Welcome to our new website. I’m very excited to have this up and running. I hope this will serve as a convenient spot for our supporters and donors to check in with us as well as a place for us to make new friends.
I will share with you that we are a small organization from a number of perspectives. We have limited human resources and our main focus is taking care of the animals who live at Dogwood Farm Sanctuary. This can mean that sometimes our daily tasks and chores take the entire day. Add to that, an additional repair to the facility or a weather-related event, and we can get quickly behind on other more mundane tasks, like working on the website or posting to Facebook.
I’m not making excuses but I do want you to know that communicating with our friends is a priority. You are, afterall, the reason we are able to help so many Dogwood Farm Sanctuary animals. This last year in particular, we have been working on many additional projects that have stretched us beyond the daily tasks. I have not been the best communicator. I’m sorry. The last few weeks, just as I thought I was catching up, events conspired to put me behind again.
Through this blog, I hope to remedy this and give you a flavor of what we are doing and the direction of the Sanctuary on a more regular basis. This past year we have been working on major renovation projects and building a new out-of-this-world facility for cats. Many of these renovations are weather and resource dependent. Having said all that…we have much to move forward on. Here’s an overview.
The new cat building is almost complete. In the next two weeks, we plan to paint the interior doors, the floor and start closing in upper walls with fencing. We need to find additional donors to underwrite room sponsorships so that we can purchase gates for the cat rooms. A few volunteers have offered to help with our painting.
At the end of the year, one of our horses suffered from choke. While it isn’t uncommon, this proved to be fatal for Star. We loaded him in the horse trailer (a very reluctant loader) and got him to the veterinary hospital after he didn’t respond to veterinary treatment on site. Many thanks Florence Shinkle for helping!! After 24 hours, it was determined that the blockage would not pass and he was humanely euthanized. Star was 19 and a very nervous cribber. He came to us more than a year ago and was severely underweight. He was going into winter at a healthy weight and in good shape. We are devastated that we lost him.
Our two kittens, Marco and Pumpkin, were adopted and then returned a couple of weeks later. As kittens, they are very active and interested in all things. Describing this to someone who has not had a kitten is difficult. They are very social, quickly adaptable and not afraid of anything, including dogs, other cats, miniblinds, or plants or food bowls that are crashing down around them. Get the picture? They are 12-14 weeks old. Because they are very bonded with each other, I would prefer to adopt them together.
We have a lovely adult female Labrador for adoption. Gracie is around 18 months old and very active. She is very friendly with people of all ages, likes to play with toys and is a great dog. She will need to learn some manners but is very willing. She is good with most dogs but can be picky about some females. Look her up on the site.
We have been renovating our dog exercise yard building, adding a new “wing” and making the building usable 24/7 on the coldest and hottest days of the year. Our new weather-resistant dog doors can easily accommodate giant breed dogs with ease. You can see some of the photos. All the internal walls are now washable FRP board. To complete this project, we’ll need to install outside fence panels and pour concrete, which is weather dependent. More on this when it gets above freezing.
Bunny (Bun Bun) our cat recently celebrated her 22nd birthday. Pamula the pointer will be 18 in February. Currently, more than 50 percent of our 40 dogs are more than 9 years old. Consequently, we anticipate higher than normal veterinary expenses in the next couple of years. This is the indirect result of accepting so many dogs during the economic downturn in 2008-2009, when it was difficult to find good homes for large adoptable dogs. We expanded way beyond capacity during those years.
We have a new Sanctuary vehicle, a 2014 minivan, thanks to a generous donation from Van-Lear and Marion Black. Thanks also to the many people that we worked with at Enterprise Car Sales. You rock.
Don’t forget to try out our sponsorships and donate now button. We appreciate having you as a friend of Dogwood Farm Sanctuary.