If you’re from the Midwest, then you know there are two different types of winters: one where it’s 50 degrees and sunny on Christmas Day, and one that is brutal, freezing and painful from November to February. Unfortunately we got unlucky this year. But, if you think about it, we as humans have it easy. You see, we have the...Read More
It was 2002 when Michelle saw a chance to make a change. She had been at one of our local shelters (now closed) and had watched far too many animals – animals that were otherwise adoptable – be euthanized because there wasn’t space for them. “I kept telling anyone who would listen that we couldn’t euthanize our way out of this...Read More
The nonprofit life can be frustrating at times because of the limitations of any organization. You want to grow, you want to reach more people, you want to be able to have a more holistic approach to the problems you address. But you can’t always do that because of limitations on resources, funding, staffing, etc. #nonprofitlife That’s where partnerships come...Read More
It’s easy in the day-to-day to put your head down and do your work and not look at the big picture. Days are busy, and full of pets who need help. You look for the bright spots that make all the effort worthwhile. The success stories, the families we keep together through supportive services, the person who managed to come...Read More
The 28th of September is World Rabies Day. You might wonder why there’s a full day for one disease that’s easily preventable. The truth is that not every community, not every country, has as robust a vaccination plan in place, so the threat of death from rabies is very, very real. Rabies is the oldest infectious disease we know of,...Read More
No question, this is a tough “business.” Those of us working in it confront difficult situations regularly. And sometimes it seems, there’s not much of a breather before the next difficult case lands in our laps. Thing is, nobody enters into this without knowing how hard it can be. We know of and work with many incredible people doing incredible...Read More
Before I worked here, I didn’t think much about the things I’m about to tell you. I didn’t know about heartworms or flystrike or how much more difficult it is for pets to shed heat compared to us. Or … how many pets actually live outside. Now, it’s at the forefront of my mind because I’ve seen pets come through...Read More
As we were driving away, I watched Janice wave through the side-view mirror until our Ford Transit disappeared around the corner. We were transporting her dog, Maxey, to our clinic for surgery, and it was the first time since her husband passed away that I think she had ever been alone. For a moment, I spaced out thinking about all...Read More
Sometimes, I look around and wonder how so much could’ve happened in such a short amount of time. … I came here in September of 2017. At the time, I was one of 21 full-time employees for an organization that was helping between 16-17,000 pets a year. Our name was Spay and Neuter Kansas City, but we did more than...Read More
What breed doesn’t tell you You may have seen the recent study that came out looking at the correlation between breed and behavior. In short, researchers determined through surveying nearly 20,000 dogs from a wide variety of backgrounds that “dog breed is generally a poor predictor of individual behavior and should not be used to inform decisions relating to selection...Read More