Bone-i-fide Bakes for Dogs and Rescues Cats!

If you pass Bone-i-fide Bakery on Laurens, you may see happy cats playing in the window.  They are available for adoption from the Aiken County Animal Shelter, and you don’t have to go to the shelter to adopt.  You can do it right inside the store.

If you are not seeking a feline companion, but would like some “cat time” while you decide which yummy treats to take home to your dogs, you are encouraged to cuddle those cats in the window and help them become happier, finer pets, and even more likely to find a permanent home.

When Carly took over the Bone-i-fide Bakery in 2010, one of her first goals was to establish relationships with area rescue groups and local shelters.

“I was especially drawn to the County Shelter,” she said, “Because I had customers who were involved there, and with FOTAS, and they were all so friendly, helpful and welcoming.  I also knew the need was great.”

Chief Enforcement Officer, Bobby Arthurs, and Senior Vet Tech, Sandy Larsen, are happy to transport two or three adoptable cats to Carly’s window at Bone-i-fide Bakery.  At least twelve cats have found good homes since Carly’s business became an approved “foster home,” and adoption partner with the County Shelter. 

With the good food and good loving these cats get from Carly and her patrons, you can see the change in them almost immediately: they are the happiest, healthiest homeless cats you will find anywhere nearby.

Those familiar with this unique downtown business already know that the cat window is only one of the ways that Carly supports animal welfare in our community. 

Early in FOTAS efforts to raise awareness of the plight of animals in the grossly inadequate County Shelter, Bone-i-fide Bakery agreed to have an adoptable shelter dogs sign in her business.  Bone-i-fide Bakery has also hosted numerous “adoption days” at the store for local rescues. 

Carly and her husband have four rescue dogs of their own and two rescued cats. 

Jake, an Aussie-Lab mix escaped, shortly after Carly and her husband adopted him.  No amount of searching or advertising enabled them to find him.  He was a County Shelter adoption and, therefore, he was micro-chipped.

Seven months later, they got a call from a local vet that he had been brought in.  It was the microchip that made that long-awaited reunion possible.

Bone-i-fide Bakery is a gourmet dog bakery and specialty supply store that caters to pets with special dietary needs.  Dogs with food allergies and skin issues can have highly restricted diets.  Carly can do the research and find the exact recipe suited to the pet’s requirements.

It is FOTAS' mission to help the Aiken County Animal Shelter become a happy healthy place that never has to euthanize an adoptable animal.  In every way possible, Carly’s Bone-i-fide Bakery is a true partner in that effort. 

We urge you to adopt from our County Shelter and then head down to Bone-i-fide Bakery, or vice versa, if you want a great cat! 

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact info@fotasaiken.org or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

March 18^th thru 25^th

Received: 46 dogs and 29 cats

Adopted: 12 dogs and 2 cats

Euthanized:  21 dogs and 50 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

WYLIE – 3 yrs.  50lbs. Pitt with a valentine nose!  Loves to play ball.  Good, good, good! Only $70

 

 BEAN  –  Young adult male.  A sweetheart. Purrfect for any cat-lover.  Only $35!

 

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

WRDW Channel 12 Offers a Weekly Opportunity to Shelter Pets

What a joy for Sandy Larsen, Senior Vet Tech at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, to arrive at work early on Monday morning, and hear on the answering machine, “I saw this dog on channel 12.  This is my number…. I got to have this dog.”

It starts her week off right. 

Sandy has been getting up at 4am every Monday morning for almost five years now so that she can give one more animal a chance to find a forever home. 

WRDW, Channel 12 has a segment called , “Take Me Home” featuring adoptable pets in need of good homes.  Our Aiken County Shelter pets star on Monday mornings at about 6:20 am.

You may see a cat, dog, puppy or kitten.  Sandy says that she tries to pick the animal that has been there the longest and that has the personality for this opportunity.  She has learned to avoid the hyperactive ones.

“Once I took this young black lab, and he got so excited when he saw Tim, the meteorologist, that he ripped the button off Tim’s jacket.”

Although there has been recurring turnover among the anchor women, Tim and Sandy have been doing this spot together since the beginning.  One time Tim did the whole weather segment with the kitten Sandy brought on his shoulder.

On Saturdays, Sandy and Denise, one of FOTAS’ volunteer coordinators, have a game they play in anticipation of Monday’s potential “star.”

“Who are you going to take this week?” asks Denise.

Sandy picks a candidate.  More often than not, that animal will be adopted before the shelter closes on Saturday, and Sandy must choose again.  It is her turn to spend time one-on-one with an animal.

“It may sound crazy,” she says, “But you’d be amazed at how much I can learn about a pet in the time it takes me to get them out of the kennel, walk them to do their business, ride to the station, and then wait to go on.”

She learns if they are housebroken, how they do on a leash, how they ride in a vehicle, and how they deal with strangers and new situations.  She appears with them like a proud coach.

The whole process pulls at Sandy’s heart.  She wonders if they think they are going home when they get in the truck.  She recalls  a dog called Amanda, “She sat close, put her paw on my lap, and just looked out the window the whole way.”

Sandy swears that when these animals go on TV it is like they know it is their time to show what a wonderful pet they can be. But you don’t have to take her word for it.

Go to WRDW.com, go to “Community” and then click the drop down “Take Me Home.”  You may still see Uggy offering his belly in the lower right corner of the screen. 

Sandy and the shelter staff love to hear, “I saw this dog on Monday morning; do you still have it?” Check it out. 

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org 

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

September 3^rd thru 9^th   

Received: 57 dogs and 30 cats

Adopted: 7 dogs and 3 cats

Put down: 31 dogs and 36 cats

Aiken County Animal Shelter     “Pets of the Week!”                            

So much LOVE for so little $$!

ANNABELLE-Yellow lab mix. 4 yrs. This dog is a doll on and off leash. $70 includes the love!

 

 

ORLANDO  –  1yr.  This elegant gentleman will be a soothing companion.  $35, purr-FREE!

 

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip

Paws for a Cause is a Great Way to Come Together

If you can get seven teenagers to a track at 8 o’clock on a Saturday morning, it must be a good thing…or an important thing…a really fun thing, or all of the above.

It was.

Paws for Cancer held its 13^th annual walk to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s fight against the dread disease, and it created a new opportunity for special people to come together to support an important cause.

Katie organized Team Lula for a second year, and Valerie, coordinator for South Aiken High’s Serteens, saw a chance to include the Aiken County Animal Shelter’s adoptable dogs in the event. 

Delighted to fund the cause, FOTAS, and the  Serteens, joined Team Lula with 4 dogs and a wagon-load of puppies!

Mary Lou, a FOTAS founder, has been working with Serteens from the beginning, and loves it.  “They are so responsible, so polite, and fun, and they are so good with the dog,” she said, “I've known a couple of these kids since they were freshman and had to be driven to everything, now they drive themselves.  They are so committed.”

She also provided the gardening wagon for the pups.

Susan, a teacher, joined Team Lula.  Susan is super-dedicated to FOTAS and the County Shelter.  She accompanies the Serteens one Saturday a month at the shelter, and then comes many additional Saturdays with her own daughter to volunteer.

County senior Vet Tech, Sandy Larsen, brought the 4 dogs, two small and two large; and 3 puppies, that she had carefully chosen, to participate in the event.  That they were so well-behaved demonstrates the magnificent work that our FOTAS volunteers do with the adoptable dogs.

For example, Sasha, a lab/hound mix came to the shelter as a court case, so scared when she arrived that she just cowered and trembled.  Sasha walked the Odell Weeks track, on her leash, wagging her tail.  She is a beautiful dog who will be featured on channel 12 tomorrow morning at 6:20 am.

Of course, the puppies stole the show.  One of them had so much energy it kept scrambling over the rails of the FOTAS Puppy Wagon. 

Those puppies stole little hearts, and even challenged a Grandma’s devotion when her granddaughter fell in love with the little black fur-ball.  They already had one dog and Grandma knew that puppies, and promises to care for them, mostly do not last.

Big dogs, small dogs, and the puppy wagon all did the mile walk with the Serteens.

 

Also, a Girl Scout troop working on a community service badge was at the event picking up trash.  The busy girls proudly assembled for a small ad-hoc ceremony and presented FOTAS with a $100 donation raised from their cookie drive.  Thank you!

Although no county dogs were adopted that day, we were proud of them, and of our volunteers.  It was a great day in the Aiken Community with our Community Shelter doing its part. 

FOTAS welcomes all help.  We especially need temporary foster homes.

  

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For April 30th thru May 6th 2012  

Dogs taken in: 58

Cats taken in: 34

Dogs adopted: 5

Cats adopted: 7

Dogs euthanized: 48

Cats euthanized: 34

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip!

MOZEY – 5 year old gorgeous female Labrador.   

This special dog is longing for a home. Only $35!

 

BUZZ – 3 yrs. He is a beauty, a purr-fect

 adornment for a window sill for only $20!