"Missy" update

Hi,
We got a voice mail the other day asking for an update on "Missy", the
Dachshund-Aussie mix puppy we adopted two weeks ago. First, her name
has changed to "Belle". She's doing quite well now, but one week after
getting her she got ill with vomiting and diarrhea. After vet visits
and some medications, she's doing very well again (it was not parvo).
We're taking her soon for her second set of vaccinations.
She's active, growing and chewing everything!

Thanks for all you folks do for the pets out there looking for homes.
We love Belle and she's fitting in quite well with us.

All the best,
-- Victor and Jennifer Szalvay

New Orleans kitties come to Homeward

Kristin Archer approached us a few months ago after she had returned from volunteering  for ARNO (Animal Rescue of New Orleans). Life is still extremely grim for animals there and Kristin asked ARNO what she could do to help them after she returned to Seattle. They responded ‘help us get some of these poor cats out of our shelter- noone is adopting down here’. When she came back to Seattle she contacted Homeward to see if we could help and we agreed  to take a few cats. Just by coincidence they were scheduled to come here today, August 30^th, the same day that New Orleans had begun evacuating once again for Hurricane Gustav. The cats arrived safely, a little jet-lagged and scared but all in all, they are doing great. We have three sisters, 10 months old and sadly they have lived in  a shelter their entire lives. They are long overdue  to have a real life! We also rescued a beautiful Himalayan mix female that is totally relaxed, like she flies across the country every day! If all goes well, they should all be available for adoption next week!

 

Laurel Ehrlich

Cat Program Manager

An update on Cody

Hello Homeward Pet Animal Shelter!

I wanted to follow up with you and thank you all for all your help
during the process of adopting Cody. He has been an amazing puppy (only
1 accident inside!) and has already began feeling quite at home (We're
still having an ongoing debate of who owns the king sized bed....)

He has a perfect clean bill of health from the Vet and is enrolled for
puppy school starting next week. He has been incredibly good to us, and
has brought so much joy/love to our home. I have attached a few
pictures of him for you all to see, and thank you all again so much.

Mike & Jared.

happy tails - congee (formerly huey)

hello!

congee has been a part of our family for two months now and is a happy
puppy. his vet calls him handsome congee and he has made lots of friends
at doggie school and at doggie daycare. we are so lucky to have him in
our lives. he loves going on long walks, jumping in the water at myrtle
edwards park and hanging out at lake union. he also likes meeting other
dogs at norm's in fremont when his mom and dad want to go to a
dog-friendly restaurant. his mom can't wait to take him jogging when
he's old enough and he's likes to play fetch with his dad. thanks again
for the opportunity to have him with us!

-irene and will

Happy Tails: Nihoa!

Hello Everyone at Homeward Pet!

    I wanted to thank you for our wonderful little girl Nihoa (renamed Kenai)! She has fit in quite nicely with us and I don't think we could of found a better match! We recently took her to the vet and she checked out wonderful! Other than that her puppy antics have kept us very entertained! We made sure to buy her good puppy toys, but of course she prefers empty water bottles over it all!

    Anyway, I wanted to thank you again, if we ever wanted another wonderful pet homeward would definitely be the first and best place to look!

Thank You!!
-Courtney Shrum

Happy Tails: WILLOW

Hi guys-

 

I wanted to let you know that Miss Willow is an absolute sweetheart, she's doing great, and is now adjusting to her new home.   Here she's taking a rest in her crate with her new buddy!  She just loves that darn frog!

 

In spite of the fact that she was obviously abused, as evident by her severely frightened behavior of everyone and everything, she's coming around and is learning the ropes.  This behavior is very unusual for a labrador, as they are such outgoing and friendly dogs by nature.  My previous labs were also transfered from shelters and foster homes, and they never exibited any of these symptoms.  So Willow was definitely damaged in some way.  She's still quite shy and untrusting of strangers, but somewhat better than she was a month ago.  For the first week she just hid under the furniture, so I got her a crate and that helped.  And even with the fenced property, she wanted to take off if given the opportunity when let outside, so I kept her on a lead for the first couple of weeks.  But now she's warmed right up to me, and learned to stay on her own property when off the lead, with minimal observation required.  She's also become very good at coming when I call her, and is now no problem in this regard at all.  So if she does start to wander a bit, she comes right back when called.  She's learned how to open the front door on her own to come back in the house when I let her out to run, or to do her business.  Now we need to work on her closing it too.  She's trying to learn how to play (it's painfully obvious her previous owners never played with her at all in 8 years!), and she's also learning to swim.  The first time she jumped of the dock into the pond, she sank and floundered.  I believe she thought the water was solid, not liquid.  A lab that can't swim is pretty much unheard of, and tells me she was never worked with, or allowed to go in the water.  Very sad indeed.  But much better late, than never!

 

She now loves to go for rides in the pickup and the car, and has learned not to enter, or leave the vehicles until i say 'okay'.  Same with going through the entry doors in the house when she's with me.  She will now sit and wait until I say 'okay' and then she'll go through.  A very good girl indeed, and very smart.

 

She was diagnosed with a pretty bad kidney infection on her senior vet exam, and was put on heavy anti-biotics for two weeks.  The vet was concerned that she may have already been into kidney failure, but after the medicine program her blood and urine tests were normal.  So she's now healthy, and the vet said she's just fine.  Thank goodness, as she's already been through enough in her life.

 

She's now on a healthy, restricted diet to keep her this way, and to keep her weight normal.  So I think she'll be around for a long time yet.

 

I'm really dumb-struck how someone could have a great dog like Willow, and never realize how very special she is!  I'm so happy she's here with me, and she now seems pretty happy too!  One can't ask for more than that! 

 

Thank you for what you do!

 

 

Regards,

 

Rob Frye

Kingston

Cooper (formerly Simon) finds a great new home!

Thank you so much for giving our adopted kitty Cooper such a good start in life. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him.  I called my husband and he raced over to the shelter to meet our future kitty. We both feel that adoption is a big deal and a lifetime commitment. I wanted him to meet this little guy before I brought him home.

I can only imagine that it was not easy to say, "Goodbye" to this litter of kitties. They all seemed to have such great personalities and as a group they  were off the cuteness chart. We wanted a cat who would relate to us kind of like a dog. Cooper fetches his mouse and brings it back to us over and over again. He seems to really like to spend time with us.

We brought Cooper home to join our other two tuxedo cats, Bailey, age

13 and Cowboy, age 5 (who is also a Homeward rescue kitty). Cooper has a huge personality. He runs to the door when the door bell rings to greet our guests. The other two cats head for the safety of the underside of the bed when a stranger enters their house. Cooper also surprised me when he  fell asleep in the arms of the vet when I took him in for his first checkup. He quickly made it abundantly clear that he was going to be the top cat. He chases the other two cats around the house and lets them know that we are his humans and that he is in control of the home environment. They are all indoor cats.

Recently we were devastated when we lost our other 13 year old cat TJ to lung cancer.  We  miss TJ so very much.  Cooper is such a positive force. You just can't look at him without smiling.

Thank you so much for doing such a good job.

Sincerely,

 

Cindy

 

 

Hunter

 

Hunter has added so much joy to our home.  He, too, has found lots of joy with us.  He loves to play fetch, go on walks, and just be lazy at someone's feet. But his absolute favorite thing to do is go in the water.  The very first time we took him to the water he ran so fast he took me in with him. . . shoes and all!  It was quite funny.  He had a great time playing fetch and chasing the waves.  Many people gathered around to enjoy watching Hunter in all his glory.  I have never seen a happier dog then Hunter playing in the water.  We are very taken by our newest family member and are so grateful that Homeward Pets made our adoption so pleasant. 

 

Thanks again,

Debbie  

Update on Pepper

We wanted to thank everyone at Homeward Pet for such a lovely adoption
experience. We adopted Pepper on 7/26 (and renamed her Skagit), and she
is an extremely smart, loving, engaging puppy. We really appreciate the
time you gave us to meet her, introduce her to our older dog, and think
through our decision.

She had a great check-up at Bothell Pet Hospital and is already learning
a lot from our older dog. I attached some pictures.

Thank you again for all you do on behalf of pets and families. Much
appreciation, the Winter family

Happy Tails: Chimmi & Changa

Chimmi & Changa have a happy ending!

These lovely ladies are adjusting well to their new home, and we just love them.

I’m already learning to tell them apart both in appearance and demeanor.

Chimmi is the more easy going one. Not much phases her. She’s a little sleeker in build, has a longer tail, and a single white hair on her chin. She likes to jump up at toys dangling in the air. When she's not napping, she's almost constantly in motion. Today she got a pretty new blue collar.

Changa is a little high-strung. She tends to start sparring matches with her sister. She likes to pounce on toys on the ground. She’s a little wider and has a few white hairs just below her collar. Even though she’s wound a little tight, she loves to cuddle. She particularly enjoys napping on my left collar bone. Today she got a lovely new red collar.

Our adult kitty is giving them a wide berth at the moment. She’s lived with other cats most of her life, and I’m confident she’ll come around.

I had quickly forgotten how hard it is to photograph black cats. Good thing I have some practice.