MEDFIELD ANIMAL SHELTER NEWSLETTER
MedfieldShelter.com
e-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 508-359-8989
Join us on: Facebook.com/MedfieldAnimalShelter and Instagram.com/MedfieldShelter
Issue 47
Fall 2016
every pet that we place will enjoy a good life in a
caring home.
FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Please join us on Facebook and Instagram to keep
up to date on the new pets, adoptions and Happy
Tails. Our social media followers are an important
part of helping us spread the word about adoptable
and lost pets.
IT’S TIME FOR THE MATCHING
CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER!
Our biggest and most popular fundraiser is back! A
loyal group of donors have offered to match all
donations made between November 21, 2016 and
January 15, 2017 — up to $25,000. What does this
mean? It means if you make a $50 contribution it
will be matched with an additional $50, therefore
making a total of $100 available to help us care for
the animals! Previous matching challenge
fundraisers have helped us raise a significant
portion of our operating budget for the year,
allowing our volunteers to spend more time helping
pets in need and less time raising money.
YEAR IN REVIEW
We are very grateful to be part of a community that
supports our mission and for the donors who
support us year after year. Your generosity makes it
possible for every dog, cat and rabbit we place to be
The Matching Challenge Grant is open to anyone
wishing to support the Medfield Animal Shelter,
and donations can be made by mailing a check or
you can use your credit card by clicking the Donate
button on MedfieldShelter.com, so please spread the
word and make a donation today! Looking for a
great gift for an animal lover? If you make a
donation in that person’s honor we will send a
photo card acknowledging your gift.
spayed or neutered to insure they can’t contribute to
the pet overpopulation problem. Our adoption rate
has continued to increase and 2016 is by far our best
year ever. In addition to helping pets and pet
owners in our community, we continue to step in
and help many dogs and cats rescued from the
streets of Boston and Worcester, areas where there
are still many strays in need. We are also able to
take in pets with expensive medical needs and
restore them to health. We work hard to make sure
TRAINING FOR OUR DOG HANDLER
VOLUNTEERS
Training our volunteers who handle dogs has
become an important program at the Medfield
Animal Shelter. Not only does the training provide
consistency in how our dogs are handled, it also
keeps our dog volunteers safe. It is extremely
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beneficial to help lessen the dogs’ stress and anxiety
while they are at a shelter, since it shortens their
stay and makes them more
adoptable. Some of the
basic training has included:
learning how to recognize a
dog’s
body
language,
responding to their different
signals, approaching a dog
calmly in its kennel, and
learning how to get a dog
out of its kennel whether it
is jumpy, excited, fearful or
stressed. We are thankful
to Kate Brady, dog trainer
and volunteer, for designing
this training program for
our volunteers.
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your choice. On your first visit to AmazonSmile,
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smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.
WISH LIST ON AMAZON.COM
We have a wish list on Amazon.com to make it
simple to donate items we need. You can go to
Amazon, click on Wish List, search for Medfield
Animal Shelter and you will find a list of the items
we use the most often. We tried to choose items
that would ship for free if your order is over $35.
GRANT AWARDED FOR FERAL
CAT SPAY/NEUTER
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Erin Whooley has been
volunteering at the
Shelter since August
2013, and has made
herself an indispensable
part of the team. She
started volunteering the
summer before her
senior year at Wheelock
College, where she has
since earned a master’s
degree in Child Life and
Family Centered Care.
Erin works at Children’s
Hospital where her job is
to
provide
coping
support and to help normalize the hospital experience
as much as possible for children and their families.
Each year The Massachusetts Animal Coalition
(MAC) awards grants from the I’m Animal Friendly
License Plate Program to spay/neuter programs
serving cats, dogs and rabbits throughout the state.
In 2016, the Shelter received a $2,000 MAC grant
toward our feral cat spay/neuter program. Our
annual fall free feral cat spay/neuter clinic took
place on October 25th. Trappers and humane
organizations brought in twenty feral cats to be
spayed or neutered, then released them back to their
colonies no longer able to reproduce. There will be
another free feral spay/neuter clinic in the spring of
2017. We are proud to be
part of humane state-wide
efforts to reduce the
population
of
freeroaming cats and invite
you to learn how you can help. Please visit MAC’s
website at www.petplate.org and order your I’m
Animal Friendly license plate! The more license
plates MAC sells, the more funds will be available
to help cats, dogs and rabbits.
Due to family allergies, Erin didn’t grow up around
cats, guinea pigs or rabbits and had to be trained how to
care for the different animals that come into the
Shelter’s care. She really enjoys caring for the guinea
pigs and does a great job explaining to kids how to care
for them. Her volunteer stint had a bit of a rough start
when she contracted ringworm from an infected kitten.
Because ringworm is contagious, she had to wait
several months before she was allowed to come back to
the Shelter to care for the pets.
AMAZON SMILE
Doing your holiday shopping online this year?
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for
you to support the Medfield Animal Shelter every
time you shop, and at no cost to you. When you
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hauled water from her home rain barrel to keep the
plants alive. We are still harvesting parsley due to her
efforts. Thank you, Sandie!
In addition to caring for the pets, Erin plays an
important role as an adoption counselor, spending
every Saturday (and many Sundays) greeting visitors
and matching potential
adopters with the right pet.
Erin’s contribution to the
Shelter took on a new
dimension in 2015 when
she offered to organize a
Medfield Animal Shelter
booth for Medfield Day.
She
made
all
the
arrangements and rounded
up helpers to staff the booth. We were thrilled to be a
presence again at this special community event, and
very grateful to Erin for taking on the task. This fall,
she did it all again for Medfield Day 2016!
DO YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING
AT THE SHELTER
This handmade quilt and pillow set (available
separately) would make the
perfect gift for the cat lover on
your shopping list! Both quilt
and pillow were created by
Honore LaFlamme, owner of
Jubilation in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire. Her beautiful handiwork is
sold at craft fairs in the area. The quilt
was purchased and donated to the Shelter
by volunteer Ann Charette, and Honore
donated the pillow. They are available at
the Shelter: Quilt: $150 Pillow: $35
When she isn’t working or volunteering, Erin pet sits
and enjoys spending time with her dog, Mickey, who
recently turned 13. Thank you, Erin, for all you do to
find so many pets new homes, for caring for them
while they are waiting for their forever families to
come along and for your outstanding volunteerism!
PEOPLE & BUSINESSES TO THANK
• New ‘N Towne Club of Medfield for giving us
a grant that will help us to microchip all cats
before they are placed for adoption.
• Dianna Sanislo for crocheting the very popular
catnip toys we sold at Medfield Day.
• Ann Charette, one of our longtime volunteers,
for donating her beautiful handmade jewelry
for us to sell at our Medfield Day booth. She
also purchased a handmade quilt and donated it
for us to sell.
• The Hometown Weekly newspapers for
running our Pet of the Week column every
week.
• Five Star Boot Camp of Westwood for
donating the proceeds from their Boot Camp
for a Cause event.
• Laura Garf for making and selling
homemade dog treats and donating
the proceeds for her bat mitzvah
project
• Walpole High School Humane
Society for their support
• Service Stars of Medfield for their support
• “We Love Dogs” after-school enrichment
class from Old Post Road School, E. Walpole
for their support
• JFK Elementary School in Franklin for
holding a food drive for the Shelter
GREEN THUMB JOINS THE
VOLUNTEER CREW
In our spring newsletter we mentioned we were
looking for a gardener to help maintain the garden we
plant each year to
supply the bunnies and
guinea pigs in our care
with fresh greens. It’s
a lot of work, and in
previous years the
garden was a tangle of
weeds by late July.
Luckily,
Sandie
Kimball read the
article and offered her
services.
She was
soon hard at work
adding
to
and
maintaining the plants
another volunteer, Amy Ferry, had already planted.
Every weekend during this hot summer, Sandie could
be found in the garden (her husband jokingly referred
to it as her playground) planting, weeding and
harvesting fresh greens for the critters. When we were
not able to water due to the drought restrictions, she
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• Ashley Stein for recommending the Shelter to
receive a $500 mini-grant from Harvard
Pilgrim HealthCare Foundation
• Rolls-Royce Marine North America for
having an ice cream social to raise funds for
the Shelter
• Maddie’s Fund for the Million Cat Challenge
Incentive Grant of $1000
• Business Express Center in Medfield for
collecting donations for the Shelter
unless it was feeding time. But even then, she
would eat quickly and then turn away. All she
wanted to do was hide in her bed.
We posted her on our website, and were thrilled to
be contacted by a veterinary technician letting us
know her favorite clients might be interested in
adopting Autumn. A few days later, Kathy Hills and
her daughter, Robyn, drove from New Hampshire to
meet her. Within 10 minutes of their arrival,
Autumn was eating treats from their hands and
eventually climbed into Robyn’s lap. When asked if
she wanted to go out, Autumn leaped up and
practically dragged the two ladies out of the
building, her tail high and wagging!
THANKS TO OUR VETERINARIANS
We want to acknowledge our appreciation of our
partnering veterinarians for their kindness,
generosity and expertise. Thank you very much to:
• Medfield Veterinary Clinic, Medfield
• Rosario Delgado-Lecaroz, DVM, Upton
• Commonwealth Veterinary Hospital,
Newton
• Sutton Animal Hospital, Sutton
• Tufts Luke & Lily Lerner Spay/Neuter
Clinic, Grafton
• Holmes Family Veterinary Clinic, Walpole
• Westwood Veterinary Clinic, Westwood
• Tufts Veterinary Emergency Treatment &
Specialties, Walpole
Autumn had found her forever family, but she still
needed her teeth addressed. Fortunately for us and
Autumn, Dr. Karen Ober from the Sutton Animal
Hospital read about her on our Facebook page and
offered to do the surgery at no charge. Autumn went
there to have all of her remaining teeth extracted. It
was a rough day for her, but the whole staff,
especially Dr. Ober and vet tech Sue Usher, doted
on her. Shortly after her dental surgery she went
home with her new family for some much-needed
and well-deserved TLC. We can already see the
difference in her from the pictures her family has
been sending. Happy life, Autumn (now Elsa)!
SPECIAL ADOPTIONS
While every pet that comes into our care is special,
there are always a few that break our hearts due to
their age or medical needs. Whenever one of these
pets arrives at the Shelter, we are so grateful for our
loyal donors and volunteers who make it possible
for us to go the extra mile to help them live happily
ever after. We thought we would share a few
adoptions we’re especially thankful for.
Brady – A Special Lab
Brady was a seven year-old black Lab who was
transferred to the Medfield Animal Shelter last
November,
after
spending two months
at the Lakeville
Animal Shelter. No
one was interested in
adopting him due to
a large growth on his
face. Our first order
of business was to
take him to Medfield
Veterinary Clinic, where unfortunately the growth
was diagnosed as a malignant melanoma. This
sweet waggy-tailed boy was given only 4–6 weeks
to live, due to the cancer having already spread to
his lungs and lymph nodes. Everyone at the Shelter
was crushed, because we had such high hopes for
being able to save him. But then a local family
Autumn
Autumn arrived at the Shelter in late September
from Blackstone Animal Control after being found
out wandering the
streets. She was
obviously an elderly
girl and had some
facial swelling due to
the horrific condition
of her teeth. Shelter
life (even here, at our
wonderful shelter) did not agree with her. She
turned her back to us and would not respond to us,
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heard of his plight and offered to foster Brady for
whatever time he had left. Nola and Michael Kelley
along with their two young children, Roisin and
Declan, welcomed Brady into their home. He
immediately became part of the Kelley family and
fit in with their two dogs, their cat, and all of the
other dogs that the Kelley family dog sits for.
that comes from having a loving family. Thank you
Kelley family for opening up your home to sweet
Brady and letting him spend his final months as part
of your family.
HAPPY TAILS
After settling in to his new home, Dr. Buckley, the
veterinarian from Medfield Veterinary Clinic who
had been caring for Brady, saw a dog with a similar
cancer case that had been helped by a low-cost
chemotherapy drug, and contacted us to see if we
would be interested in trying it with Brady. We felt
fortunate that due to you, our generous supporters,
we were able to give Brady this chance. Brady
tolerated the drug very well, however the growth
kept getting infected and was causing discomfort.
Surgery was risky due to his condition, but we
decided to go through with it and it healed
beautifully. We were all hopeful that he would now
live a year or potentially longer. Dr. Buckley,
described by Nola as “a very talented and
compassionate veterinarian,” kept a close eye on
Brady and monitored each and every bump.
Months into his treatment, at least twenty bumps
developed on the left side of Brady’s body and they
turned out to be mast cell tumors. His condition
slowly deteriorated, and while he was the same
sweet dog throughout his treatment and in late
September is became clear it was time to give him a
humane end.
Percy & Chad
Kermie
Lucy & Ethel
Trixie packed for
the move
Nola said that it took a village to take care of Brady:
her family, Brady’s
veterinarians,
the
volunteers and staff
at
the
Shelter,
neighbors
and
everyone checking
in on Facebook.
Brady had a will to
live, he had a loving
family, and he was
closely bonded to
his buddy Maeve
(one of the Kelley
family’s dogs). Brady lived ten months past his
diagnosis and while we were all sad it wasn’t
longer, we were also grateful that we could provide
him with the veterinary care and the quality of life
Wally with handmade catnip
toy
Iggy’s happy place
Thor & Ranger
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Slick and his pack
Sirius Black & Harry Pawter
SOME OF OUR SUPPORTERS
Donations
Donations in lieu of gifts
Farm stand proceeds
Lemonade stand proceeds
Donations
Enormous donation in lieu of birthday gifts
Paul Brady birthday donations
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THANK YOU FOR CARING ABOUT THE ANIMALS!
The Medfield Animal Shelter has once again been given a very special opportunity. A small group of
kind and generous donors have offered to match all donations made between November 21, 2016
and January 15, 2017 — up to $25,000. Please take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to help
us raise the funds needed to continue our mission to save animals in 2017!
************************************************************************************
Donor’s Name: ______________________________________________________________________________
Street: _____________________________________________________________________________________
City:__________________________________________________________ State:_______ Zip:____________
Would you like to make a donation as a gift, in honor of a friend, or in memory of an animal lover?
 My gift is in honor of
 My gift is in memory of
Please send acknowledgement to:
Name: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Street: _____________________________________________________________________________________
City:_________________________________________________________ State:_______ Zip:_____________
Occasion: (birthday, gift, etc.) __________________________________________________________________
************************************************************************************
PREFER TO DONATE ONLINE? You can make a donation from our website, MedfieldShelter.com,
by clicking on the Donate link.
DOES YOUR COMPANY MATCH CHARITABLE GIFTS? Many companies will match
charitable contributions made by their employees. If your company has a qualifying program, request a
matching gift form from your employer and your donation can help even more pets.
CARE TO DONATE STOCK? Donations of appreciated stock are tax deductible at their full market
value and eliminate the need to pay capital gains tax. E-mail [email protected] to learn more.
Medfield Animal Shelter
P.O. Box 271
Medfield MA 02052