Greetings volunteers!

I thought it be nice to start the blog with a happy ending! In October, little Auggie and his two littermates were found abandoned in a cardboard box in an East Bay parking lot, shivering and scared. A kind stranger took them to Oakland Animal Services, and that’s when Marin Humane’s Hopalong Foster Program got the call for help. Auggie needed special surgery on both of his hind legs in order to walk normally, and we’re so thrilled to say that our community came through! Thanks to everyone’s support, we were able to pay for this complex surgery and Auggie came through with flying colors. He’s now on the road to recovery in a foster home, receiving lots of TLC. Auggie should be fully recovered and ready for his forever home by mid-December – just in time for the holidays!

Shelter update: We currently have 206 animals in our care: 81 animals in foster and 125 animals in the shelter/Kitty Corner. Our residents include: 17 dogs, 1 puppy, 32 cats, 30 kittens, 8 rabbits, 11 guinea pigs, 17 rodents, 3 reptiles, and 6 birds.

Adoptions update: It’s chilly out so grab a fuzzy blanket and indulge in some warm fuzzies with this week’s adoption slideshow full of fuzzy friends! Thank you so much to all of last week’s adopters for giving these lovely, lucky animals the homes they deserve. And for more info, here’s this week’s Adoption Report.

Volunteer High Five to Elizabeth Needham! The Marketing & Communications department would like to give a great big high-five to Elizabeth Needham for volunteering her wonderful photography skills to support so many different shelter programs!

Not only does Elizabeth frequently help us out with adoption dog photos, she’s also taken gorgeous portraits of the amazing inmates working with our dogs at San Quentin, and she’s documented the impressive array of people and animals served by our free Community Clinics. So much of her work helps us “put a face to the name,” so to speak, by showing the people and animals benefiting from programs like Pen Pals of San Quentin and Pet Safety Net. Programs that may seem intangible to the public become very real when they see Elizabeth’s portraits. 

Recently, a reporter at Marin Magazine was so struck by Elizabeth’s photos that they developed a feature story in the November issue around our programs, showcasing the images. You can check out the story here. Thank you so much to Elizabeth for dedicating her time and skill to Marin Humane! 

Holiday Pet Food Drive! Our annual Holiday Pet Food Drive is underway! Help us make the holiday season merry and bright for all the animals in our community! Times are hard and so many people are facing the very real dilemma of giving up their pets simply because they couldn’t afford food or veterinary care. We’re helping hundreds of families through our Pet Safety Net, providing regular pet food deliveries and free community clinics around Marin. So, how can you help?

  • Buy an e-gift card from Amazon, Target, or Safeway and email it to petfooddrive@marinhumane.org. We can then buy the needed food.
  • Buy an item (or two!) from our Amazon wish list or Chewy wish list and it’ll be delivered directly to us.
  • Drop off pet food donations in the donation barrels at our main campus in Novato. We especially need dry and canned cat food, canned dog food, and flea medication (Advantage for cats, Advantix for dogs).

Thank you for helping us keep beloved pets with their families this holiday season and all year round!

B&Tea Blog: Scenting, or Nose Work, is a pretty big deal in the dog world these days. The dogs love it. Their people love it. How humans should conduct themselves when the dogs are busy is what Kathleen Call, one of our dog training instructors extraordinaire, explains in the latest Behavior & Training blog, “Scenting Part 2: putting your big human brain on hold.”

Tails of Marin: Did you know that November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month? No? Well, now you do so spread the word, and read this week’s Tails of Marin on “The rewards of adopting an older cat“!

Have a sweet week,

Candace