We can't help falling in love with these cuties! ❤️
To wrap up 2024 for AWF, the year had been one of the greatest of all time. 🎊
AWF saved many, many lives.
AWF was a resource to lovely pet owners in despair.
AWF was a shelter for strays of all kinds, even a guinea pig here and there.
AWF reunified many pets with their owners after becoming lost.
AWF rescued many pets out of neglectful conditions.
AWF became more, and more by the day. Every single day. As fostering, adopting, and volunteering pulled many families closer together, and in turn created an AWF family.
The video below is just a sneak peak of our work on TOP of our local strayed/surrendered cats & dogs.
It goes without saying, our AWF family had many hard days, with some of the worst heartfelt heartbreaking experiences, but everyday our family chooses to look for the good. 🍀
Every single one of us apart of this organization thanks you, from the deepest feelings within, for being apart of supporting AWF - in any single way that you do. You have been the most influential in building back, better. 🏗️🧱
‼️In 2024 - 1,396 pets were adopted from AWF!‼️
❗️That is OVER 4x the amount of pets rescued in our best previous years! ❗️
In 2025, we are on a mission to do even more. Our primary goals are;
1. Updating our cat isolation kennels to accommodate more kitties, as well as keeping them healthy during their stay in isolation. In turn, saving MORE kitties! Our kitty kennels are over TWO decades old, and most of the locking mechanisms don’t work, as well as, there is BETTER shelter science proving the ineffectiveness of their kennels against the spread of infection, disease, and also, their kitty litter! It will be beyond satisfactory to know our kitties are safely secured, along with any and all sickness being contained to just one kennel. 🐱🐈🐈⬛
2. Remodeling most of our building to save time & energy during our daily to-dos. This remodel will also give us easier sanitization protocols, easier access to s
Just 2 weeks after suffering from a horrible dog attack - Jane is getting back to feeling better, with the same old hilariously sassy personality! 💛
We, and Jane are seriously so fortunate to have such an amazing foster home that she was able to reside in while healing physically. But not only that, her foster family has helped mend the emotional wounds related to other dogs, as well.
A task that not many would be willing to take on!
So a HUGE thank you to all of you who helped towards Jane’s medical bills, and another HUGE thank you to her foster family for helping her out in a time of need. <3
Well, you read that right, folks! Our cats want wet food so bad, they're willing to work for it! 🤣❤
Drop offs are always welcome, and very appreciated during open business hours: Wednesday-Saturday 12-5:30, Sundays 10-3, OR
Shop for us online, in the comfort of your own home during this bad weather, and the packages arrive at our door step, ready to feed our shelter cats!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/228HNA1763UF
Chewy: https://www.chewy.com/g/animal-welfare-friends_b71634583#wish-list
Thank you so much for any and all contributions, we know our kitties will definitely be appreciative as well! 💛
On the most giving days of the year, #givingtuesday, today, we are looking to highlight where we specialize, picking up the pieces for our behavioral dogs.
The dogs with strong feelings, outbursts, fears, insecurities, frustrations, making up their COMPLEX minds & behaviors, that many other organizations would opt to euthanize, or be forced to due to lack of space, and limited resources for them. The dogs that we get calls about daily from other humane societies, shelters, rescues, and owners NEEDING an option before euthanizing.
As you can imagine, while we work on limited resources, space, time, and energy, it is extremely tough. We are ever so fortunate that I'm able to use my knowledge and set of skills, translating them with our wonderful staff/volunteers on these dogs, what to do, how to do it, and WHY we do it. We do things for safety, the dogs’ & ours, we do things for bonding, we do things for training, we do things for behavior modification, ALL jumbled into the normal day-to-day care & extra time we can offer them.
At any given time, we have at LEAST 1 behavioral dog at the shelter, or in one of our amazing foster homes, up to twenty before, needing specialized care. We are limited heavily by one thing or the next, but we make it work because these dogs NEED it to. We are their only option at the end of the day.
We run out of slip leads & longlines due to them being shredded from being worn all day every day as our only option to catch dogs in fight/flight. We run out of those high reward treats to coax a dog out of its kennel because it’s so stressed out. We run out of hours we can afford to pay for part-timers, and full-time like myself, and then some! (We love you, AWF Board Members, for YOUR compassion & understanding in these times as well!) We run out of kennels and are forced to turn dogs in need away for no reason other than space. We have the ability, compassion, strategy, and teamwork to take an endless amount, and we surely would i
When adopting, if there's ONE thing any rescue/shelter wishes, it's that you do some research on the adjustment phases, on enrichment, & LISTEN during adoption counseling. 💔
We are ONLY trying to avoid this heartbreak for ALL involved.
For those that have doubled down, and truly allowed the time necessary to adjust, and put that time, effort, and love into doing it, we appreciate you more than anything in this world.
Recent local developments have led us to a home with hoarded, neglected, flea-ridden, & under socialized animals.
What we were met with after receiving a report, was far beyond what we were expecting. As we arrived, we witnessed one of the small dogs trying to climb through the kitchen window to get outside, and free. It is despicable what these animals have been put through, their entire lives. The conditions of their living quarters is repulsive, and above all, their welfare was the last priority in any single form.
Animals in the home greeted us with joy as we freed them from their nauseating confinements. The dogs outside, while extremely under socialized, were gleeful to load into the van, to be met with blankets & warmth. The litter of 7 puppies were being housed in a cardboard box, also riddled with fleas, and dirty blankets, after having been born just 2 nights ago. The goat was confined to just a bathroom, along with his only friend, a cat.
None of them had clean water, fresh food, fresh bedding, they all shared the same levels of life-long torture.
Fortunately, upon meeting, the owner was willing to sign them over to us, however, we were not prepared for another massive intake at this time, nor the financial strain of such unhealthy, & behaviorally compromised animals.
In total, we took in 17 dogs,
4 cats, (Foster Home Found)
2 guinea pigs, (Foster home found)
1 goat, (Home Found)
1 skunk (immediately transported to The Wapsi River Wildlife Rehab)
We NEED your help, truly. More than ever before, we simply do not have the room, and we are bursting at the seams.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: ! FIRST Share this post!
Foster🏡: https://animalwelfarefriends.org/foster/
Free up a kennel, help us make room for more lives needing saved.
We URGENTLY need the momma and her puppies to make it into a foster home.
Adopt🏠: https://animalwelfarefriends.org/adopt/application/
Free up a kennel permanently, while simultaneously finding a new best friend.
Voluntee
Clover NEEDS you!
FOSTER FOUND THANK YOU ALL SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!
‼️We are out of options for Clover & her 5 puppies!‼️
In fact, Clover is nurturing them in the only place we have to offer for even a chance at peace & relaxation… Our bathroom.
& honestly, despite our effort, this environment offers none of that. The puppies could get sick, Clover could become too stressed to even feed her puppies, or worse; thankfully thus far, her maternal instincts have not waivered.
This is no place for puppies to be during their most critical time of life. 💔
To make matters worse, we are on our last bag of puppy food & are almost out of puppy KMR. ❗️
We currently have 2 nursing mother dogs, with a combined total of 14 puppies; and a solo litter of 8, dependent on puppy food & KMR as needed. ❗️
That is without touching on all the other young, or atrociously underweight dogs in need of it.
Everywhere you go, animal shelters & rescues are in a crisis; and that is the undeniable truth. We are forced to make space even when there is no more space, we pop up crates, have had dogs outside in individual pens, and double up in the areas we are allowed but the need doesn’t go away. The calls keep coming, the messages, the emails, and our vet bills stack higher, our hours increase, etc and it doesn’t let up. We feel like a broken record, but it's the stomach-turning reality for all of us. 💔
It hasn’t let up, and we need your help. Clover & her 5 puppies desperately need out of the chaos of the shelter, and we need puppy food.
If you aren’t able to foster, or contribute donation-wise at this time, we completely understand. In fact, we appreciate you sharing this post just as much. We need all the help we can get, and so do they.
Whether you can spare $5 to contribute, or you can purchase a bag. Whether or not you can spare your home & heart, you can contribute some time spent volunteering, or you can share THIS post. We NEED you!!!!!!
To foster🏡:
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