 |  |  |  | Celebrate the Season with a Photo of Your Pet and Santa from PetSmart We know nothing can bring a smile to your face and a glow to your heart as quickly as your lovable pet. This holiday, you can also get that warm fuzzy feeling by preserving those precious moments with your furry pal while also supporting your favorite animal rescue organization—Community Animal Welfare Society—by purchasing a photo of your pet with Santa Claus. Simply bring your pet to PetSmart on Saturday and Sunday, December 11 & 12 and 18 & 19, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For only $9.95, you will receive a digital photo and holiday frame. Five dollars of every purchase will be donated to CAWS! Please help CAWS create many more picture-perfect happy endings for animals in need everywhere. We hope to see you and your pet at PetSmart to take what is sure to become one of your most treasured photos.
Heartfelt Thanks for Your Support! Your generous contribution gives strength to our programs and allows us to help more animals in need. During these tough economic times, our adoption numbers are down, and the number of requests for assistance are up dramatically. Thank you for helping to keep CAWS' programs strong. Here are stories of a few of the many animals, and their owners, we have helped in the last few months: | Sarah Conner Loses Her Tail, But Finds a Home (And is Spayed, Of Course) CAWS received this e-mail in August: We have recently had a stray kitten adopt us; however, it has been severely injured. It looks as though something has chewed its tail and hindquarters. It has exposed tailbone and the tail is in bad shape... I know it should see a veterinarian. Unfortunately, we do not have the funds it would take for a veterinarian to care for it. Does your organization have any options for us? I know if we called animal services it would probably end up being put to sleep. Any help or direction you could give would be very appreciated! -- Tammy Sosa A CAWS volunteer called Tammy and worked out a good copayment option, and soon Tammy and the injured kitten had an appointment at Dr. Wilson's office. Tammy sent us two additional e-mails to let us know how the kitty, now named Sarah Conner after the character from the popular Terminator series, was doing: We are back from Dr. Wilson's. He is a great doctor. They will have to amputate her tail, and they will spay her also. The doctor believes her injury was caused by someone swinging her around by the tail or possibly someone running over her. He says there are no signs of infection, but they will start her on antibiotics right away to be sure. They will do the surgery in the next few days. The doctor says she is about 5 months old. We had thought around 3 months because she is so small, and he did say she is small for her age. Again, thank you so much for helping us to help this little kitten.
I just wanted to give you an update on Sarah Conner. We picked her up from the veterinarian on Monday. She is doing so well! It's so good to see her running around and playing! We take her back in a few weeks to have stitches removed then about a week after that for a booster shot. I can't tell you how much we appreciate CAWS and the help they have given to this sweet little kitten. Thank you! -- Tammy | Koal Receives Help with Much-Needed Dental Care CAWS received this e-mail from David requesting help with dental care for Koal: I have a 5-year-old dog named Koal. I adopted him four years ago for my mother. She was able to take care for him for a few months before she was diagnosed with dementia. Shortly after, she was placed in a nursing facility. Koal is very dear to my mother, and whenever I take him to visit her, it is the highlight of her day. I have been disabled with a spinal disorder since 2001. Despite my disability, I can take good care of Koal. He is a wonderful dog and is well trained. Due to the nature of Koal's fairly extensive dental problems (i.e., infections, at least one tooth needing to be pulled, and cleaning), the cost is significant. I am currently on social security disability. With rent and other costs, I have little for situations such as Koal's need for dental care. Any help would be greatly appreciated by my mother and myself. -- David A CAWS volunteer called David and discussed his resources and how much CAWS could contribute. And, as always, we asked if Koal was neutered (yes). David assumed most of the costs, but was very appreciative for CAWS' contribution to the veterinary care for his and his mother's pet. | Sister Kitty Leaves Life as a Stray, Receives Help for an Injured Leg (And is Spayed, Of Course) CAWS recently received a call that Jenny had a stray 1-year-old kitten she had been feeding. She caught the kitty so she could have her fixed and discovered the cat had a dislocated or broken hip. She borrowed some money for a veterinary exam but needed financial assistance and help finding the kitten a home. Jenny recalls: When I took her to the vet , they told me they would need to do an x-ray and, either way, it would require surgery. I knew paying for a surgery would be out of the question. So, with no way to fix her and nowhere to turn, I left the vet in tears, wondering now how I would pay for her to be put to sleep. Making it even worse, she was a wild cat and would not come near anyone before I had caught her, but within 5 days she had become such a sweetheart. Once she felt what it was like to be loved and fed, she couldn't help it. When I got home from the vet, all I could think was she deserved a chance, so I started making phone calls. That's when I found CAWS. A CAWS volunteer called and worked out a plan for Jenny and her sister to make a copayment, and a voucher for costs of care above the copayment was sent to Jenny. The participating CAWS veterinarian discovered Sister Kitty had, at some point, broken her leg. It was healing and would be viable, but would not be able to bear much weight. However, as Sister Kitty will be an indoor cat, we will give the healing process time and not do an amputation at this time. Sister Kitty also went in for a spay a few days later, and has been recovering well. Sister Kitty became good friends with one of her cats, so Jenny decided to keep her. Jenny writes: I want to thank all of you for your time and hard work and for renewing my faith that there are others out there to help when help is needed. It was a good feeling to know that my faith and devotion that day paid off in such a positive way. Thank you so much. Sister says thanks, too; although, it sounded more like "Meow." | Any support is greatly appreciated. If you can't make it to have a photo taken of your pet and Santa, please consider making a donation to help support CAWS' continued efforts on our animals behalf. We wish you a safe and purrrfectly wonderful holiday season! | | | |  | | |
