Ooo!! Oooo!!

I just have to share this story. I am so excited I am going to bust.
We had a board meeting tonight and had a guest who announced he is
donating his 2005 Buick. We're going to see about trading it for a
cargo van. As of now, we have no vehicle and all transportation for
vetting is done in personal vehicles. And we had no means of picking up
strays people would call about. This will make off-site adoptions also
so much easier, to have the ability to transport several animals in one
large vehicle.
The grant that we wrote for a while back for TNR is also looking
promising. That's also something we have never had the manpower or felt
like we could dedicate the funds for.
A local trucking co. is donating a 48-foot trailer. The plans are to
remodel it and turn it into a surgical center for spay/neuters. The
possibility of having veterinary students from the vet college holding
a weekly "spay day" is being explored.
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.
I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"

Sherry

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just have to share this story. I am so excited I am going to bust.
We had a board meeting tonight and had a guest who announced he is
donating his 2005 Buick. We're going to see about trading it for a
cargo van. As of now, we have no vehicle and all transportation for
vetting is done in personal vehicles. And we had no means of picking up
strays people would call about. This will make off-site adoptions also
so much easier, to have the ability to transport several animals in one
large vehicle.
The grant that we wrote for a while back for TNR is also looking
promising. That's also something we have never had the manpower or felt
like we could dedicate the funds for.
A local trucking co. is donating a 48-foot trailer. The plans are to
remodel it and turn it into a surgical center for spay/neuters. The
possibility of having veterinary students from the vet college holding
a weekly "spay day" is being explored.
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.
I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"

Sherry


Cool!! I'm jealous that your shelter is starting a TNR program. Ours still
won't touch TNR with a ten foot pole. Too many disagreements on whether or
not it's a good idea sigh
We tried to start a community service spay/neuter program for low income pet
owners. I was really enthused about it, but sadly it stopped. A pet died
post-neuter (turns out it was the owner's fault, don't want to get into
details) but it was enough to spook people out of it. Also, no one can
agree if our liability insurance covers owned pets or not. I hate it that
we aren't doing anything. All we can do is refer people elsewhere.
A suggestion: If you can get that trailer turned into a vetting suite,
which is exactly what our shelter did, secure the services of a vet one day
a week and do the majority of your vetting on site. Do your own
spay/neuters, exams, and minor surgery. It has worked out very well for our
shelter. Saves tons of time and money. We still take emergencies, x-rays,
and dog spays to the vet hospital, but most everything else can be done on
site.

-Kelly

KellyH wrote:
snipped
Cool!! I'm jealous that your shelter is starting a TNR program.
Ours still
won't touch TNR with a ten foot pole. Too many disagreements on whether or
not it's a good idea sigh
We tried to start a community service spay/neuter program for low income pet
owners. I was really enthused about it, but sadly it stopped.

I'm very excited about this. We raised $10,000 just by fundraising and
called it our "Please Don't Litter" campaign. We started taking
applications for low-income, and that money was gone in no time. I just
know it's going to make a difference with puppy/kitten season next
year. Then we got the Bob Barker grant--do you guys get that? It was
$10,000, but $8500 of it must be spent on large breed dogs. Only $1500
gets split between small dogs and cats. But hey, it's free money.

A pet died
post-neuter (turns out it was the owner's fault, don't want to get into
details) but it was enough to spook people out of it. Also, no one can
agree if our liability insurance covers owned pets or not. I hate it that
we aren't doing anything. All we can do is refer people elsewhere.
A suggestion: If you can get that trailer turned into a vetting suite,
which is exactly what our shelter did, secure the services of a vet one day
a week and do the majority of your vetting on site. Do your own
spay/neuters, exams, and minor surgery. It has worked out very well for our
shelter. Saves tons of time and money. We still take emergencies, x-rays,
and dog spays to the vet hospital, but most everything else can be done on
site.

Thanks for the tip. It really sounds workable.
As a side note, another fun thing we're doing is having a "Shower" for
the animals. The invitations will read "We're Expecting....(more
puppies and kittens). We're even going to "register" at Wal Mart. Ha!
Why not?
And have refreshments, games, and maybe a small-scale on-site adoption.
It'll be fun.

-Kelly

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just have to share this story. I am so excited I am going to bust.
We had a board meeting tonight and had a guest who announced he is
donating his 2005 Buick. We're going to see about trading it for a
cargo van. As of now, we have no vehicle and all transportation for
vetting is done in personal vehicles. And we had no means of picking up
strays people would call about. This will make off-site adoptions also
so much easier, to have the ability to transport several animals in one
large vehicle.
The grant that we wrote for a while back for TNR is also looking
promising. That's also something we have never had the manpower or felt
like we could dedicate the funds for.
A local trucking co. is donating a 48-foot trailer. The plans are to
remodel it and turn it into a surgical center for spay/neuters. The
possibility of having veterinary students from the vet college holding
a weekly "spay day" is being explored.
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.
I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"

Sherry


That is EXCELLENT news Sherry. I ran a mobile neutering clinic in the UK (as
a volunteer) for a few years, so if you want to talk to me about it, please
feel free.

Jeanette

wrote:
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.

So very nice to hear some good news, Sherry.

I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"

Purrs for Frank's little mini-me to find a good home.


--
Marina, Frank and Miranda. In loving memory of Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just have to share this story. I am so excited I am going to bust.
We had a board meeting tonight and had a guest who announced he is
donating his 2005 Buick. We're going to see about trading it for a
cargo van. As of now, we have no vehicle and all transportation for
vetting is done in personal vehicles. And we had no means of picking up
strays people would call about. This will make off-site adoptions also
so much easier, to have the ability to transport several animals in one
large vehicle.
The grant that we wrote for a while back for TNR is also looking
promising. That's also something we have never had the manpower or felt
like we could dedicate the funds for.
A local trucking co. is donating a 48-foot trailer. The plans are to
remodel it and turn it into a surgical center for spay/neuters. The
possibility of having veterinary students from the vet college holding
a weekly "spay day" is being explored.
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.
I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"

Sherry

Great news Sherry! Bast has blessed you all for your good works!

Hugs,

CatNipped

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just have to share this story. I am so excited I am going to bust.
We had a board meeting tonight and had a guest who announced he is
donating his 2005 Buick.

Holy crap! That is quite a donation!


We're going to see about trading it for a
cargo van. As of now, we have no vehicle and all transportation for
vetting is done in personal vehicles. And we had no means of picking up
strays people would call about. This will make off-site adoptions also
so much easier, to have the ability to transport several animals in one
large vehicle.
The grant that we wrote for a while back for TNR is also looking
promising. That's also something we have never had the manpower or felt
like we could dedicate the funds for.
A local trucking co. is donating a 48-foot trailer. The plans are to
remodel it and turn it into a surgical center for spay/neuters. The
possibility of having veterinary students from the vet college holding
a weekly "spay day" is being explored.
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.
I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"



Wow, now that was a great meeting. Kudos to all of you.

Jeanette wrote:



That is EXCELLENT news Sherry. I ran a mobile neutering clinic in the UK (as
a volunteer) for a few years, so if you want to talk to me about it, please
feel free.

Jeanette

Thank you so much Jeanette. I'm probably jumping the gun because the
grant hasn't come through yet. Hope I get to take you up on that offer
soon! I am just so proud of that group. We started that shelter only
seven years ago. It is not only the most hardworking bunch, but the
most fiscally responsible group you can imagine. Now I think that the
ability handle money wisely and not jump off in deep water too soon is
what makes or breaks a shelter. I was one of the ones that was
impatient to start the neutering services and TNR.

Sherry

wrote:
I just have to share this story. I am so excited I am going to bust.
We had a board meeting tonight and had a guest who announced he is
donating his 2005 Buick. We're going to see about trading it for a
cargo van. As of now, we have no vehicle and all transportation for
vetting is done in personal vehicles. And we had no means of picking
up strays people would call about. This will make off-site adoptions
also so much easier, to have the ability to transport several animals
in one large vehicle.
The grant that we wrote for a while back for TNR is also looking
promising. That's also something we have never had the manpower or
felt like we could dedicate the funds for.
A local trucking co. is donating a 48-foot trailer. The plans are to
remodel it and turn it into a surgical center for spay/neuters. The
possibility of having veterinary students from the vet college holding
a weekly "spay day" is being explored.
Thank Bast! Good, good things are happening.
I passed around pictures of Babycat, but didn't have any luck! All I
heard was a series of groans and "I have XXX cats already!!"

Sherry

That's wonderful news, Sherry, I can well understand why you're so
excited. :-)
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

wrote

I'm very excited about this. We raised $10,000 just by fundraising and
called it our "Please Don't Litter" campaign. We started taking
applications for low-income, and that money was gone in no time. I just
know it's going to make a difference with puppy/kitten season next
year. Then we got the Bob Barker grant--do you guys get that? It was
$10,000, but $8500 of it must be spent on large breed dogs. Only $1500
gets split between small dogs and cats. But hey, it's free money.

No, I don't think we do. Being all volunteer, we don't have someone on top
of obtaining grants. Maybe it's something I can look into since I'm stuck
at home for the most part (about ready to pop out my babies) and can't do
nearly the physical stuff I used to do.
I really want to get some type of spay/neuter program going. It's needed
badly.


Thanks for the tip. It really sounds workable.
As a side note, another fun thing we're doing is having a "Shower" for
the animals. The invitations will read "We're Expecting....(more
puppies and kittens). We're even going to "register" at Wal Mart. Ha!
Why not?
And have refreshments, games, and maybe a small-scale on-site adoption.
It'll be fun.

That sounds neat! What a good idea

-Kelly