

no other dogs or cats. Her new mom is hearing impaired. She wanted a canine friend but also a dog that could be her "ears." Lexy passed all the tests and will be starting her 18-month Guide Dog training on 4/1. We couldn't be happier for Lexy. She is a really smart dog and this is a perfect home for her!!

On 3/11 Betsy went to the vet to

have her teeth cleaned.

On 3/11 Tristan was adopted. His new mom is a single woman with no other pets. Tristan is the cat that was abandoned by his owners on New Years eve. He was adopted four years prior at the same location on the exact same date. Tristan was up for adoption for 16 days, terrified and shaking. RESCUE stepped in and made him apart of our RESCUE family. His teeth were in terrible c

ondition and his fur was matted. We had his teeth cleaned and to our surprise, Tristan LOVED being brushed. He now has a gorgeous coat which he is happy to show you or have you brush. He has flourished in a short time and we know that he will continue to show his loving personality in his new home.

Thank you again for following RESCUE's journey and here's to a great week!

Beauty to the RESCUE Re-cap

2009-03-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

Good morning,

The 9th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE was wildly successful and an enormous amount of fun!! Below are links to photos and a video of the event! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92323&id=27379542493 – photos http://www.facebook.com/video/?upload&oid=27379542493 – video

This year, with your help we raised a whopping $13,000!!!! YAHOO!!! That’s fantastic!!!! We couldn’t be happier and are so very thankful for all your support! For those of you who bid on auction items, thank you. The winners of those items will be contacted by Mane Attraction this week. The Grand Prize winner of the $500 cash was Marty Guy! Congrats Marty!!!!

This event has been hosted for the last nine years by two HUGE RESCUE supporters and adopters Kendall and Beate Ong! We can’t thank them enough for all their support and continued dedication to RESCUE’s mission! Their staff donated all their time to yesterday’s event and one very special staff member Suzanne did a enormous amount of work for the event as well. Suzanne secured almost all the silent auction items for the event! RESCUE is enormously grateful to Mane Attraction and all their staff!

We’d also like to thank the following folks for donating their time and/or services to the event:
Animal Attractions, Ilene McMahon, Chipotle, Gelato Spot, Pets on DVD, Noble Beast, Nadine M. Rosin, Cookie Lee Jewelry, Nick Ferrara, The DelRayz, SHOP RESCUE, Duck & Decanter, Fred Astaire Dance Studio, AJ’s Fine Food, Susan Barken, Cookies in Bloom, Two Mom’s in the Raw, Smart k9 Academy, Poochini Pet Salon, Rebecca’s Sunnybrook Farm, Painted Tails, Wei of Chocolate, Barbara Paster, P@G Beauty, Tarbell’s, Hot Air Expeditions, Hava Java, Village Racquet & Health Club, Vincent on Camelback, Paris Paris Studio, Ryan’s Pet Supplies, Fast Frame, Keegan’s, Delux, Trader Joe’s, Arizona Health Foods, Pug Notes, Tea Forte, Bluez Gallery, Macaroni Grill, Margo Media, Channel 10 and Channel 3.

It takes an enormous amount of RESCUE volunteers to staff this event too! I’d like to thank all the RESCUE volunteers for giving up a gorgeous Sunday to help the dogs and cats of RESCUE:

Teri & Pat Yeates, Katherine Johnston, Cindy Haverstock, Tanja Cooper, Mike Berry, Margie Olmsted, Diana Rowe, Julie Daughtery, Debi Mykitiak, Lisa Thomas, Khrisann Bond, Alissa & William Letendre, Bob Graham, Janette Brix, Karen Fanning, Alana Stroud, Katie Kasperek, Melissa Davis, Jennifer Purdon, Antonia Tichindelean, Leslie Lockhart, Kelly Mosher, Madison Thompson, Liz Taylor, Karen Currie, Bob & Carolyn Townsend, Beth Fredricks, Susan & Steve Manolis, Christine Devore, Cheryl DeRison, Sue Smalley, Jim McNerney, Chris Tussey, Kat Lippard, Valerie Yrigolla.

And of course the last and most important person we’d like to thank is YOU!!! You made this event successful! You helped us raise $13,000!! Your support of our event allows us to care for the dogs and cats of RESCUE and continue our efforts to save more lives that are awaiting their fates at Animal Control! We could not do any of this without you and we greatly appreciate your continued support!

We hope to see you next year!!!

Jennifer Berry

RESCUE dog Piper

2009-02-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

I type this email to you with a heavy heart. A couple of hours ago we sent Piper over the Rainbow Bridge. Piper was only with us for a very short period of time but she touched many hearts with her gentle, loving spirit! Despite the fact that she had many scars on her body (including the terrible injury to her tail) and her heart, Piper was always happy to see people and hang out with the foster brothers and sister.

Unfortunately Piper had incurable condition that made it impossible for her to control her urine or bowel movements. As such urine and feces would freely flow from her constantly. She had infections to her tail and her kidneys. Her bladder was damaged by these chronic infections and after many consultations with several vets we determined that the most humane thing for Piper was to let her go.

It just breaks my heart that we could not fulfill our promise to Piper to find a loving, permanent home for her. She deserved so much more and was taken from us much too soon!

Personally, I take comfort in knowing that during her short time with us she was loved deeply by fellow RESCUE volunteers Khrisann and Cindy! Their patient, loving care was a godsend. Piper was doted on by her foster parents and watched over by her canine foster brothers and sister.

We have posted a number of photos and a video of her at the park that we filmed this morning. Here is the link to both - http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1111029658398 http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=27379542493&ref=pb&edit. If you would like to send your thoughts and prayers to Piper, Khrisann and Cindy, please feel to post comments on the Facebook page or send them to me and I will forward them onto Khrisann and Cindy.

I know many of you have pets that have passed over the Rainbow Bridge and I hope that your loved ones will take a moment to say hello to our girl Piper. She will be greatly missed, always remembered and hold a special place in many hearts.

Jennifer

February 22nd, 2009

2009-02-22T11:20:00.000-08:00

Tuesday both RESCUE dogs Ellie and Piper went to visit the vet. Ellie has some cracking on the ends of her ears which need a bit of cream to help those heal. We ran bloodwork on her as well and it all came back normal. YEAH!!

Piper health on the other hand continues to elude us. You'll recall that

Piper came to us in dire straits. She had to have a portion of her tail removed due to previous injury of some sort. Additionally her teeth were in terrible shape and had to have two remove. And not surprisingly Piper was not spay. Unbeknownst to all of us, Piper was pregnant when we spayed her. So Piper had a lot to deal with right away. After surgery she had terrible diarrhea and a problem with incontinence. So back to the vet she went. She had an infection in her tail from all the diarrhea, which we treated and we also discovered that she had a terrible urinary infection. Piper was placed on medication for both conditions. Unfortunately by Friday we had not seen any improvement with the incontinence so we placed her on a medication called DES that helps strengthen the muscle that control urine. We managed to get the diarrhea under control but discovered another issue, although I'm not sure at this point what the cause of this issue is. Piper does not appear to have control of her bowel movements in addition to her urine. This is a very rare condition. I was hoping that as I typed the weekly recap of RESCUE events that I would be able to tell everyone that we had Piper on the road to recovery. Unfortunately while we have her tail and her mouth under control these two new conditions are not under control and what is causing them is a mystery. She will most likely be going to a specialist next week for further evaluation and testing. Fingers crossed.

I am happy to report that the two RESCUE cats that we were treating - Anastasia and Tristan are doing fantastic!!! Anastasia or Annie was the kitty that was returned to us severely overweight with a massive infection in her entire back end. The RESCUE volunteers had to thoroughly clean the area and apply a cream to the area, twice a day! This was no easy task but RESCUE has the most dedicated and loving volunteers! And today

Annie's condition has improved by about 75% in 2 short weeks! Now we'll start to work on her weight loss. I'm sure Annie will not be happy about that as most cats tend to be content with doing nothing much at all! :) Unfortunately weight loss with cats is a much more challenging task to accomplish as they are not nearly as motivated to move around and if they don't like the reduced calorie food, there's not much we can do about that because cats have to eat. If they go longer than 3 days without food they can get a condition called fatty liver disease which can kill them. It will take some time, a lot of patience on our part but eventually we'll get a pound or two off our big girl!

Tristan is the RESCUE cat that we saved from the east side Animal Control back in January. He was given up by his owners on New Years Eve due to moving. They had adopted him from that same facility four years ago to the date. :( Tristan sat at Animal Control for 17 days, shaking and terrified. Then we arrived and took him into our care. Tristan was already neutered but his teeth were in back condition. His fur was matted to his

skin as well. We brushed and cut off the mats but since he had a cold we had to wait to take care of his teeth until he was healthy. Tristan continued to be terrified while he recovered from his cold. The volunteers would have to pull him out of his "hidey-hole" so that he would eat. Once in your lap he felt so much better and adored being brushed. I visited with him this week and am thrilled to report that our handsome boy Tristan is now much for social and animated. He still loves to be brushed, or rather he prefers if you just hold the brush and he will rub and rub himself all over the brush!!! :) He loves to be pet and to chase after a feather wand! It was so wonderful to see him blossom. I'm sure Tristan's true personality will continue to flourish in our care as we search for his permanent loving home.

RESCUE was on local channel three promoting our upcoming Beauty to the RESCUE event. Big thanks go out to RESCUE volunteers Tanja and Debi for allowing us to "make them over" on TV. We will have another appearance on Tuesday on local channel 10 also to promote the Beauty to the RESCUE event coming up on Sunday, March 1st.

On Thursday, Odie moved from foster care to boarding while his foster parents are away for a couple of weeks. Odie has learned so much in foster care and the volunteers were happy to spend some more time with this goofy boy while his foster parents are away. He was at our Noble Beast event and had a couple of people interested in him so maybe he will be adopted soon!

Willie (left) and Nicolas (right) we're both neutered on Friday. They both are doing very well in foster care and are now ready for

adoption. We've learn a lot about these two boys while they are in foster care, thanks to their foster parents Teri and Alissa. Now RESCUE will search for a wonderful loving home for each of these cute boys.

Buster moved into foster care on Friday afternoon with RESCUE volunteers Kat & Jim. Kat & Jim have two other RESCUE dogs, Fred and Otto. Otto is a bit particular with which dogs he calls friends so we weren't sure if Buster would meet with Otto's "requirements." As I type this, things are going well so he will stay in foster care for a bit and hopefully we can learn more about him.

On Saturday, RESCUE was at Noble Beast Pet Market with several RESCUE dogs. They all got a lot of attention and hopefully some of those in attendance will fill out an application for adoption.

On Saturday I received a call from the adopters of the RESCUE dog Addison. Addison is a 6 pound Chihuahua that was adopted to a semi-retired couple in north Scottsdale. Addison got away from her parents and the neighbor dog, a MUCH larger dog attacked her. :( Unfortunately the adopters were having some financial difficulties due to a recent job loss and were looking for advise on a low cost vet. I gave them suggestions and thankfully Addison had only two bite wounds and neither were life threatening. Thankfully Addison seems unaffected by the whole situation and is happy to be back home.

Today we moved the RESCUE cat Lelah from one foster home into another foster home with fellow RESCUE volunteers Teri and Pat. Lelah is the FIV positive cat that we rescued in January. Since Lelah is an FIV positive cat she cannot be in a household with other cats as she could infected them with FIV. Lelah is a healthy, happy, very loving cat. Since this disease has a lot of mis-conceptions about it, it will be nearly impossible for us to get anyone to fill out an application for Lelah and most likely she will be adopted by her foster parents. This condition is not contagious to humans or dogs and most likely Lelah will live a long healthy life and eventually pass away from something other than FIV.

This week we sent emails out to all our RESCUE contacts asking for support of RESCUE's Beauty to the RESCUE event this Sunday, March 1st. We have raffle tickets available online for anyone wishing to help support our efforts!! 100% of the proceeds benefit all the RESCUE dogs and cats within our care and the ones we have yet to save.

The last two weeks adoptions have dropped off drastically. It seems that everyone is concerned about the economy. Hopefully things will stabilize soon for everyone and adoptions will pick back up. More and more dogs and cats are loosing their homes every day and with less and less adoptions taking place it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that means more animals will be killed due to lack of available homes for them. :( I'm optimistic that things will get better soon. In the meantime, if you have the ability to help with volunteering, adopting or donating to our efforts, we would greatly appreciate the support.

Thank you again for following RESCUE's journey and here's to a great week!

February 15th, 2009

2009-02-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Another busy week at RESCUE. Here is a re-cap of this past week's events:

We changed RESCUE dog Kermit's name to George. George has been with RESCUE for a long time and we are hoping to spark new interest in him by changing his name. George is the

name that his foster parents have been calling him so we thought it was the best choice. George is a sweet, quirky dog. He adores his foster mom and likes to follow her everywhere although he probably would not miss his foster dad! :0 George is not really partial to other dogs or cats so he needs to be an only dog. He has a lot to offer but sometimes it just takes longer for some dogs or cats. Rest assured, just like every RESCUE dog and cat, we will continue to care for him until we do find him a permanent loving home.

On Tuesday, February 10th we were back at Animal Control to save more lives. We took in two new dogs. Both have disheartening stories.

Willie is a little red dog. He has short legs, a long body, thick velvet fur, a slender face and a HUGE heart. We are not sure what he is mixed with... maybe some Corgi but

it's really just a guess. Willie was "kicked out of his house by his owner" and brought down to Animal Control by a neighbor. After nearly a week of sitting and waiting for someone to adopt him, no one came. But RESCUE did and we are so happy to be apart of his little guy's life! He is so full of life, joy and energy! Willie quickly moved into foster with long time RESCUE volunteers Teri and Pat who have three other dogs. Within a couple of days the dogs were already playing with each other. Willie will be neutered next week and then will be placed up for adoption.

The second dog we saved was Piper, an adult Bloodhound. While much of Piper's story is unknown, this is what we do know: Piper was dropped off at Animal Control on February 2nd, by a man that said he was not her owner. Half of Piper's tail had been cut off, about 3 inches of bone was protruding from the remainder of her tail and she had

another open wound above that area. The man put some cream on the bone and wrapped her tail in purple gauze. It is unknown how Piper received this horrible injury to her tail. For eight long days beautiful Piper sat at Animal Control with her injured tail. RESCUE was at Animal Control twice during this time but we did not see Piper on either visit. (With over 500 outside kennels and dozens of interior areas, it's not uncommon to "miss" a particular dog or cat. Additionally, the staff move the dogs and cats around based on various factors). We heard about her late on Monday, February 9th and began making the necessary calls to secure her rescue. My first call was to Animal Control to make sure that she would not be put down before we arrived. My next call was to a foster home. With Piper's injuries I did not think it was in her best interest to spend more time in a kennel environment recovering. So I called RESCUE's Volunteer of the Year, Khrisann and told her about the the Bloodhound the terrible tail injury and that while I hadn't personally met or evaluated her I wanted to be able to help her if we could. Khrisann graciously agreed to open her home and her heart as she so often does with the dogs of RESCUE. My last call was to our vet. Since I wanted to make sure that Piper received immediate medical attention I needed to make sure that out vet was available and prepared for our girl. I anticipated that Piper's tail would need to be removed due to the severity of her injury but the vet would be able to make a better determination after her exam. So we had all our ducks in a row, now we just needed to save Piper. Sadly Animal Control was closed so we would have to wait until the next day. Needless to say I couldn't sleep all night. I felt so bad for Piper and what she had already gone through in her life and hoped that she could bear the pain one more night until we arrived.

I was so eager to meet Piper and when I arrived at her kennel I was chest fallen that she was not in her kennel. As I mentioned, the staff does move around the dogs a lot but this is also a kill shelter and you never know what that empty kennel means. I quickly went to our contact at Animal Control. She had been off for four days so she was not familiar with Piper nor her whereabouts but she would look into it and see if she couldn't figure out where she had gone. After nearly an hour of searching, she was finally located. Thankfully! I was so relieved. Now we could finally met Piper. Piper is a sweet, gentle soul, what I would call an "old soul." I gave her a big hug and a kiss and told her I was so very sorry for her pain. We spent some time getting to know each other. Piper appeared to have had multiple litters of puppies due to her mammary development, so she would need to be spayed and her teeth did not appear to have every been cleaned or cared for either. It just broke my heart to see her wag her tail and hear the bone of her tail hit the wall. Thankfully, it did not appear that she was in pain, most likely all the nerve endings were dead now. As is common with all the dogs we save from Animal Control, Piper reeked of urine. Her fur was dull and very coarse. Yet Piper's spirit was not broken from all this. She wagged her tail, she sought you out for pets and leaned into you when you did so.

Soon our girl became Piper, was given a proper collar with a rabies tag and RESCUE ID tag. Photos and videos were taken and off we went to the vet. I of course called Khrisann on the way to let her know about our new addition and that I thought Piper would need more medical care than her tail - she would need to be spayed and have her teeth cleaned. We made arrangements for Khrisann to pick her up after her surgery and I continued on my way to the vet.

The vet was able to save about 4 inches of Piper's tail, but she did need to have two teeth removed during her dental cleaning. She had stitches from her spay, and in her tail and would be on some hefty medication to help with the pain. Khrisann picked up our patient and was instantly in love with her! Piper was pretty out of it so she wasn't able to spend too much

time with her before Piper was fast asleep. Unfortunately Piper had some diarrhea and was whimpering and pacing in the morning. Khrisann did the best should could to help her and comfort her. After another day or so Piper was feeling a world better but was having some incontinence issues. We put her on a herbal remedy and hopefully this will help. Time will tell. Aside from Piper's health issues she is recovering very well. She is an excellent patient and a wonderful dog. She has perfect leash manners and is a perfect houseguest. As time goes on we will learn lots more about Piper and what kind of home she will need. For now we will continue to care for her tail and enjoy spending time with this precious girl.

On February 11th, RESCUE dog Buster was returned. He had

been adopted a month before to a family with another dog, two kids, a teacher and a cop with rotating schedules. The adopter's were beside themselves over Buster's behavior. They explained that he had chewed on two of their sofas. For the wife, this was a deal breaker for her and she wanted to return him to us. However her husband wanted to try and work through it. I learned that Buster, a young, active dog was being walked for about 15 minutes a day. When I brought this up as a possible cause for the damage to the sofa, it was quickly dismissed. I tried to provide them with other suggestions and while she said they would work on, I didn't have high hopes. A couple of days later she called back, even more upset then before because "they had done everything" and it wasn't working. They felt "there was something wrong" with Buster and wanted to return him as soon as possible. When I tried to figure out what had occurred from the last time we talked the woman became very agitated and so we moved on and made arrangements to have Buster returned shortly thereafter.

Buster is back in our care and doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear. He recognizes all the volunteers that took care of him and while we are sad that it didn't work out we know we will make sure we do a better job of finding him a home where he will get enough mental and physical exercise.

This seems like a perfect place to mention an excellent book called "The Loved Dog" by Tamar Gellar. I HIGHLY recommend this book to all dog owners, new and old. Tamar's philosophy for dog training is by far the BEST advice available. The book is easy to read (although it's available as an audiobook via iTunes if you prefer) and gives numerous examples to help you understand the principles. Tamar is regularly featured on the Today Show and is the trainer that Oprah used with her three Golden Retriever puppies. The one thing that I would note about this book is that Tamar discusses giving your dog bones, however she mentions cooking them. This is a definite NO-NO. Cooking bones makes them brittle and when the dog chews on them they can easily splinter either in their mouth or if they ingest the bone it can splinter in their intestine. I do recommend bones that your dog cannot swallow (such as marrow bones) but they need to be raw. You need not worry that your dog will become ill from chewing on a raw bone. Dogs have been eating and chewing on bones for thousands of years and while the pet food industry has been around since the 1950's, dogs have not evolved since that time. :)

On February 12th, RESCUE cat Lacy moved into foster care with fellow

RESCUE volunteer Valerie. While Valerie volunteers her time on the "dog side" of RESCUE she felt she had the space to share with a kitty and that the cat could keep her company while we searched for a home for her. Unfortunately, cats are not like dogs when it comes to adopters. While this is not true of all people, many adopters are interested in cats of a particular color, whereas dog adopters are looking for a companion that compliments their lifestyle, i.e. likes to go hiking, likes other dogs, etc. When you couple this information with the fact that there are literally cats available for adoption on every corner, cat adoptions take place far less often than our dog adoptions. As such we can have cats for much longer periods of time than our dogs. Lacy is one such cat. She also is a kitty that prefers to be an only cat, which limits the number of possible homes for her as well.

We of course will care for all of our cats and dogs for as long as it takes to find them a loving, permanent home and Lacy is no different. I'm happy to report that Lacy is quite content in foster care already. We are looking forward to learning more about her while she is in foster care.

It seems there is so much uncertainty in the air with the economy in disarray, massive job losses and a seemingly never ending losses to housing prices. I have seen several animal groups close their doors due to the lack of funding. Just last week a major group closed five of their locations due to a 25% decrease in their donations. I also just read a disheartening statistic. While I know that animal groups are at the "bottom of the barrel" when it comes to charitable giving, I had no idea just how large the discrepancy was. Last year 1.5 million grants were given to non-profit organizations in the United States. That's an unbelievable number! These grants were given by corporations big and small, foundations and charitable trusts. Animal groups were awarded the least amount of grants at 967. The next closest non-profit received nearly 5,000 grants. The Phoenix area has over one hundred animal rescue groups in the valley alone. While I am uncertain of the exact number of animal non-profits, it's fair to say that their are several thousand groups nationwide. It doesn't take too much math to figure out that there is an enormous amount of competition for a small amount of grants.

You can see why RESCUE counts on our donors so much and why every dollar is greatly appreciated. We do everything we can to keep our cost to a bare minimum and to stretch every dollar as far as we can. Since we have only been around for 14 years we do not have the luxury of endowments like some of the larger organizations. Most of our adopters are still very much alive. :) We have a couple of fundraisers a year to help cover our costs. Our next event is on March 1st. Please visit this link to learn more about the event and how you can make a donation (of any amount) to help us care for dogs like Piper, Willie and Buster or cats like Lacy and all the other RESCUE dogs and cats that we have the honor of sharing in their lives until a loving, permanent home is found.

Thank you for your time in reading about our journey! Here's to an great week!

February 8th, 2009

2009-02-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

It seems only fitting that I start this blog at the start of RESCUE's 14th year in existence. On 1/31 we celebrated the previous 13 years and all the volunteers that helped us throughout the year. It was a lovely day and I was so grateful to our amazing volunteers. They have given so much throughout the year and what a difficult year it has been.

Many people are losing their homes and their jobs. Countless dogs and cats are also losing their families and their homes too. While sadly this is not a new occurrence it is happening with more and more frequency. Just this past week we saved a 6 year old Bluetick Hound that was dropped off with the family cat. Her family lost their home and wouldn't be taking the family dog or cat with them. When RESCUE arrived the cat had already been placed but Brooke as she would now be known as was still there, waiting. While she was waiting for her former family that wouldn't come, RESCUE did and we made a promise to her. We would find her a loving permanent home that she could live out all the days of her life. Watch a video of Brooke!

Brooke's story is not unique. We happen to know a bit about her past - that she lived with a family and a cat and that "she barks at thunder" and with that her life changed forever. But what is Winston's story? Winston is a small, scared terrier that we saved on 2/3. Winston was a stray dog that was brought into the West Side Animal Care & Control four days before and today, unbeknownst to him was to be the last day of his life. But thanks to the resources at RESCUE, we prevented that from happening. Winston has no "story." He's just another dog in a cage with a number denoting who he is. Did Winston have a family? Why was he there? Why was he going to die? These are questions that we get often. I'm sure I had the same questions years and years ago when I got involved in RESCUE. Honestly, I can give you plenty of answers, some of those answers might make you feel better about why Winston and hundreds and hundreds of other dogs and cats end up at Animal Control week after week. Some of those answers might make you angry or even spark additional questions. For RESCUE none of those answers or questions matter. Winston matters. Saving his life matters. Giving him hope that he will have a loving home and that we will care for him every day until his forever home is found. Watch a video of Winston.

Long time RESCUE dog Molly found her forever home this week too!! Foster parents Teri and Pat adored and cared for Molly for 18 months!!! Molly was a challenging placement but we never gave up and thankfully her foster parents didn't give in and "just adopt her." Molly, like many Jack Russell's was an opinionated gal! She was very, very picky with which dogs she would allow to play with her. :) We also learned that Molly really disliked children and because of barking concerns she couldn't be placed into an apartment or a condo. So Molly's pool of potential adopters was smaller than most but finally her perfect home came along. While Teri and Pat were sad to see her go, they are eager to foster again. Stay tuned to hear about who their new foster dog will be. Watch a video of Molly.

One of our "juvenile delinquents" Cooper was adopted this week by past RESCUE adopters of Billie. Cooper is a young, super active boy who will provide tons of laughter and joy to his feline brother, sister and human parents. Watch a video of Cooper.

RESCUE dogs Nellie and Ketina also found their forever homes this week too. Nellie got a home as a spoiled only dog with two human siblings and a stay at home mom and dad. Ketina will be the only dog amongst three former RESCUE cats and two human siblings to spoil her rotten!

Recent feline additions, Harley and Tristan finally recovered from their feline colds that almost all our new cats get from their stay at Animal Control. Harley was neutered on 2/6 and by 2/7 he was up, about and introducing himself to fellow RESCUE cats. Harley is another young "teenage" cat that will have many cats with similar personality to hang out with while we search for his forever home. Tristan on the other hand is a middle aged kitty that was dropped off at Animal Control on New Year's Eve, four years to the date of when he was adopted from the same location. His owners gave no information during his surrender. Tristan stayed there terrified and shaking for 17 long days. When we saw him and how many days that he had avoided being killed we had to help him! He surely had used up many of his nine lives during those days. Tristan was neutered already but was in dire need of a dental. On 2/7 Tristan had all his teeth cleaned and thankfully only needed one tooth removed. We are looking forward to seeing Tristan blossom and we will do everything we can to help him heal this heart while we search for his loving parents. Watch a video of Harley and Tristan.

Last Saturday (1/31) we had one of our former RESCUE cats returned to us. She had been adopted for nearly two years. A couple of weeks prior the adopter developed asthma and her doctor told her she needed to get rid of her cat Ana. Ana was none to happy with the decision and let all of us know about it. Within a couple of days we noticed that Ana had blood coming from her back end. We had out vet check her out and Ana had a whole slew of issues going on with her. :( Ana was overweight (17.1 pounds). This caused our long haired Ana to develop rolls of fat, particularly around her "back end" area. Now I won't go into all the details but the jest is that Ana could not clean herself because she couldn't reach those areas. Ana developed several bad infections and now requires medication and cleaning of the "area" twice a day every day for two weeks. Now if any of you have cats you know this is not an easy task nor one that you would want to do. But RESCUE's volunteers are extremely dedicated and they have stepped up to help Ana during her time of need. Hopefully Ana will be feeling a ton better in no time.

On Sunday (2/8) RESCUE was scheduled to attend the annual Willo Home Tour, unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. A big rain storm rolled in and so we had to cancel. Sadly, the loss of this event cost us exposure for our RESCUE dogs (possible adoptions), spreading the word about what we do and funds that we would have raised from the community during the event.

Thankfully we did have some good news on Sunday (2/8). RESCUE cat Fergie was exposed to a deadly virus while she was at Animal Control. Sunday was the day that we found out if she had contracted the virus. The results couldn't come fast enough but the news was negative - she didn't have the virus!!! YAHOO! We are so thrilled! Now we need to get her spayed and then placed up for adoption. Watch a video of Fergie.

RESCUE kicked off it's fundraising efforts for our 9th Annual Beauty to the RESCUE. This event has live music, services for humans and animals alike. We will have a silent auction, food and local animal merchants on hand. Our raffle is key to the success of this event. We have two Grand Prizes. A year of Beauty, donated by Mane Attraction Salon. This is a $1000 value. The other Grand Prize is $500 in cash!!! Now who can't use an extra $500 right now?! A limited number of raffle tickets are available and are only $5. You don't have to be a local resident or present to win. Purchase tickets online NOW! The event is 3/1/09 and 100% of the proceeds from this event benefit all the dogs and cats of RESCUE. We couldn't do the work you read about in this Blog without help from the community. Every single dollar adds up and is needed now more than ever! Please help us continue our much need work by purchasing a raffle ticket or two.

Well I hope you have enjoyed RESCUE's journey for the first week in February. Please stay tuned for the next edition. Here's to a great week for the dogs and cats within our care and the new lives that we will save this week. I look forward to sharing their stories!

Introduction

2009-02-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the world of RESCUE!! We have important live saving work to do and are looking forward to the day when we are out of work!!! In the meantime, I hope you will join us along our journey.

This is the journey of one grass roots, not for profit, volunteer driven animal organization dedicated to caring for the formerly orphaned dogs and cats that we saved from the "kill list." For every animal that we place in a loving home we are back to save another life from the "kill list."

You'll learn about the most amazing dogs and cats that we have the privilege to know and help place in their loving permanent homes. It's an honor to be apart of their journey, connecting them with their forever homes.

Every aspect of RESCUE simple could not exist without the love and dedication of RESCUE's over 200 volunteers. RESCUE has a lot volunteers that have been with us for over 3 years, many over 5 years and a few over 10 years!!!! We are so grateful to be apart of some of the most amazing people. You will hear about many of them and their efforts to help us end the killing of dogs and cats.

It would be wonderful if RESCUE didn't exist or that because we exist that we could do our life saving work for free or with no expenses. But as life goes, nothing in life is free. Even if you are trying to lend a helping hand. As such you'll also be apart of our determined and never ending efforts to raise money for our efforts.

I hope you enjoy the Blog, come back often and share the link!

RESCUE's website

RESCUE's Facebook Page