The Animal Foundation December 2017 Newsletter

tails newsletter DECEMBER 2017

THANK YOU! As the calendar year draws to a close, we are more thankful than ever for our many generous donors who have made The Animal Foundation a giving priority during 2017! Your support has helped us make a tremendous difference in the lives of the many thousands of animals who come into our care.

THANK YOU! Our Fast & Furriest 5K Fundraiser + Festival held on Nov. 18th was great fun for all, with a record number of participants, vendors and sponsors!

Special thanks to Hills, Animo and Konami for their generous sponsorships and to everyone who came out to walk, run or just hang out with their furry friends!

Give the gift of a forever home to one of our long-term residents and shelter favorites.

ROCKY (A936337) is a six-year-old pup who loves attention. He came to us in March and has been waiting patiently for the perfect home. A big cuddler with genuine affection for his human friends, Rocky has excellent leash walking skills and plenty of energy to keep his forever family busy.

BUNGELINA (A951921) is a sweet rabbit who entered our care in April. She is almost two years old and enjoys being petted. Her favorite pastimes are digging in her newspapers and thumping her feet.

KIT (A978543) is a small cat looking for the perfect family. She came to The Animal Foundation in September and is ready for her forever home. She enjoys cuddling, but loves to lounge around even more.

DAPHNEY (A933143) is a sweet girl with lots of energy. She became part of our shelter family last December and is eager to meet her forever family.

Daphney, who loves attention and going on daily walks, would be best-suited as the only pup in a loving home.

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NEW

Insurance Benefit for Pet Adopters!

More and More

PETS ARE KEPPT RATHER THAN SURRENDERED

When you think about The Animal Foundation, chances are you think about pet adoptions. Ending pet homelessness, however, isn’t just about finding homes for pets. It’s also about keeping pets in the homes they already have and out of the shelter. This is where our Keeping Every Person and Pet Together program (KEPPT) comes in.

Beginning in December, all new adopters of dogs and cats from The Animal Foundation will receive 30 days of free medical insurance for their furry friends.

Upon adoption, new pet parents will be provided with a certificate that, when activated within 24 hours of adoption, offers immediate coverage with a comprehensive Trupanion medical insurance policy.

The policy picks up 90% of eligible veterinary costs for all new injuries and illnesses, including hereditary and congenital conditions, with no payout limits.

The new program helps prepare new owners for unexpected veterinary costs and ensures that they have the tools needed to access quality medical care for their pets. What’s more, the Trupanion support team is available 24/7 to answer any questions.

Now new pet adopters can worry less and focus more on welcoming their new best friend into the home.

When people come to The Animal Foundation to surrender their pet, they are scheduled to meet with a KEPPT counselor to find out why they have come to the heartbreaking decision of giving up a beloved family member. Typically, people aren’t making the decision out of heartlessness, but rather out of hopelessness. Often, a pet owner is facing a temporary, but dire situation where KEPPT can help.

Take Harry’s case for example. When Harry’s landlord threatened to evict him because of his English Bulldog, Gordo, Harry wasn’t in a position to move and felt he had no other choice but to rehome Gordo.

Luckily, we were able to help Harry obtain an emotional support animal certificate for Gordo so that Henry had a legal right to keep him in the apartment.

When Brenda came to us with her beloved Chihuahua, Chiquita, she explained that she was unable to afford the urgent medical care Chiquita needed. KEPPT was able to arrange and pay for discounted medical services from a trusted veterinary partner and save Brenda from having to make a difficult choice.

These are just a few examples of how, when people come to us thinking the only option they have to save their pet is to surrender it, our KEPPT program is able to help keep pets in their home an out of the shelter through the delivery of basic veterinary care, short-term boarding or temporary pet food assistance.

Who’s Your Daddy?

Nearly every day our adoption counselors are asked, “What breed is this dog?” We try to remind potential adopters that you can’t accurately identify mixed breed dogs by sight and that a dog’s genetic makeup is not a magic mirror into its behavior. Or, as your mom may have told you, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Thanks to a generous donation of 100 DNA tests by Best Friends Animal Society, our team at The Animal Foundation recently had the opportunity to conduct DNA testing on 100 of our shelter dogs, to demonstrate just how inaccurate sight identification of a dog’s breed can be. The Animal Foundation, like so many shelters across America today, has many mixed breed dogs that people tend to identify as “pit bulls.” Our goal was to try to demonstrate just how wrong sight identification can be and that a “pit bull” is not a pit bull! As the DNA results started coming in, we laminated and posted them on our dogs’ kennels.

The DNA breed profiles surprised even us. Dogs that were all too often identified as pit bulls were found to have cocker spaniel, boxer, golden retriever, bulldog, German shepherd, Boston terrier, and many other breeds in their backgrounds. As patrons started seeing the DNA results, they were able to see beyond appearances and started focusing more on personalities.

One long-time resident, Chi Chi, was found to be a mix of American Stafford Terrier and American Bulldog. A patron who had experience training bulldogs saw Chi Chi and thought she’d be the perfect fit for her family. Another of our “pit bulls” ended up being a mix of American Staffordshire Terrier, Chinese Shar-Pei and Weimaraner.

Long-time resident and staff favorite, Sasha, was adopted to an active family of six after they saw her DNA results which confirmed that she was a purebred American Staffordshire Terrier and needed an active lifestyle. Today Sasha follows her new mom around everywhere when she’s not playing with the four family children.

CHI CHI

SASHA

Our first run at DNA testing proved what we’ve always known: that there’s a lot more to many of our shelter dogs than meets the eye. It also helps to demonstrate why The Animal Foundation, along with other animal shelters across the country, no longer try to assign a breed to any dog without papers. Just like people, all dogs are individuals and getting to know their personality is the best way to determine “fit.”

Did you know?

The term “bully breed” is used to refer to a large group of various breeds of dog that hail from the same root breed. Dogs that belong to a bully breed are all derived from one particular type of dog known as the Molosser. The Molosser is believed to have originated in ancient Greece and was characterized by a short muzzle, large bones, a large frame and pendant shaped ears. Originally Molossers were bred with a range of other dogs that resulted in varied breed characteristics found today in the various bully-type breeds. The American Kennel Association recognizes 14 different bully breeds, and there are currently as many as 42 bully breeds in the world.

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Building a Safer, Happier

Community of Pets and People Here at The Animal Foundation, we recognize that community outreach and engagement are essential to helping all pets live healthy, happy and safe lives. By offering pet resources and services to underserved communities in Las Vegas, we can empower people and increase the overall health and well-being of our animal population.

Recently, The Animal Foundation’s Pets for Life program hosted a one-day event to provide free vaccines for dogs and cats whose owners live in the 89101 zip code near our shelter. Pets for Life is a lifesaving program that helps underserved communities by conducting door-to-door outreach to help ensure families have access to pet services regardless of socio-economic status. At the November 4 event, our Pets for Life team of veterinarians, vet techs and volunteers vaccinated 578 animals and scheduled 107 spay/neuter appointments.

‹ A little over one week later, our Keeping Every Person and Pet Together (KEPPT) program was among the animal care service partners at Project Homeless Connect, a service and resource fair for people experiencing homelessness or who are at-risk. Representatives from KEPPT as well as veterinary staff from our Low-Cost Spay/ Neuter Clinic offered basic veterinary services such as vaccines, microchips, nail trims and ear cleaning for 132 pets of homeless or at-risk individuals who attended the event. KEPPT representatives were also available to provide counseling to individuals needing other basic assistance for their pets, including short-term boarding, pet food assistance or spaying and neutering services.

Through these and our other lifesaving programs, we are working to achieve our mission to save all healthy and treatable animals in our care by the end of 2020.

LAST CALL FOR 2017!

We’d like to remind everyone that there’s still time to make a taxdeductible donation to show your love for our mission and vision! All gifts received online (or postmarked) by December 31 are eligible for the 2017 tax-year credit. Consider making a holiday donation in honor of someone special in lieu of a gift this year – we will let your honoree know about your kindness with a customized letter, sent directly to him/her.

Contact us at donations@animalfoundation.com or call (702) 955-5926 for more information.