Please watch this WONDERFUL video of Hannahberry, Cat Deeley, Willa, and Littleton - just four of the MANY kittens that now fill the shelter and that are in DIRE need of adoption or rescue. We think you'll see why we're working so hard to give these loving, precious babies a chance at life. If you can help just ONE of them, please contact us ASAP!
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Please read the message below - written on August 30th, 2008 by one of the onsite voluteers - about the shelter's VERY URGENT needs:
Tonight, after all that we did today to clean the shelter and care for the pets, I went back to the shelter to give night medications. It is something that is done everyday. It happens seven nights a week.
There are only volunteers to clean the shelter. There are only a few in the area who truly care about what happens to the pets here. There are those who - at our fundraisers or adoption events - walk by and say, "Leitchfield Animal Shelter, kill them all!"
After all the posting and transporting and treating and vetting and cleaning and walking and bleaching and feeding, it's simply not enough.........
I felt physically ill at the end of my day. I sat down to try to calm my queasy stomach and I thought, since I'm here at the shelter, someone should at least get something special out of the time.
JBird - one of the many wonderful cats here - http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11320603 - has been moved to a cage in the hall. She has been here more than a year and I hate for her to be stuck in a single cube when we get full. So now she has a slightly larger crate in the hall. She has been here so long that often when you open her cage she doesn't even come out. She just lays in it inviting you to pet her. Tonight I sat on the floor and she trilled, climbed over her door and pulled herself right up into my lap. She was ecstatic. She kissed me. She rolled in my lap. She sharpened her claws on my jeans and buried her head in my underarm and curled her tail around her purring. She would not go away. When my phone rang and it was my family asking when I was coming home, she did not want to get up and I had to put her back in her cage. (Update September 13, 2008: JBird has FINALLY been adopted, but many other cats are still waiting for their miracle to happen.)
While I had sat on the floor and held her, Digby of the fabulous five - http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11753327 - was in the top cage crying and pressing his head against the bars and reaching out between the bars begging for someone to hold him too. Who will do that? There are no extra volunteers at night or any other time. There are enough to get the job of cleaning and feeding done. There is no one to hand out love.
I then walked most of the dogs in the dark. The Rock - http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11320599 - hugged and kissed me and begged me to stay in his run with him. I had to go. There were 40 more dogs waiting for that short time on leash when someone is petting them and that short romp in the field where they can run and stretch.
For those that say, "at least they are cared for while they are with you," "at least they get medical care," "at least they are treated special," I say to you, "it is NOT enough."
JBird deserves so much more than just to be kept from death. She deserves more than to have help in healing her wounds. She deserves the love and attention she craves. JBird does not need much. Her only problem is a tiny patch of thin skin on her heel. Should she never get a home simply because she may play too much and that heel may bleed a little?
PLEASE, if you rescue, consider rescuing our pets. We do not have a kill date. When we are full, we have to euthanize. When we are not full, we do our best to love and care for each pet with all of our abilities.
Our shelter pets have had their wounds treated. Their treatable or manageable health conditions are addressed. They are spayed/neutered. Some of them have been our charges for a long time. We can tell you about them. They have already been treated for whatever may have ailed them. What they will never have with us is a chance at finding that someone special. Some, sadly, have spent much more of their lives here than they have ever spent anywhere else.
We are DESPERATE for rescue. Our work force is too small for the number of pets we currently care for. Our shelter is full and when we look at these trusting faces we know the end is near for many of them. They are our friends. Our pets need adopters or rescue. Our area simply does not have adopters. Please consider offering a safe place for any one of them today.
Please, please, please.....consider adopting or rescuing a shelter pet from us here at the Grayson County Humane Society.
The Grayson County Humane Society/SPCA works non-stop to find safe rescues or loving homes for the adoptable animals that, for whatever unfortunate reason, end up at the animal shelter in Leitchfield, Kentucky. We're comprised COMPLETELY of volunteers who donate our time, money, and resources. As the shelter has an intake of almost 1,000 dogs and cats per year, we're almost always near maximum capacity. Because of such conditions, we're constantly faced with an urgent need to move these wonderful pets to safety, in order to avoid the need for euthanasia simply due to lack of space.
Some of the animals on this website are in foster care, but most are located at the shelter. Those at the shelter have a limited amount of time to be rescued or adopted. If you're considering adding a cat or dog to your family, now's the time to come and select your new best friend. We have many sweet, friendly, healthy animals who deserve more than the life they've been dealt simply due to someone's irresponsibility. Please consider giving one of these precious animals a home and a second chance at a happy life.
As the Grayson County Humane Society/SPCA is comprised of only four main volunteers and two occasional volunteers, we're always in need of extra hands to work on a wide variety of tasks. By being a part of our "One Dollar One Hour One Month Campaign," if you can spare just one hour or one dollar per week or even just one hour or one dollar per month, it truly will make a HUGE difference to us and to our loving, but homeless animals. If you're interested in helping, please fill out the volunteer application online and one of our other volunteers will get back to you as soon as possible.
Below is just a brief list of some of the projects we'd LOVE to have your help with. Please feel free to contact us if you'd like to help in other ways.
If you don't live near the shelter, but you'd like to help our pets, as well as us, we can also use your help with the following projects:
Not funded by the state or local government, most of the funding for this shelter comes directly out of the pockets of the Grayson County Humane Society volunteers. Therefore, monetary donations in any amount are always deeply appreciated. Even a single dollar is a blessing as it will actually buy four pounds of Science Diet food.
You can Paypal donations by clicking on the "Donate Visa/Mastercard" button at the top of this page. You can also mail checks to:
Grayson County Humane Society/SPCAIf you need a receipt, please just ask for one. Donations ARE tax deductible, as the Grayson County Humane Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. If you note what you'd like your donation to be used for, we'll make sure that ALL such directed donations are used for exactly what the giver intended it to be used for. If you'd like to make a donation in honor of someone, a Grayson volunteer will also send an acknowledgement card to that person, if you provide the necessary information.
If you'd like to help us pay off our outstanding vet bill, you can do so by calling your credit card information in directly to the vet clinic we use for much of our medical care. Please ask that they apply your donation to the Grayson County Humane Society's account, #4974. The clinic's contact information is as follows:
Animal Clinic of Glasgow (KY)As of September 1st, 2008, the shelter is in need of the following items:
Such items can be shipped to:
Grayson County Humane Society/SPCA
If you see a pet here on our web site that you're interested in adopting, you can fill out an application online or you can email us at dwhite@aggressiveonline.net or call 270-230-8839 to request that an adoption application be emailed or sent via regular mail to you. We do allow out-of-state adoptions, but a home visit and references are required. You can bring your completed application with you when you visit the shelter or you can submit it via email or regular mail.
All animals adopted from us will be altered before placement and will receive their vaccinations and worming. The adoption fees listed below only serve to cover such expenses. We feel that these adoption fees are a nominal amount to spend on a new lifetime friend and are much less than what a vet would normally charge for the services being provided. If a new owner is unwilling to pay very much for an animal, it's likely they'd also be unwilling to pay for proper care in the future - such as heartworm and flea/tick prevention, proper food, and vaccinations.
Fortunately, a few of our puppies, dogs, and cats are safe in foster care. However, most of the these fostered pets are located in the homes of the regular volunteers. They too are still in need of being adopted or rescued. Each one that's finally adopted or rescued helps to free up critically-needed space in the volunteers' homes for the next needy dogs and cats that will surely soon arrive at the shelter.
We're always in need of additional foster homes to take these deserving animals into their care while they wait to be adopted or rescued. Please contact us either via email at dwhite@aggressiveonline.net or via telephone at 270-230-8839 if you'd like to open your heart and home to a foster pet. You can also fill out a volunteer foster application online and one of our other volunteers will get back to you as soon as possible.
Can't adopt or foster a Grayson pet? Then perhaps a sponsorship is the best way for you to help. For many people, the concept of sponsoring a shelter pet is a new one. Basically, it involves making a donation in any amount to help cover the vetting needs of the shelter pet of your choice. While not an absolute guarantee, sponsorships often make an animal more likely to be accepted into a rescue group.
If you would like to pay the full sponsorship fee for a cat or kitten, it costs $55, while adult dogs are $85, and puppies are $100. If you pay the full sponsorship for one of our unnamed recent arrivals, you can have the privilege of choosing a name for that special pet. Again though, danations in any amount are greatly appreciated.
Sponsorships can also be applied to our feral barn cat program. These feral cats - free roaming, unowned, and untamed domestic cats - are fully-vetted and free to barn owners who will agree to feed them.
Sponsorships can be paid with either of the methods listed above or you can make a monthly commitment of $20 to sponsor one of our pets by clicking on the button below. Please feel free to contact us if you'd like more information about sponsorships.
Reputable rescue groups are always welcome to help us save our animals. One of our volunteers recently described our current situation best when she said, "We can't continue to be low-kill if we're full. We're not asking rescues to take dogs or cats that have issues or need assistance getting over life in the shelter or that don't get along with other dogs, cats, and/or small children. We're asking them to take the no-big-problems dogs or cats, while we continue to try to find the right home for the others."
If you can help rescue even one of the Grayson dogs or cats, please contact us ASAP either via email at dwhite@aggressiveonline.net or via telephone at 270-230-8839. Rescues that are new to working with us would need to submit a list of their vet references, rescue references, an outline of their adoption policies, and reason(s) why they would ever euthanize a pet.
Rescuing from this shelter is a great deal on many levels. TRANSPORT IS USUALLY AVAILABLE (often to Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and sometimes even Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont) -- PLEASE JUST ASK!!!
Vetting costs are also relatively low and reimbursement is never asked for anything beyond what is expended for such costs. Current vetting costs are approximately:
Everything possible is also done to minimize the spread of disease or illness at the shelter. Dogs are held in their run for 10 days after they arrive. If they appear to be healthy for those 10 days and after they receive their shots and wormer, then they can go play in one of the three fenced-in fields while their kennel is being cleaned. Puppies DO NOT leave their run or touch the ground ANYWHERE until they've had their entire series of puppy vaccines; they're also wormed several times after they arrive. The volunteers use bleach foot baths and hand washing. They also have different boots to wear in the puppy runs than in the rest of the facility and they use a combination of bleach sanitizing days and trifectant sanitizing days.
We'll also test any animal you're interested in rescuing or adopting with other dogs, cats, kids, food - WHATEVER IT TAKES to get the information you need to decide to save them. We''ll ALWAYS go the extra mile to help these precious furbabes. AGAIN - PLEASE JUST ASK!!!
