Founding Angel Appreciation Event

Last month we held an appreciation event to honor and update our Founding Angel Donors. These donors saw the value of MNSNAP, believed in our mission and made contributions before we were even up and running.

Event photos are featured in Mpls/St.Paul Magazine and can be viewed online by clicking here.

Because of their commitment to ending pet overpopulation in our state we were able to order our mobile surgical suite, equipment and supplies. The generous donations made by these animal advocates have made it possible for MNSNAP to start providing low-cost spay and neuter for the over 4000 pets that have registered with us for sterilization surgery.

We honored Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota and Second Chance Animal Rescue with our first Angel Awards. These rescues both went above and beyond to support spay and neuter in Minnesota and provided financial contributions to help us with our mission.

Special thanks to the Gage Family who hosted the event at the Curtis L. Carlson Family Home on Lake Minnetonka. It was a wonderful event and their hospitality was, as usual, spectacular!

Evolution of a Rescue: Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota

Most animal lovers in Minnesota have heard of one the oldest and most well respected animal rescues around; Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota. Did you know that Pet Haven has been saving animals since 1952? 

Much has changed in animal welfare over the years. As things have changed, Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota has evolved. Pet Haven has realized that spaying and neutering, beyond spaying and neutering the animals in the care of their rescue, is essential to ending the pet overpopulation problem in Minnesota.

According to Pet Haven's former President, Marilou Chanrasmi, "In recent years we have chosen to expand our reach. We have switched to wide-angle lenses, and put into place a strategy that considers many angles and a larger landscape. We continue to focus our efforts on rescuing and re-homing. In addition, we are committed to expanding our spay/neuter initiatives, education/outreach efforts and advocating on behalf of companion animals."

Part of Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota's evolution has included adding the Pet Haven, Inc.’s Spay/Neuter Initiative (SNI) to its programs.

From Pet Haven's Website:

Pet Haven received a very generous donation earmarked to be used to help reduce the overpopulation of companion animals and to help families keep their pets by providing low-cost spay and neuter services. The donor's hope was that the funds be used to reach animals not already being served by Pet Haven's adoption program. Pet Haven used this donation as the "seed money" to start its own low-cost spay/neuter outreach and to offer grants to humane and rescue groups to assist with their spay/neuter efforts.

Since May 2010, Pet Haven, Inc.’s Spay Neuter Initiative (SNI) has sponsored 7 spay/neuter days through MNSNAP at Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue, Northwoods Humane Society, Pennington County Humane Society, Beltrami Humane Society, and BENCHS (Blue Earth Nicollet County Humane Society), resulting in the spay or neuter of over 175 cats and dogs. They will be sponsoring five additional projects. One future event includes the spay/neuter of over 100 cats at a trailer park in Rice County.

Read more and view photos from the event earlier this year.

Spay Neuter Initiative (SNI) received funding from Chuck and Don’s Pawprints campaign by providing grants to MN humane societies, shelters and rescue groups for community outreach for spay and neuter through MNSNAP. Pet Haven’s SNI program, in partnership with MNSNAP, has already sponsored $10,000 in spay and neuter surgeries during projects that were completed earlier this year and will be sponsoring another $10,000 worth of surgeries during future scheduled projects.

Such dedication deserves to be recognized. MNSNAP not only the appreciates the contributions that they have made to support our mission but the outstanding efforts they are making to strengthen the Minnesota animal welfare community as a whole. Kudos to Pet Haven for the many years of compassionate care they have provided to the critters in their program and their commitment to a brighter future for all companion animals in Minnesota.

Pins for Pets - Bowling for the Fix

Chuck & Don’s Pet Food Outlet team and their partners are gearing up for the Third Annual Pins for Pets event! The fun starts next Sunday, August 15, 2010 at Flaherty’s Arden Bowl in Arden Hills.

Since the inception of this fundraiser, over $50,000 has gone directly to the sterilization of dogs and cats in Minnesota.

Everyone at MNSNAP would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Dana Andresen and the dedicated, hardworking and compassionate people at Chuck and Don's who have pulled together this amazing event. We also would like to thank the event donors and sponsors who have championed our worthy cause. You can view the complete list of Pins for Pets Sponsors online. 

Chuck and Don's has already surpassed their fundraising goal!

Chuck and Don's Goal: $35,000

Chuck and Don's has raised: $39,865

WAY TO GO CHUCK AND DON'S!!!

 

Team MNSNAP is way behind in reaching its fundraising goal!

Team MNSNAP's Goal: $5,000

Team MNSNAP has raised: $655

CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR TEAM MNSNAP


WE NEED YOUR HELP TO REACH OUR GOAL!!!

Each day 10,000 humans are born in the United States and each day 70,000 kittens and puppies are born. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals.

As a result millions of healthy, loving kittens, cats, puppies, and dogs face early deaths as a form of animal control. Others are left to fend for themselves against automobiles, the weather, other animals, and cruel humans.

An unspayed female dog, her mate and all of their offspring, plus the offspring’s puppies, if none are neutered or spayed add up to:

1 year - 16
2 years - 128
3 years - 512
4 years - 2,048
5 years - 12,288
6 years - 67,000

 An unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per year, with 2.8 surviving kittens can total:

 1 year - 12
2 years - 67
3 years - 376
4 years - 2,107
5 years - 11,801
6 years - 66,088
7 years - 370,092
8 years - 2,072,514
9 years - 11,606,077

© 2009 SpayUSA is a program of North Shore Animal League America

2261 Broadbridge Avenue, Stratford, CT  06614-3898

What can you do to end the death and suffering of Minnesota's companion animals due to overpopulation?

SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR PETS!

&

CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR TEAM MNSNAP

Photos from Sushi with Your Poochie!

Sushi with Your Poochie photos captured by the Twin Cities premiere "Puparazzi", Sarah Ernhart of Sarah Beth Photography, are now online for viewing and available if you'd like to download or purchase a print or two! Sarah has graciously offered to donate a portion of all file and print orders to MNSNAP. View the entire Sushi with Your Poochie Photo Gallery here.

If you missed the event, you're in luck! You can still get tickets to Sushi With Your Poochie: Part Deux—Continued: The Sushi Returns. This event will benefit our beyond worthy friends at The Pet Project.

Sarah's Sushi with Your Poochie Blog Post

Become a fan of Sarah Beth Photgraphy on facebook!

Thanks Sarah!

Pet Microchips Now Available!

We now offer pet microchips to our surgical patients. Microchipping offers pet owners the only truly permanent method of identifying your pet and linking the animal back to its owner via the Lost Pet Recovery Service.

Animal microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and will be implanted by our vet just beneath the surface of the skin. The process is similar to receiving vaccination through a needle and is painless to most pets.

When found pets are brought into animal shelters, pounds or even found by some police departments, they are scanned with a wand. The owner of that pet is notified immediately if the pet has a microchip in it. Each microchip has a unique number in it that is associated with that pet and the owners contact information. This information is stored in a national database.

We use the 24PetWatch Microchip ID. 24PetWatch is dedicated to the safe return of pets all across the United States.

Be sure to update the contact information associated with the chip if you change phone numbers or if the pet is adopted by a new owner. Microchips only work if there is human to contact if the pet is found!

Microchip Fees:

• Microchip implantation and registration... $20
• If you change of emergency contact after one year... $14.95
• Optional fee for unlimited lifetime changes to emergency contact info... $35.99

Microchips are available only to MNSNAP's spay or neuter patients. You may register online for MNSNAP's low-cost services. 

Cause for Paws is Sponsoring a Cat Clinic

Cause for Paws has partnered with MNSNAP and is sponsoring a clinic for outdoor community cats. These cats are also referred to as stray or feral cats.

These are the cats and kittens one would find at many animal control facilities; discarded pets who had been doing their best to survive outside, hanging around neighborhoods and city parks. Just one female cat and her offspring can produce over 420,000 cats in only seven years!

Cause for Paws assists approximately 200 cats a year and its work is entirely funded by donations. If you would like to learn more about them you may click this link to visit their website: Cause for Paws

If you or your group would like to sponsor a clinic please email MNSNAP's Office Manager, Christie Daluge.

Second Chance Animal Rescue Raised the Bar for Animal Rescue Groups in Minnesota

We are grateful to all of the people and groups who have supported MNSNAP and our mission to save the lives of Minnesota's pets through spay and neuter. Some people and groups go above and beyond and we must tell everyone of the good deeds they have done, as they are truly extraordinary.

Recently, Nancy Minion and Second Chance Animal Rescue made a substantial monetary donation to MNSNAP.

They are not only rescuing, caring for, and adopting out Minnesota's dogs and cats but, they are also dedicated to educating the public on respect for all animal life, including the importance of spaying and neutering in order to reduce the number of animals euthanized.

Nancy and Second Chance have raised the bar for animal welfare groups and are making difference through their rescue efforts and commitment to stopping the cycle of breeding and killing.

Spay and neuter alone won't solve all of the problems we face with pet overpopulation and homelessness in Minnesota. It is the best first step! They understand that we must all work together and animal rescue is only a band-aid without spay and neuter.

Thank you again Second Chance Animal Rescue. Together we can save the lives of Minnesota's companion animals!