August 2012 News

Our mission is to provide pet food for the pets of the homeless and low income persons in our community.

Thanks are in order to all who donate pet food for our Project and to all who give financial donations. We are very grateful for the good wishes and volunteer help that we receive from quite a nice number of people. Thank you very much for your help.

We also receive help from our homeless and low income clients. They pick up pet food from us for their pets and many of them are part of the St. Francis Veterinary Clinic program. Many people will report strays and let us know about “pups in the woods,” some of these reported in this newsletter.

We always need more pet food for both cats and dogs. We have weekly pet food distribution times as well as visits to campsites and other areas. Our average distribution is 100# of cat food and 100# of dog food each week. Please call to see what is needed and for our drop off and pick up arrangements. (Call Elizabeth at 352-473-9423). We need volunteers to help distribute pet food weekly downtown as well as to seek donations of pet food and funds.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD:  There is someone who helps us and many other animal care groups. She has worked long and hard and deserves our thanks as well as the trust of our homeless friends who let her know about “pups in the woods.”  Here are a couple of reports.

“…on Monday, I helped pull a mother dog from (camp area). She recently had a litter of pups who, I believe, are scattered amongst the others living in tents in the same area …   (person we know) has 2 of them.  She has promised to bring them in … I'm working on locating the other pups.  Officer Freddie of ACAS thinks he found one of them Tuesday.  The dog's owner ….. is in jail, under bond …”

This incident had a happy outcome. The mother dog and all of the pups that could be located were taken in by Rescue Groups, who by the way, together with Alachua County Animal Services, helped make this possible.

Another day, a sweet female dog was held for us by a friend at his campsite. He has two dogs and agreed that he couldn’t care for this one. She had advanced heartworms and was euthanized at Alachua County Animal Services.

It is vital that we support spay/neuter and recommend it to all our friends, so that there are no more pups born in the woods to moms who were born under someone’s steps or out in the back yard, and no more feral cat colonies populated by cats who were abandoned by irresponsible people. We can foster for our local rescue groups when possible and adopt from them and from Alachua County Services whenever we can.  All the work of Home Van Pet Care Project is carried out by volunteers and all pet food and supplies come to us by donation.

THE TENT CITY CAT TRIBE:  They remain in Tent City as we have not been able to relocate them as we could like. A portion of our cat food donations go to them. The favorite there we can tell you is Friskies Seafood Sensation! These kitties are fed every day by volunteers. We always need more helpers here to feed and watch over the Tribe. Several of our clients feed cats at campsites and whenever we get a call to spay or neuter we assist with access to clinics. Let us know if you can help.

We always need more bags of dry food for both cats and dogs. Call Elizabeth Howard,352-473-9423 or holisticliz@hotmail.com to determine current needs and  for drop off or pick up information.  Financial donations are also welcome and can be mailed  c/o Elizabeth Howard, Home Van Pet Care Project, Inc., P.O. Box 14305, Gainesville Fl 32604 or through PayPal on our blog, http://homevanpetcareproject.blogspot.com.