President’s Report

Dear members and supporters:

Ironically, the more VDACS is able to do for needy animals – thanks to your support -  the less time there is to inform you of our accomplishments.  This newsletter aims to fill you in on our progress in the war against pet overpopulation and suffering, while sharing with you a few examples of the animals we’ve helped. Statistics give you a good idea of the big picture but it’s the individual stories that really bring home the importance of our work.

In our last newsletter, I reported that the financial picture was pretty bleak.  Many of you sent generous donations and notes of encouragement. Thank you! Today, we have a healthy bank balance and a renewed determination to spay and neuter our way to a future where every cat and dog can find the loving, responsible home he/she deserves.

Heather

One Tough Hombre

One bitter day in early February, Christina, a college student living in one of the last houses on Commonage Road, phoned VDACS to report a black and white cat with what looked like a large piece of hard plastic lattice around his neck struggling through the snow in her backyard. He was a feral cat so there was no way Christina could get near him. We delivered one of our humane traps, Christina immediately baited it, but, because of the size of the lattice, the cat was unable to enter the trap. Next we tried a large rabbit cage and again we had no luck. Amazingly, the cat had managed to escape the many coyotes in the area but we knew he must be getting more and more exhausted.

Fortunately, Dr. Ringness suggested that Pete Wise might be able to lend us a bigger trap. Pete’s bobcat trap was perfect for the job. We rushed the trap to Christina’s only to hear that there’d been no sign of the cat for almost a week. By now three weeks had passed since the cat had been first sighted. It looked as if the poor boy had finally lost his long, cold struggle to survive.

A week later, Pete Wise received a request for help trapping a cat with something strange stuck around his neck. Pete told Ken, the caller, that VDACS knew all about this cat and to phone us. The cat was in a barn further down Commonage Road. By the time I got there, the cat was immobile - the lattice had been caught up under the barn eaves. Watched by a curious packrat and Ken’s own VDACS adopted cats, Ken and I scrambled into the rafters and slid on our bellies towards the cat. We’d almost managed to cut through the lattice when the cat suddenly freed himself and disappeared. We left the barn door shut, the trap baited and, the next morning, the cat had his last adventure – a trip to the vet’s for a checkup, shots and neutering.

“Hombre”is one of 328 feral cats trapped, neutered and returned by VDACS. Today “Hombre” has a home and a job as a barn cat at Ken’s neighbour’s.  He also enjoys visiting privileges at Ken’s. He’s a tough cat who fought hard to survive and, with your help, succeeded.

2009-2010 Board of Directors

The following members were elected by acclamation at our March 9 Annual General Meeting:
President: Heather Pettit; Vice President: Pat Kirschner; Corresponding Secretary: Ginny Makarewich; Recording Secretary: Reid Harvey; Treasurer: Jean Boysen; Directors: Sue Bru, Marti Giroux, Laurie Johnson, Joan Salt and Carole Wheeler.
If you would like to become more involved in the direction of VDACS, please give Heather a call @ (250) 542-7203. We’d love to have you join us as a board member.

City of Calgary Plans Spay/Neuter Clinic

In January 2007, The City of Calgary passed a mandatory cat licensing bylaw. Revenue from the licensing of cats - $10 annually for an altered feline – will finance a spay/neuter clinic for unclaimed impounded pets and for pets from low income households. A month long campaign just before the clinic groundbreaking saw 14,500 licenses purchased. Visit the animal & bylaw services pages of the City of Calgary website – www.calgary.ca – to see how Calgary is encouraging the responsible and humane treatment of companion animals.

2008 Statement of Revenue and Expenditures

Thanks to your very generous Christmas donations, VDACS finished 2008 with a small surplus. Treasurer Jean Boysen reported year end figures with revenue at $108,452 and expenditures at $107,295. We invested $91,105 of that revenue in veterinary services, $7,341 in advertising [ adoption and fundraising promotions ], $1,709 in director and liability insurance, $3,711 in fostering [ food & litter ] and the remainder in miscellaneous items such as website hosting, calendars for fundraising, postage etc.
The board members were stunned to see six figure sums! Where did all that money come from? We had donations of $50,772, membership fees of $2,675, adoption fees and spay/neuter assistance contributions of $26,937, fundraising proceeds of $26,800 and calendar sales revenue of $1,268.

In 2003, the year we received our charitable status, our donations totaled $4,318 and our fundraising proceeds were just over $9,000. At that time, we were thrilled to have that amount of money to help animals. Just five years later, we are able to help many, many more animals. Not only have donations and fundraising proceeds increased but so also have the discounts given us by Crescent Falls Veterinary Hospital and Creekside Animal Clinic. Homeless and low income cats and dogs in the North Okanagan are very lucky to have your support and the support of these veterinary clinics.

Adoption Program

Operating an animal shelter is an expensive undertaking. VDACS is extremely lucky to have Crescent Falls Vet Hospital and Creekside Animal Clinic caring for almost all of our foundlings at absolutely no cost to us. In 2009, the two vet clinics helped us find homes for more than 200 cats and kittens. Staff members clean, feed, medicate and cuddle. They interview prospective adopters, collect adoption fees and fill out paperwork for us. All we have to do is to pay the generously discounted bills for veterinary care.

Sometimes, with especially needy cases, they take animals home with them. Panthero – a kitten with a broken leg who’d been tossed in a dumpster – went to Janelle’s home to recuperate and ended up staying forever. Mummsie – a young mother who’d given birth in a driveway on Highway 6 – moved into Dr. MacDougall’s bathroom with her newborn litter and now she and one of her kittens have joined the household permanently. Amber and Opal, two elderly abandoned cats with thyroid problems, help supervise the action at Crescent Falls Vet Hospital. A feral kitten with a broken tail and several other ferals brought to Creekside Animal Clinic found a safe place to live in vet tech Lisa’s barn.
And these are just a few examples.

Emergency Vet Care Program

“I’m trying to find help for an elderly woman whose 10 year old Yorkie desperately needs veterinary care.” The caller had tried to help the little dog herself but there was no way she could afford to pay the vet bill, estimated at $775. The little dog could not eat because of abscessed gums. She needed to have teeth extracted and a course of antibiotics to clean up the infection that was poisoning her tiny body. Her owner was struggling to exist on $350 per month. Her dog was her only family but she had no money to pay for vet care.
Thanks to our emergency care fund, the Yorkie can get the lifesaving care she needs. As wells as helping her, this month alone, the fund has paid for repairing a young cat’s broken leg, financed an exam for an ailing 16 year old Pomeranian, saved the life of a cat with an urinary blockage, amputated Tripod’s mangled hind leg, and euthanized a 16 year old cat with a massive tumour.

Tripod [see below] is looking for a special indoor only home. This tiny kitten was brought to us with a badly mangled leg which Dr.Ringness has amputated. She’s doing very well and is much happier. She’s a sweetheart!

Spay/Neuter Assistance Program

To date, more than 1700 cats and dogs from low income families have been altered through our assistance program. Last year’s free cat spay program has made a big difference to the number of unwanted kittens surrendered. Nearly every kitten this year has been born to an abandoned or feral mom.
With this program, anyone can afford to be a responsible pet owner.

Lost & Found Registry

As Margaret says, the lost & found cat registry never closes. 151 lost cats and 129 found felines have been registered so far this year. Sadly, because only a few of the found cats are reunited with their families and many of the lost ones never turn up, Margaret’s work can be very disheartening. While some of the found cats are adopted by the people who have reported them, most of the others come to VDACS and find new homes through our adoption program.
Please remind everyone you know to update their phone number with the vet clinic which tattooed their pet. This week, a cat who had been missing for 3 years returned home thanks to his tattoo but  sadly a cat with a Fort Nelson tattoo is untraceable.

Thank You Cards To:
Teresa Barker   whose beautiful baskets are a surefire money maker at nearly all our fundraising events.

Carol Eigeard, Bunny Adams and all the other contributors to our bake sales. Carol bakes for weeks in advance of our sales. Her pies are hot sellers. Bunny produces dozens of jars of wonderful jams and jellies. You have to get to the sale early to buy Bunny’s jam. It disappears as fast as we can put it out.

Lumby Legion   Lorna, Diana and their fellow volunteers raised over $3,300 for the Spay/Neuter Program with a silent and a live auction held on June 20. Dozens of businesses and individuals donated great items. This money is a huge boost and will be used for pets from the Lumby/Cherryville area.

Monahan  Agency  Tom & Bev Monahan have paid for all our full page colour ads in the Morning Star. Their generosity has found homes for dozens of cats and kittens as well as garnering donations and memberships for VDACS.

Healthy Spot  John and Andrea regularly donate cat food. They also donate a portion of the proceeds from their nail trim days to our programs.  Lesley Aldridge from Charly’s Groom & Board generously donates her time to do the canine pedicures.

Grayson Williamson celebrated his fifth birthday by asking his friends to bring him money for needy animals instead of toys. He is a true animal lover!

Petland   for providing adoption space for many of our adult cats.  Petland also donates cat and dog food.

Total Pet and Wal-Mart  for regularly donating broken and outdated food.

Dagny Nadeau  for her generous donations of food throughout the year.