HOME VAN PET CARE PROJECT NEWS – September/October 2013

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITION

This time of year we’re getting ready for cold weather and cold rain making life even more difficult for our homeless friends and their animals. We look at our progress through the past several months and try to catch up on needed services and items.

DOGS: This week we purchased and distributed a dozen County license tags. These tags cost $20 each for spayed and neutered animals at Alachua County Animal Services and are provided for dogs of people who pick up pet food from our project. We checked our list and would like to buy a dozen more tags.

We also purchased a dozen good quality running lines for dogs. These lines give dogs freedom as well as keeping them safe at their campsites. ACAS accepts running lines to comply with the tethering regulations. We’d like to buy another dozen of these.

To go with the running lines, we also found some heavy duty, gallon size water bowls that won’t be knocked over so easily, also for use at campsites. We’d like to purchase a dozen of these, as well as large, sturdy food bowls.

We always need tarps over the Fall and Winter months, as well as bungee cords and rope to install the tarps. We also pick up hay for bedding several times over the winter months.

CATS: This time last year we relocated our Tent City Cat Tribe to a rural area, where they are doing well. We continue to support their needs along with several other former Tent City cats who were relocated. We frequently need hardware cloth, chicken wire, tarps and new feeding bowls for these relocated cats.

In Tent City there are still several kitties who are fed and supervised by our friends Richard and Vickie. We supply the food, and medical if needed. There are also several cat owners at other campsites as well as in housing. They pick up cat food and we keep in touch with their needs also. We know of several formerly homeless people who help Operation Catnip with spay/neuter work and we really appreciate that they do this.

We have an ongoing need for bags of dog food and cat food, please contact us for current needs (see information below). Volunteer helpers are also needed and appreciated.

If you can contribute financially, please send checks to Home Van Pet Care Project, Inc., c/o Elizabeth Howard, P.O. Box 14305, Gainesville, FL 32604 or Paypal at our blog, http://homevanpetcareproject.blogspot.com. To volunteer, to donate food or for more information contact Elizabeth at 352-473-9423 or holisticliz@hotmail.com.