FOTAS Resolutions for a Healthy Happy New Year

 FOTAS wishes everyone a very Happy New Year, especially our dedicated volunteers and generous supporters.   What we have accomplished so far is astounding. 

Expect news in upcoming weeks:  plans for our New County Shelter; miraculous blessings to advance our Transfer Program; along with heart-warming and heart-wrenching tales from day-to-day operations. 

Today, in the spirit of the New Year, we address a seasonal subject whose benefits multiply when undertaken.  We speak, of course, of exercise.

Who doesn’t begin the New Year hoping to fit into last year’s pants?  Who doesn’t celebrate with firm resolve to improve on or rectify the past?  And what’s one of New Year’s most common resolutions?  Lose weight and get healthy. 

To that end, FOTAS recommends the following step-by-step program:

1. Adopt one of our wonderful dogs at the Aiken County Animal Shelter.  Research shows that people who have a dog are healthier and happier than those not so fortunate.  (Hurry down!  Half-Price special has been extended through 1/7!)

2.     Outfit your companion with a comfortable collar or harness, and leash.  Other considerations for those with special needs to follow below.

3.     Set out daily for parts known and unknown (new sights and sniffs are good for the brain); and,

4.     Repeat often and reap the health benefits: physical, emotional, and social (you will meet other happy people on routine walks).

There are modifications one can make to this simple regimen.  For instance, if you already have a rescued dog you can skip step one.  Or, for double benefits, you might consider heading out to the County Shelter, walking your dog, and then taking one of our not-so-fortunate residents out for a walk as well.

If you do not have a dog of your own, and prefer to maintain your dog-free status, there are 17 cages full of adoptable dogs who will improve their chances of a successful home if they develop the good citizen skills required to walk on a leash.  You could help make that difference in their lives.

If you are new to this approach to improving physical and mental health, there are volunteer coordinators on site at the County Shelter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday morning to assist you in a successful beginning. 

For those who have special needs pets or desire to perfect this fitness art, Sunday the 8^th Sybil Davis, DVM, of Aiken Pet Fitness & Rehab will offer a Pet Fitness Seminar.   “Learn how to keep your dog strong and fit through all life stages.”  To sign up, or for info, call 803-226-0012 or e-mail info@petfitnessandrehab.com. 

On Saturday the 7^th the third annual FOTAS Hunter Pace will be at Three Runs Plantation accompanied by a luncheon for non-equestrians, too.  See “HUNTER PACE” on our

website.  Additionally, some of our special pets will be available at Petsmart for the last day of our half-price special. Big weekend.

If none of this suits, may we suggest you adopt a very fine cat?  Join FOTAS in 2012 having the best year ever!

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 Dec. 19th thru 25th    

Dogs taken in: 29

Cats taken in:  8

Dogs adopted: 12

Cats adopted: 4

Dogs euthanized:  21

Cats euthanized:  47

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

 

ALFIE  2-year old Pitt

Already a sweetie, 

this guy is going to be gorgeous in a loving home. 

One week only ½ PRICE!

 

CHIEF  – Young adult

This picture says it all.  He’s a love looking for a lap.   

Start his year right for only $35!

 

 

A Purr-fect Bush Christmas Has No Indoor Tree

If Christmas is a time for giving peace and love special attention, then it is Christmas all year at the home of Fran and Don Bush. 

Many may already know Fran from Booklovers Bookstore, located in Country Square at the corner of Huntsman and Hitchcock Parkway.  Others may know Don because he repaired something that seemed irreparable, like he did for FOTAS after the wind blew our tailgate tent to smithereens at the Woofstock Festival.

Fran has a donation box on her checkout counter at the store and lately, instead of her usual fundraising for the Aiken County Shelter, she is raising money for a family of fostered cats left to starve in a vacated rental.  Only two happy healthy youngsters remain to be adopted, “Socks” and “Half-and-Half.” Neutered and spayed, respectively, they’ve had all their shots.  You can’t find a better cat than one that had its start at the Bush home. 

There, at the Booklovers’ collection box, the conversation started about the 4-unit condominium that Don built for the dogs and cats currently in residence at their homestead.

The Bushes have four dogs, all rescued.  Don built the condo for thirteen-year-old Betsy, with two dog apartments on the first floor, and two

cat condos on the second floor.  There is a thermostat for the radiator between the dog apartments and the space is lit beyond the clear entrance flap so the dogs can see if they are going to have a roommate before entering.

Jingles, a handsome yellow shepherd who now has his own cat, was one of four pups who were almost road kill.  Fran turned them in to the county, then went back and adopted Jingles.  His siblings went north on FOTAS’ first transfer.

Fran found “My Lady,” a chow-collie mix, at the county shelter.  My Lady was a starving stray rescued with one remaining pup.  Fran looked to fill a recent vacancy and My Lady chose her.  A week later, she returned for My Lady’s pup, Tippy.

The open space around their home offers sanctuary for cats living among dogs and birds living among cats; the bird feeders high on PVC poles, and the cat shelter/feeders fenced off from the dogs.

The screened porch off the back has heat lamps for the cat sofa that was once a swing, and additional shelters for security and feline reflection.

Don can watch the cats cavort from his computer desk and act as doorman for entries and exits.  A 5-foot cat pole he designed is in the center of the living room surrounded by boxes cats adopted, a sofa to leap onto, and a couple of soft chairs which humans can employ to create a useful lap.

Cats in desperate need have a way of finding Fran and Don.  They come deathly sick, starved, found huddled in wheel wells, left to die in empty houses, and find sanctuary.  Like all rescued pets, they know a loving home is a blessing.

Our county pets are half-price until New Year’s Eve!  Merry Christmas!

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 Dec. 12th thru 18th    

Dogs taken in: 46

Cats taken in: 23

Dogs adopted: 11

Cats adopted: 3

Dogs euthanized: 45

Cats euthanized: 28

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

 

ELMO 

Young adult male who would love 

a forever home for the New Year.  

 One week only ½ PRICE!

MR CLAUS 

Mr. Claus can bless your home before the New Year for only $35

 

Thank You, Todd Glover, FOTAS Members and Aiken County Council

This week, in the midst of a season where we strive to remember Peace, Joy, Generosity and Hope for a better tomorrow, FOTAS would like to acknowledge and appreciate our Aiken County Council and one of its exemplary public servants, Todd Glover.

Without Todd Glover there would be no FOTAS;  without FOTAS there would be no community-wide, concerted effort to address the dismal conditions at our county shelter; and without the first class public-private partnership that has emerged between Friends of the Animal Shelter, Inc. and Aiken County Government the miracle of Tuesday night’s decision would never have happened, but it did.

Three years ago Todd Glover saw the opportunity for a nonprofit organization to address the need for animal advocacy in the County Animal Services Department.  He also knew where those interested could find a model for just such a venture.  Three members of the Aiken County Animal Control Advisory Committee (AC3) stepped up to the challenge and FOTAS was born.  Todd Glover continued to work closely with FOTAS building a strong bridge between the County and the community around animal advocacy.

This month Todd is going to leave Aiken County Government for the position of City Manager of North Augusta, a well-deserved career advancement, and one lucky town.

Last June, FOTAS and Aiken County entered into a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the initial phase and funding for our new shelter.  FOTAS would provide $100k for the architectural and engineering plans if the county would make $1m available in 2012. 

The last half of this year has been full of research, reports, proposals, rebuttals, rejections, and a boatload of frustration for all of us invested in the outcome.  But a wise man once said, “If it was easy, we’d already have done it.”

In any community venture there are always stakeholders, and rarely are their interests totally compatible; “never” may be more accurate.  The new Aiken County Animal Shelter building program is certainly no exception.

Space does not allow us to acknowledge all of the people who pulled off our latest miracle, especially in the last few weeks when it seemed like we not only were going to lose Todd Glover, but that we had hit another impasse with County Council and the additional funding we knew was imperative, but a special nod should go out to Council Chairman, Ronnie Young, Councilwoman Kathy Rawls, Councilman, Charles Barton who know their county, and to Ernie Wolf form the AC3 and FOTAS who is never at a loss for a better idea. 

On Tuesday night, the Aiken county Council gave Todd Glover the perfect going-away gift as they unanimously approved an additional $500,000 to be added to the million already committed for a new county animal shelter.  The additional money puts Aiken County well

within reach of a shelter adequate to our needs and in which we can all take pride. 

Now, for an even Merrier Christmas, why not bring home one of our very special half-price pets?  They’re waiting.

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 Dec. 5th thru 11th    

Dogs taken in: 105

Cats taken in: 40

Dogs adopted: 17

Cats adopted: 8

Dogs euthanized: 66

Cats euthanized: 28

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

STING 

 3yrs. He is such a good boy and would love a forever home for Christmas.  

 ½ PRICE!

ELF 

 Beautiful green-eyed boy offers a big fluffy cuddle.   

Half price thru the holidays.