Friends of Somerset Regional Animal Shelter

Testimonials


"Change has always come about from small groups of people
coming together with big ideas... and even bigger hearts."

 

The following are excerpts from emails we've gotten, comments overheard here and there, and general all-around feedback.  Though the licks and purrs from our pets are more than adequate validation for our volunteers, sometimes it's nice to have it translated into English...


May 10, 2005

To The Friends of the Somerset Regional Animal Shelter

My husband and I adopted two gray kittens last August. They were named Alexandra and Marcia but were renamed Sophie and Maggie.

They picked us out when we visited the shelter. Maggie sat on my husband's lap and would not leave him for one minute. She found her home and began to purr. Sophie jumped into my arms when I opened the cage to pick up another kitten. She put her little head under my chin and began to purr. Needless to say, we melted and brought them home.

Everyone told us we should declaw them but we hated to put them through anything that painful. They were so trusting of us and bonded with us so quickly. Instead we purchased three scratching posts and put them in various parts of the house. They have been with us for 9 months and never touched our furniture. They have been great with the litter boxes and except for the occasional jump on the counter, they really are good little girls. When we have company, they greet our friends and then go down the cellar and play with their toys or in the computer room and sleep on their favorite chairs.

They have grown into two beautiful cats with soft gray fur and large green eyes. They have become such welcome addition to our home and our lives.

I have enclosed a check for $40.00 please feel free to put it wherever it will do the most good.

I am hoping to send more money during the year. Animals need shelters like yours to protect them from abuse and find homes where they will be loved and nurtured.

Thank you for the wonderful work you do. I will try and send a before and after picture of Sophie and Maggie very soon.

Sincerely,
Ann and Jeff 

June 6th, 2004

Thank you to everyone who helped today at the Somerville street fair.  Our table looked great!  We had many, many people stopping by our table to ask questions, make donations, sign up to volunteer or be an E-list member and just to chat a bit.

Thank you to Penny the owner of The Hungry Hound, who allowed us to have a spot in front of her store.  This put us right in the midst of the fair which was a great spot.  Also made it easy when we broke down at the end too.

As far as donations go, we raised a total of $190!  But as I always say, the PR of being at a fair, talking to people, letting them know who we are and what we do is worth twice the amount of every dollar donated. 

I wandered about the street fair today, checking out the other tables and stopped at one of the other local shelters table.  Not to brag or anything, but our table looked far better, brighter, more visible, fun, colorful with big pictures of cats and dogs, and lots of different handouts.  But more than that was the big difference in the volunteers' attitudes.  Our volunteers were  friendly, fun, caring, and welcoming.   People were drawn to our table because of our friendly smiling faces and the fact that we looked like we were having fun.  Not every other table had happy friendly faces behind it.  That makes all the difference in the world to people thinking of donating or volunteering too.

We were joined today by two of our brand new volunteers Tony and Nika.  It took them about four minutes to learn the ropes and after that they manned the table like seasoned pros.  I think Tony was personally responsible for getting and entire page filled with names for the E-list.

So thank you to Donna D., Donna Z., Bonnie, Benita and Dylan, Pat C., Nika, and Tony for helping today at the street fair.  And thank you to all of the FOSRAS volunteers who stopped by today and said hello too.

We couldn't do these events without you, and for that, the shelter and all its furry friends thank you.
KathyH

Open letter to the Shelter Help .... 

Every visit to the shelter has been a joy. I usually get no further than the cat room. Every time I've been there a cheerful worker greets me, invites me in to visit and answers my questions. On every occasion I've had to visit, the cages are in immaculate condition, the cats all look healthy and clean, and if I'm lucky there are some out playing. There are baskets of toys, donated beds and food, hand knitted "snuggle blankets", Volunteers to trim nails and nurture the cats. It is truly "A Little Shelter With A Big Heart!. 

I'm drawn to all the people that work there. Each person has a heart as big as Grand Canyon and you'll want to take them all on as Dear Friends. Because of this shelter and their wonderful helpers I am now a Foster Mom for cats and kittens or whatever else they send my way. 

I feel blessed and fortunate to be asked to help this group out. They truly do all they can to make the animals lives better I'm proud to be associated with all the volunteers. 

With much love and respect for your caring hearts, 
                                                                                     Marjorie Longo

My family and I recently adopted a wonderful dog named  Prancer from the Shelter. He is a wonderful dog. He fits into our family wonderfully. He is great with my young children. He loves going bye-bye in the truck, playing catch, and running with my daughter. I found  Prancer on petfinders.com under shelters. I had been looking for a dog for a while and  kept going back and looking at Prancer's picture. Finally one day I called the shelter and spoke with Jennifer, Later that day my family and I went to meet Prancer and Jennifer. 

It was love at first site! Jennifer took her time with us and let us walk Prancer and play with him. I knew right then and there Prancer was the one. We picked him up on Friday after he saw the vet. Waiting to pick him up was the longest couple of days of my families life. 

Finally the big day came, I met Pat and she was terrific! Prancer was beautiful, she was very helpful and understanding. I was so happy because when I had a question ( after I got home) Pat was right their and helped. Prancer loves laying on the couch or bed. He had doggy ice cream the other day and now looks for it daily. 

If the time ever arose to need another dog I would go to Somerset Animal Shelter. I want to say Thank You to everyone an the shelter. Prancer says Thank You for all you did for him, and maybe one day he will stop by and say HI!

The furries in the cattery are clean, healthy, happy, and friendly. And the bios attached to each enclosure are quite helpful. In the half hour I was there, 2 cats were adopted, early on a weekday afternoon ... amazing. 

And the staff/volunteers were very pleasant and helpful. The bulletin board of Happy Tails in the entryway is a great idea! I especially loved the pictures of Alvin and Calvin in their respective sinks. Also, the website is colorful, lighthearted, informative, easy to navigate, and up to date.

For an UPDATE on Gill click here

Gill Again

 I show everyone at my office our website and our adoptable pets.  About a week ago, my coworker Rose was looking at the cat page, and I mentioned how sweet our senior girl, Kassy, is.  She said her friend Gail has a friend who recently lost her cat after 21 years (WOW), and was currently looking to adopt a new cat.  Rose took our web address to give to Gail.  Today Rose came in at 4PM for the 4-midnight shift.  She asked me if I was at the shelter this past Saturday.  I told her I was, and proceeded to show her pictures of Gill and Brownie and Cindy, our sweeties that were adopted out this past week.  I mentioned to her how much I love Gill, and how an elderly lady and her friend adopted him.  She said, oh, was her name Les?  I told her I didn't know, but that they had come in looking to adopt Arwen, but they didn't connect (it was Arwen's fault). Rose said, wait a minute - Gail said her friend was not interested in Kassy, but Arwen. She called Gail, and sure enough - Gail's friend is the one who adopted Gill.

Is this just a divine thread?  I mentioned Kassy to Rose, she mentioned our web site to Gail, Gail showed her friend  our web and instead of Kassy her friend was interested in Arwen, she came in on Saturday, Arwen was grumpy, her friend looked at Gill, and I walked over to her and told her Gill's story.  Then Gill took over and sold himself to her and VOILA - Gill goes home! Rose let me speak with Gail, who said Gill is doing just great.  He is so loving to Les and has made himself at home already. Gill has a new bed and also a reflective mat that radiates his body heat, but he sleeps on the bed with Les.  Gill is in his forever home and he knows it.  Also, Les will be changing his name to a more regal one, but has not yet decided.  So, stay tuned, folks.

Gill is a perfect example of what sets our shelter and our volunteer group somewhat apart from other groups.

I remember the first day I saw Gill in the quarantine room.  Here was this big tom cat with a huge tom cat head.  He looked all beat up and his eyes of course looked awful.  I would have bet money that he was going to test positive for FIV and Felv.  He was the classic cat for it.  In fact I think that when the shelter got back the first negative test they couldn't believe it and retested him.  And yes, he did test negative.

I think most shelters, even with a negative test, still would have put him down.  First because of his eyes and second because he didn't have that pretty "adopt me" look.  He looked beat up.

But SRAS gave him a chance and moved him into adoption where he promptly decided to become a bully and beat up every cat.  But with time spent there he acclimated and decided that he didn't have to beat up every cat in the room.  Just the particular ones he hated.  I think he always will be that way.

Now here is where volunteers come into play.  Gill was always a nice enough cat, but it took a bit for the real marshmallow Gill to show up.  It took time and attention and love from volunteers who believed in him.  If he had been left alone day after day in a cage, I do not believe he would have turned into the cream puff he did.

So we were a shelter that gave him a chance when I firmly believe that most shelters would have not.  And we are a group of volunteers who gave him love which helped him grow and blossom.

And then Pat recommends our website to a friend who passes the word and what do you know, Gill goes home.  How wonderful for Gill and for his new owner.

Just shows you what a little PR can do.   We need to keep getting the word of our cats and dogs out there.  The person you mention a cat to might not be interested, but like what happened here might have a friend who is interested. 

It's funny how when one of our favorites goes home you really have mixed feelings.  Sure we are beyond happy for them, but also a little sad for us because we'll miss them.  And that love that we invest is what makes the whole thing work so well.  If people hadn't loved Gill enough to give him a chance, hadn't loved him enough to let his true nature show, he'd still be there. 

And Gill is only one example of this at work.  There are stories similar to his that we can tell of a lot of our shelter animals. 

And why, because we have heart, a lot of heart.

The thoughts and comments that you had regarding our dogs are the same that Chris heard one Saturday from a woman who was visiting the shelter looking to adopt a dog. 

Apparently the dogs we had that day weren't the dog for her so Chris gave her the sheet with all the shelter names on it.  She said that she wasn't interested in going to the other shelters and would just come back to SRAS another day.

She then commented that she had been at a couple of local shelters earlier that day and thought that the dogs were kept in barren kennels with no toys, blankets or chewies.  She was very impressed on how well cared for our dogs seemed and how happy they looked.  She said because of that alone she'd prefer to do business with SRAS.

I  too am really grateful that SRAS staff gives the animals a chance, animals, perhaps less than angelic and not always young and perfect (not mentioning any names), that in other settings would not get that chance. I'd also like to acknowledge, in addition to SRAS staff and the FOSRAS volunteers, Pat S's efforts with the dogs.  She's devoted to them and they love her.  She works so hard to make their stay comfy.  In my short time with FOSRAS I don't recall seeing a single kennel-crazy dog.  In fact, the first time I visited the shelter last year, I immediately noticed how calm and quiet they were (relative to other shelters) and that they all had blankets, toys and treats.  Not necessarily the norm.

Of course, this is all possible because the SRAS allows volunteers every day of the week.  Not all shelters do.  In addition to the care the cats get, the dogs seem to get walked every day, sometimes even more than once!  This goes a long way towards keeping them sane and allowing personalities to emerge.  It's been refreshing to hear the general comments that the dogs need to go out every day, not just once a week, or never.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to go to the shelter for a while since I've been sick (and gladly accepting of any pity) but I'm glad the rest of you are healthy and carrying on, everybody working together.

Oh, I neglected to mention that I've had dogs try and cut their walks short to get back inside the shelter!

I was very impressed that they were so honest about all the dogs in their care.  They really know the pets before they allow them to be adopted out.  Our SRAS pooch was everything they said she was... and more.  There were no surprises.  

Thank you for making the adoption process so pleasant!

 
It always moves me when I see Melissa, ACO, take the time to put a "Kitty tape" on the VCR for the cats in the holding room/quarantine. She has even done this if there was only one cat in the room. It is heartwarming to see an employee, in between her hectic schedule, and continuous prioritizing, remain empathetic to the cat who is so easily bored in the cage.


Have a comment?  Suggestion? 
Then visit our feedback page and tell us what's on your mind!

  Home SRAS Pets Make a Donation Come Visit Us Email Us