Where does your money & donations go?

People sometimes ask us where their donations go... It is easy to quickly say 25 vaccines run about $300 (and puppies alone get 3 sets of vaccines) or a box of microchips is over $200... Or that our electricity bill each month is always over $1,000+... 

Someone told me last week I should actually post photos of some of our expenses so folks could actually see for themselves the kinds of monies TLC puts out to take care of these 'last chancers' in order for them to find their own furever home... 

While this is not a typical food run because we needed to replenish our Vetricyn wound treatment along with the ear and eye washes we use routinely.  

But is not that far off from what we spend every 10 days... So deduct about $100 and you'll see where your donations go to three times a month!   And you don't even want to see our vet bills!

This is why each and EVERY little donation means so very much to us...

THANK YOU for supporting No-Kill at TLC!

Major shout-out to GS troop 60683!

Tonia and Girl Scout Troop #60683 have been big supporters of TLC and the cause... The girls came in faithfully and helped us socialize the Yucca Valley dogs we saved from the horrible hoarding situation... 

And then they gathered a HUGE amount of donations from our wish list... And it was Christmas in May when they brought all the donations into the rescue shop... It tickled me later when I was putting away a bottle of fabric softener so I just had to post this!

WAY TO GO, TROOP #60683 AND THANK YOU!

BIG THANKS!

BIG THANKS and appreciation goes out to Teri C., a supporter of TLC for many years.  Recently she found a rebate on Hill's Ideal Balance dog kibble for up to $12.99.  And as Unleashed sells the bag for $11.99, she bought a bag, brought it to the shop and then applied for the refund... 

Talk about a deal, huh?  Help to save a dog and provide food, but it really doesn't cost you anything but the time and effort to buy the food and send in your receipt.

In case you'd like to do the same thing, this is where the rebate info is located:  http://www.hillspet.com/ideal-balance/ideal-balance-dog-food.html#5  and the actual form is here:  http://www.hillspet.com/pdf/en-us/IB_DOG_REBATE_2013_v2.pdf

THANK YOU, TERI C...
OUR DOGS LUV YA
FOR YOUR SUPPORT
AND EFFORTS IN
SAVING THEIR LIVES!

The young die early

We are CONSTANTLY asked "Why so many Chihuahuas?" at the rescue shop and we always respond (pretty much) the same way - "Because TLC concentrates on the small dog breeds that are being killed at our local shelters or on tomorrow's kill list... "... I myself add another comment to this - "These are all dead dogs and puppies walking that you see here - every one of these little ones was scheduled to die..."

Some people shake and shudder, express disgust or horror and then eventually work their way around the circle in the rescue shop and leave, leaving behind the horror we TLCers deal with day in, and day out.

The general public believes if they take either a mom with pups or just the pups to their local shelter, they are insuring these canines live... It couldn't be further from the truth... Under California law it is LEGAL to kill any animal that cannot be spayed or neutered and then be adopted... Shelters do not have the capabilities to set aside a place for a mom to stay, give birth or to raise their young until the litter can be spayed or neutered.  A litter without a mom must be bottle fed, and the mortality rate is very high despite anything and everything someone (or a rescue does).

This litter was taken into the San Bernardino shelter and killed on Saturday, May 11th.

According to the email I got,  "We look at this box of tiny puppies, their eyes not even open yet, and we ooh and aah and delight in their cuteness and innocence. They are adorable, sweet, and have their whole lives ahead of them...or not. In reality their lives have already ended thanks to a cruel and inhumane policy recently put into place at the increasingly deadly San Bernardino City Shelter. In what could be called their most callous, hateful move to date, shelter supervisors have declared that they will no longer allow staff or volunteers to contact rescues to save underage puppies or kittens dumped at the shelter without their mothers. If a rescue is present at the time the babies are impounded the rescue can take them, but if no rescue is there the puppies or kittens will be taken to the back and immediately killed."

This is REALITY, folks...

At TLC, we always take in any mother pregnant or with a litter and will find or make room because we know two things - 1) That mother didn't ask to be pregnant and it is through the stupidity of humans she is in the situation she is and 2) If TLC has enough time, space and money, these puppies and mom will grow up to an adoptable state in 2- 2 1/2 months, be spayed or neutered and fulfill the constant demand from the general public for puppies instead of adopting an adult dog that more desperately needs a furever home and has a greater chance of being left behind and not adopted.

It is simply fulfilling the law of supply and demand, and we hope by having puppies available for adoption, we will lower the inbound volumes of puppymill puppies being shipped into our state once a week from the 10 puppymill states around the country.

So the next time you walk through the rescue shop and leave without putting a few coins in our donation box.... Or ignore our plea for financial help to do what we do, remember what these little ones were like before legally they were killed on Saturday...    

Recycle for Rescue - Update

Recycle4Rescue

With the recycling efforts of the past 6 weeks (and especially all of Carol's contributions to the cause!), we were able to take enough recycling to the center to actually save the life of one dog!

That means for all of the plastic, glass and aluminum cans that WERE going in the trash for the past 6 weeks but were brought to us, a little wee's one life was saved... Rexa was spayed, her vaccines were updated, she received her rabies shot and was microchipped... with the $171.26 we received back from turning it all in!

Simply because folks took the time to collect their clean recycling and drop it off at the rescue shop, we were all (as a community) able to save that dog's life!... Pretty amazing, huh?   Almost like the Phoenix rising up out of the ashes...

So next time you get ready to throw that plastic water bottle into a trash can, think about a face or two that peers out at you from our website... It was from your recycling efforts we were able to take in this owner surrender, get her up to adoptable standards and find her a furever home!

You can bring your clean recyclables to the rescue shop at 1555 Simi Town Center, #587, Simi Valley, CA seven days a week.  Six of those days, my white pick-up quad dually will be parked in the front of the rescue shop and you can simply leave them in the back of the truck.  On Sundays, just let them know at the rescue shop you have recycling and then drive it around to the back.  If you need a receipt for your recycling, you will need to come into the rescue shop though!

THANK YOU FOR THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX AND RECYCLING FOR RESCUE!

Donate!

TLC is always on the virtual edge of closing down due to financial issues... When adoptions are down, our electric bill doesn't become lower... Vet bills need to be paid for sick dogs in our care... Each pregnant mom or mom with pups come with a large, upfront expense to the rescue - long before those cute, adorable puppies are available for adoption!

The easiest way to insure that TLC doesn't fold and go out of business is to set up a monthly donation to the cause... It is automatic once a month and comes out of your credit card... 

For five less Starbucks' coffee lattes a month (or $25), you can support one healthy adult dog in our care for a month... We are No-Kill, so a dog will stay with us until they find their furever home (unlike county shelters that can legally kill at 5 days or 10 days if there is an owner)...

For $50 a month, it will vaccine, microchip and license one dog in our care, which is part of the TLC adoption package...

For $100 a month, you can bailout and transport a dog from a shelter - saving their life on the spot!  In a year, you yourself can save 12 dogs... think how great that feeling will be!

Sponsor one week's food bill at TLC for all of the dogs in our rescue - $250 a month is not affordable for every one, but if only 4 people did this once a month, you'd allow us to spend that $1,000 for so many other needed items!

A monthly donation of $500 will save one mom and her litter of pups - we'll even ask you to name the puppies after those you love or have lost!

Donate $750 a month and you save one 'hard case'... a dog that was certainly going to die because of their hardship issues... 

Donate $1,000 a month and keep our electricity on and our doors open... Without this, our community loses TLC's ability to do what it does and if we falter in these cause, where do those dogs, pregnant moms and moms with litters go?

And if you can afford to donate $2,000 a month, we periodically are able to send healthy, up-to-date and vetted dogs either up North or the East Coast on transports where these small dogs are highly desired and get adopted immediately!  Between the transport cost, getting health certificates done and crate cost, we can't do this very frequently because of the money we simply don't have laying around when the opportunities present themselves.  But you could be responsible for 10 dogs going onto long lives in other parts of this country that are begging to love one of these little ones.  Pool your resources as a group at your company or church to make one transport a month happen!

Set up your monthly sponsorship below - we guarantee you these dogs and puppies will thank you for saving their lives!

Sincerely,
Linda and the TLC volunteers

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Sponsor 1 month's care : $25.00 USD - monthly Chip, license, vaccinate 1 dog : $50.00 USD - monthly Bailout & save 1 dog : $100.00 USD - monthly Sponsor 1 week's food bill : $250.00 USD - monthly Save a mom & her litter : $500.00 USD - monthly Save 1 "hard case" : $750.00 USD - monthly Sponsor 1 month's electri bill : $1,000.00 USD - monthly Pay for 1 transport : $2,000.00 USD - monthly

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