If you have a Kroger Plus Card and live in the Cincinnati/Dayton area, you can help “Pets Uniting People Society” gain support with their “education, awareness, and responsibility in animal welfare” program by adding our 501c3 nonprofit Kroger NPO which is 82712. If you don’t have a Kroger Plus Card, you can sign up for one at this site too.

Here’s how you do it…so, so simple:

Visit the Kroger Co. website offered here and click onto the Cincinnati store area. Register your Kroger Plus card and add our organization number 82712. That’s it! You only need to sign up once per year. If you have any questions, let me know…info@pupsunite.org.

By signing up to help “Pets Uniting People Society” (P.U.P.S.), you able us to help more people and pets, it’s just that simple. You help all three committees of P.U.P.S.:

1. Education Committee

2. Trap-Neuter-Release for Cat Colonies and a low-cost Neuter/Spay program for both dogs and cats in our community

3. Cat Shelter for cats that have not been adopted

Everyone goes to grocery – so you help us by giving us dollars from your Kroger Plus Card by shopping for your groceries…no need to take monies out of your budget. Great way to help us and stay within your budget too!

http://www.kroger.com/mykroger/Pages/community_rewards.aspx

Lennox 'Diesel' Nuzum, 2000-2008

“…I could tell you the story of my life through the dogs I have loved. I could tell you the story of the losses in my life through their deaths. Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love and loyalty. They depart to teach us about loss. We try to replace them, but never quite succeed. A new dog never replaces an old dog; it merely expands the heart. If you have loved many dogs, your heart is very big” ~Author Unknown

We invite you to subscribe to our publication “PUPS Digest” which is a quarterly publication that offers articles of “education, awareness, and responsibility in animal welfare” in and around Clark County, OH, as well as across the country.

Make sure you sign up for your copy today for only $10 per year in care of this website.

Regards,
Carolyn Hayes
P.U.P.S. Director

Look for our next educational edition of “PUPS Digest” this summer! The Digest is published quarterly to keep the general public informed on our progress in regards to “education, awareness, and responsibility in animal welfare”.

Have you ordered your copy?

Keep on, keeping on…on behalf of the Board of Trustees, Pets Uniting People Society (P.U.P.S.)…Carolyn Hayes, Director

Anna Coons

Her horse Hanna is now cared for by Anna’s grandmother and cousin Courtney. However, I’m sure Hanna stills grieves her best friend Anna.

Anna made a huge impact on many people’s lives.

Pick up your copy of the “Remembering Anna” issue today at the Clark County Public Library, most Clark County, OH, veterinarian offices, some restaurants and frequent-stop locations.

PUPS Digest is all about education, awareness, and responsibility in animal welfare. Not only does the Digest publish its sponsors’ names and advertisements, but also reports its quarterly progress to the community. In addition, there are educational articles, pet listings of ones needing homes and ones that found homes, pet-human bond stories, and the popular and fun hidden picture puzzles.

What is OAR, Ohio Alleycat Resource?

OAR is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, which promotes non-lethal control of
feral cats in the Cincinnati area through a TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) program. In
addition, they run a small shelter that houses tame cats and kittens until they
find their forever home.

How did you get involved with OAR, and what is your title/job description?

 I’m new to OAR! I moved to Cincinnati in May 2011 to take the position of Clinic Director in OAR’s spay/neuter clinic.

When was OAR founded, and how did it get its start?

It was founded in 1998 in O’Bryonville by Kathleen Nicholson, a local business owner who was concerned about feral cats in the neighborhood. She was soon joined by others who wanted to help cats in their own neighborhoods. From the beginning, the group practiced Trap-Neuter-Return on feral cats and took small kittens into a rescue for socialization and adoption.

Please tell about your Feral Cat Fix-a-thon.

Our Feral Cat Fix-a-thon was held Saturday, October 15, 2011, in honor of National Feral Cat Day. Funded in part by Alley Cat Allies, and by our generous donors and volunteers, we offered $5 surgeries to the public on October 15, 2011, and then the week that followed National Feral Cat Day.

At our Fix-a-thon, we spayed/neutered 78 feral cats in one day – two vets, each with their own surgery team, worked the surgery day, switching halfway through the day (only one vet worked at a time). Over the course of the whole weeklong feral extravaganza, our surgery staff fixed 166 ferals!

We started planning our Fix-a-thon in August, writing grants to cover the cost, and lining up colony caretakers whom we could help. The effort took all of our staff and a good many of our volunteers – the post-surgery mess that had to be cleaned up was covered by our wonderful volunteers, who mopped, did laundry, and scrubbed traps for hours the following day!

Do you have an assistance program for anyone needing to have his or her
cat spayed or neutered? 

Our regular surgery cost is $35 – our goal is to keep surgery affordable so that cost is never a barrier to have your pet spayed or neutered. To that end, we also offer assistance to help with that $35 cost for those who cannot afford it. We partner with other groups who offer vouchers for surgery (e.g. Scratching Post Cat Shelter and League for Animal Welfare); we write grants to help people fix their feral colonies, and help low-or no-income families fix their cats at a reduced rate; and we offer specials throughout the year to reduce the cost. In February, we will be offering $20 spays, thanks to a PetSmart “Beat the Heat” grant we were awarded.

On Spay Day, February 28^th, we’ll be offering free surgeries to a targeted area in greater Cincinnati.

In addition, we work with some wonderful groups in Kentucky who help cover the cost of surgery for northern Kentucky residents. The Friends of the Kenton County Animal Shelter and Friends of the Shelter Boone County both co-pay the entire cost of surgery for residents of their counties – clients only pay for a $10 rabies vaccine!

Cat owners who call and have a difficult time covering the $35 cost, we can usually come up with a creative way to make sure we, or the animal welfare community at large, can help them get their cats fixed! If folks need help, they should always call us and see what we can do to make sure their cats get fixed.

You practice TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), the most humane method for population control of feral cats. How many ferals did you TNR in 2011?

OAR has a TNR group that meets monthly to identify colonies that need our help, and goes out trapping together fairly frequently. But the true achievement at OAR is that we really encourage residents to learn how to do TNR on their own, rather than relying on others for help. We loan out traps (we  have a trap bank of about 80 traps, including a few drop traps) and teach people how to trap, but the goal of our TNR Resource Center is to empower people to practice TNR in their neighborhoods on their own – that way, far more colonies in greater Cincinnati can benefit from TNR, and not wait for our volunteers to come out and help! Our own TNR group doesn’t keep track of how many cats we TNR (and as individuals we’re always out doing “side projects”!). But OAR has spayed/neutered 1,373 ferals in 2011.

Do you have tame cats available for adoption?

OAR does operate a small shelter of adoptable cats, with about 80 or so cats (though, as with any shelter, we always have more cats than the “80 or so” OAR tries to keep it at! Thank goodness for fabulous foster homes.).

How many cats found their forever home in 2011, and how many are
currently waiting for their family? 

In 2011, OAR is on track to adopt out 200 cats and kittens (Julien, cat #192, is going home
today!) – but don’t worry, there are still 110 sweet and deserving kitties who still need to be placed! We took in 15 abandoned cats recently, as well as 6 from a hoarding situation that several shelters helped with, and they (along with all the others) would love to be on a cozy couch!

If people want to make a donation, how would they do that?

Donations are always greatly appreciated! Gifts to OAR help care for the hundreds of cats that come through our shelter every year, as well as help us reduce the cost of spay/neuter surgeries for our clients.Donations can be made on our website, at www.ohioalleycat.org, or can be sent to our address at 5619 Orlando Place, Cincinnati, OH 45227.

I’m sure OAR is always in need of items other than money such as treats, toys, cleaning supplies, etc. Do you accept donations of these as well?

Some of our favorite donations are bleach and laundry detergent! We do a lot of laundry in this place.  We also love donations like trash bags, Ziploc bags, hand sanitizer, and paper towels. In surgery, donations of puppy pads (to place in the ferals’ cages) and old towels and sheets are always gratefully accepted.

For the kitties at the shelter, their wish list includes washable toys, small, stainless steel bowls, and liquid KMR for the bottle feeders!

Thanks for taking the time for an interview, Devon. I live in Missouri, but I hope to
visit your facility one day. OAR is making great strides to help homeless and feral cats, and I know they are grateful.

To learn more about OAR, please visit http://www.ohioalleycat.org/.

Editor’s Note:  Check out Author Lorna G. Poston’s blog:  http://myriadmusings-lgposton.blogspot.com/

Sweet Dixie is crate-trained and does well on a leash. She is up-to-date on all shots and has been spayed. As you can see from her pictures, she is very sweet and she’d make a great therapy dog. If you or someone you know wants a dog that would be a great companion, this is the one!

UPDATE: Bittersweet story: Dixie’s caregiver passed away, but his son decided to take Dixie home and give her a home for the rest of her life! He already has a Beagle, but thinks the two will get along fine.

As keeper of a cat facility, P.U.P.S. knows how important it is to give cats nutritious food to keep them healthy and happy. The best case scenario is to get these cats adopted into homes. The sad part is some of these cats have bad habits or are older and no one cares to adopt them. P.U.P.S. also has board members who provide neuter/spay services to those stray cats to help keep the cat population down in targeted areas. There are food needs here as well. Strays depend upon the caregiver to get-by especially in harsh winter days.

Animal advocates do help one another and our “call” is in to national distributors who help nonprofit organizations with a need for dog and cat food.

On behalf of P.U.P.S., will keep everyone alerted to any availability of food.

Let’s make the new year…a year to help more pets and people. We never know what the day may bring, but we’re hoping it’s cat food!

P.U.P.S. is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and your donation is tax-deductible.

Thank you!

Happy New Year!