Sunday, June 13, 2010

Great adoption events continue!

We started the week with our trip to the shelter to pull dogs. Those that follow us may have seen the post on Facebook, everyone taking bets on how many I'd come home with. Well, the winning guess was 16! Among them:

Bonaroo, a sheltie mix puppy boy about 8 weeks old
Jasmine, an 8 week old yellow lab puppy girl that was adopted the day after we got back!
Merlin, an 8 week old GSD / rottie mix puppy boy
Dooley, a beagle / pug mix boy about a year old
Gin'E (for search engine) and her 3 nursing puppies Google, Yahoo and Bing. They are rat terrier mixes.
Junebug, a female 8 week old Great Pyrenees mix puppy
O'Connor, a gorgeous young adult male American Eskimo
Scooby, a young adult male Yorkie
Scrappy, a young adult male Cairn Terrier
Shaggy, a young adult male Schnauzer
Pierre, a young adult male Scottie
Precious, a 6 year old female toy poodle
Prince, a 5 year old male toy poodle

They are on a quarantine hold for two weeks during which time we'll be evaluating their temperament.

This week's adoption event was wonderful again!

With Mr.HART in Atlanta for a concert, transport space was limited. My vehicle is so tiny I'd have to really work to transport a mouse! Luckily our shelter coordinator had the day off and Mr.TransportCoordinator didn't mind staying home to play fur kid daddy for mommy!

Tammy got to our house on time but I was running late............as usual! Tammy's got several dogs that just came available that are just wonderful so we decided to give the other dogs a week off. We loaded up Sugar and Spice, two adorable little bassett sisters and Mork and Mindy two very tiny little Norfolk terrier mix puppies that someone had found in a dumpster. I brought along Bolt since he'd only been to one event so far.

We loaded and thanks to Tammy's driving and few cars on the road we made it on time. We had tons of volunteers show up, always a wonderful thing! We'd had a lady call before we left to say she was driving all the way from Crossville with her fur baby to visit Spice. We walked in and the manager tracked us down to let us know she'd called to let him know too! She obviously fell in love with her over the internet!

In the meantime we had two ladies come in and fall instantly in love with Mork and Mindy. No surprise to any of us. They are beyond precious! They decided to adopt them both! We were so happy. After some cruel human threw them in a dumpster like trash they not only got a home, but got to stay together!

The lady about Spice showed up - Yay! Her dog is so laid back and easy going that she had no issue at all with Spice. Spice is just a laid back girl, so it seemed like it was meant to be. She called home to make sure everyone was absolutely positive they wanted the adoption and a resounding yes followed! We were thrilled that on her first day out, Spice found a family!

A couple came in and looked at Sugar. You could tell they just adored her. She was so sad when her sister left, walked around the pen and cried. When they took her out she climbed right in their lap. Just a complete snuggle bug! So daddy went home to get their dog to make sure they'd get along. Sugar is just so laid back it didn't seem to affect her one way or another. Because they wanted a dog to play with theirs, they took Bolt out. It wound up a perfect match and he was adopted!

By the end of the day 4 of the 5 we came in with had homes / families! We couldn't be happier!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Incoming!!!

After our wonderful adoption weekend last week, we've committed to pull quite a few dogs and had some others come in as owner surrenders / strays that the people in the community can't keep.

We'll be headed to the shelter tomorrow after we pick up Dixie and Bolt from the clinic after their spay and neuter today. Once settled, it's off to Kentucky we go!

From the shelter, our list will include:

A female white and tan cocker spaniel
A male yorkie
A male Scottish terrier
A male Cairn terrier
A male American Eskimo

A mother rat terrier and her 3 female babies about 4 weeks old

A male rottie mix puppy, about 8 weeks old
A female Great Pyrenees mix puppy, about 8 weeks old
A female yellow lab, about 8 weeks old.


All adults are in the 3 - 5 year range for age as far as we know. Once we get them seen by the vet we'll have more info.

We also accepted 2 Norwich terrier mix dogs this morning that had been thrown in a garbage dumpster, a male and a female. They apprear to be younger, maybe 8 months or so.

We may have some of them at the adoption event this Saturday. For certain in attendance we will have:

Murphy, 3 year old male golden retreiver
Trixie, 3 year old female boxer mix
Bolt, 8 month old male corgi / terrier mix
Andy, 8 year old male chihuahua
Rex, 3 year old male hound / beagle mix
Shrek, 3 year old male beagle


In attendance pending their foster homes ability to make it:

Buffy, 12 year old female poodle
Alvin, 2 year old male beagle / cattle dog
Batman, 18 month old male border collie mix
Robin, 18 month old small male terrier / shepherd mix


Not attending but still looking for a family and home of their own are dozen more kids, with more coming in tomorrow. Please look at our website or Petfinder and see if you can find your next family member!!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Best day ever!

Our adoption event yesterday was an unbelievable success!!! I was absolutely shocked at how very busy we were. By the end of the event, Rocky, Charlie Brown, Garrett, Willow, and Lord Farquaad had all been adopted. Willow will be staying with us an extra week while her mommy and daddy are on vacation. Rocky's new family will be going on vacation next week so he will return to his foster mommy while they're gone - how about that? At Hilltop we even provide babysitters for your new family member!

After leaving our event one of our foster mommys called to let us know she'd gone to visit a potential home with Liza. The adopters had brought their dog to make sure they'd get along ok. She said they pretty much ignored each other, both being very much the couch potatoes. The application looked wonderful and pending a home visit on Friday, it looks like Liza may have a home as well!!!

We'll be headed back to Jessamine SAVE Center on Thursday to pick up some more. We've had a couple people contact us about fostering for us as well, which means we've been able to pull at least 2 more dogs off of euthanasia lines, possibly four more! For every foster home we have agree to help us out, we can save another one or two. It's a fabulous way to have a fur kid in the house with no expense from it and save their life in the process. The ultimate gift of love - life!

We've also got all those kittens! We'd planned on someone coming to help transport at least 16 of them to the event but they didn't show, so we weren't able to bring them. Next week though it looks like we may have a 3 vehicle caravan headed up, so we could possibly bring everyone!!! I can't even begin to imagine where we are all going to fit, but we'll certainly manage somehow! If you're looking for kittens, swing out to the Petco in the Avenue shopping plaza. We've got at least 16 of them from 8 weeks to 14 or 16 weeks that will be there. $30 adoption fee includes their first set of shots and de-worm. You can't beat that!!

We've got an appointment for Gomer on Monday afternoon for x-rays on his knee. He has an approved adopter, so we're waiting to see what x-rays show to find out when he can go home. If he needs surgery they'll need to wait to bring their little boy home until after he heals. If he's cleared for adoption and only has arthritis and just needs meds he can go home now.

Once we get them through and get Dixie, the female boxer we took in for her spay ready, we'll be taking in the kittens that Munchi has been nursing. They're staying incredibly small. We've got a litter of kittens their age and they are half the size of the others. They seem very healthy and quite active though. We're quite eager to see what the vet says and are wondering if they're going to be mini-cats??!!

If you missed the Munchi and the kittens stories, the link is here, with a video on the right side of the link. You can see her playing with them, nursing them, and cleaning them. She's a very good mommy!

http://www.wkrn.com/global/story.asp?s=12479395

In the meantime we're gearing up for our two big events leading up to 4th of July. We'll be having contests at Petco on June 26th and July 3rd. Categories are cutest pet, best trick, best costume, etc. Gift certificates and other prizes from local businesses will be given out as prizes. These events will lead up to the 4th of July event in Smyrna where we have a booth set up with information and photos and info on all of the pets we have available for homes! Stop in and see us!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Well, it's definitely kitten season

As I was getting ready to leave for work a few days ago, talking to my daughter, we kept hearing a kitten crying. I assumed it was her year old kitten that likes to play in the attic, in the rafters over the garage. But my daughter stopped and said, 'mom, I think it's coming from your car'. *shock* She was right!

I popped the hood and there sat three very little fluffy balls of fur, staring back at me. We pulled out a male and female solid black kitten and a grey male kitten. Scared, but otherwise healthy.

We got them to the vet and their first vaccines. While I was on the phone with our cat foster the other day telling her about it, she said she's had kittens showing up on their own, as well as being dropped on her door step lately. She's got 16 little kittens there now!!!!

It's obviously going to be a very busy kitten season. With her 16 and the 6 we have, we're looking for homes for 22 kittens. And that doesn't include the 5 she has that aren't even weaned yet. And season is just starting.

So our focus right now is kittens! We'll be picking up a massive amount of vaccines from our vet this weekend and heading to her place to start vaccinating everyone. Because they aren't really HART fosters, we're doing them as a courtesy listing for........... well, for them. They will be adopted out with their first set of vaccines done. A courtesy listing contract will have to be signed, guaranteeing you will provide us with vet statements showing they have received their other vaccines as well as been spayed / neutered before 6 months of age. The adoption fee is only $30 and you will need to complete the application as usual. If you are looking for a pair, we will adopt two at a time to approved applicants for $45.

I'm going to try to get out and vaccinate this Friday so we can bring them all to Petco on Saturday. If you're looking for a new kitten in your family - or two! - this will be a great time to adopt. We're hoping to have the kittens that have been nursed by Munchi, our long haired chihuahua, and were on the News 2 report mid-May up for adoption in the next couple weeks as well.

And if you're looking for a new canine companion, we will be at Petco with plenty of those this week. New to our group:

Willow, an 8 week old unbelievably precious boxer american bull dog mix
Tanner, a very cute and tiny 8 month old puppy
O'Connor, a stunning young adult American Eskimo
Batman, a 12 week old male border collie mix
Robin, Batman's best buddy, a 12 week old GSD / Lab mix
Bullwinkle, adoption pending, a 18 month old male Boston Terrier
Rocky, a 3 year old male Boston Terrier
Dixie, a 3 year old female Boxer