Pet Talk

Cathy Davis, Special to The County
8 years ago

As you all know, the time is fast approaching for you to register and license your dogs and in order to do that they must be up to date on their rabies shots. To that end, the Houlton Humane Society will be hosting a Rabies Clinic Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Littleton Fire Department. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. you may bring your dogs, and cats.

Please make sure all dogs are on a leash and all cats are in carriers. The cost is $15 for a one-year rabies vaccination, $15 for a one-year distemper/parvo vaccination, $20 for a three-year rabies vaccination and $20 for a three-year distemper/lepto/one-year parvo vaccination. Please note that only cash or checks are accepted, we will not be able to process credit or debit cards.

Other upcoming projects include the following: Our Shoe Drive will be ongoing until Thanksgiving. Original deadline passed but the coaching team from WoofTrax is unable to come collect the shoes until after the holidays giving us additional time. The goal was 2,500 pair of lightly used or new shoes, we have collected over 1,500 pair, that’s an amazing mountain of shoes but in order to reach our goal and earn a full $1,000, we need another 1,000 pair. That’s a lot of shoes but I think we have only scratched the surface of what is out there.

Maybe this weekend could be the weekend you dig through your closets and find that last pair, I know I have two pair I haven’t put in the box yet and I’ve been involved in this program since Day One. So, there, we only need 998 more pair!

Please drop your shoes off at one of the following locations: Houlton town office, Varney Agency, New Limerick town office, Hogan Tire, Machias Savings Bank or the animal shelter.

There is also a bottle drive going on during the month of November. We are asking that you drop your returnable bottles off at the shelter or the Varney Agency (76 North Street) and a team will see that these get to the redemption center.

On Dec. 8 there is a movie night at the Temple Cinema, “Fantastic Beasts” — welcome to the Wizarding World before Harry Potter ‚Ä“ this is a matinee night and a percentage of popcorn sales will go to the shelter and you will be welcome to make any additional gift you wish, donation buckets will be available. We really appreciate the Temple doing this for us.

Currently, there is a Scentsy fundraiser ongoing. Custom warmers with the Shelter logo are available for just $25 which includes the warmer, one bar of whatever scent you choose and a bag. If you need yours mailed, the cost for shipping is $6. This event is sponsored by Tammy Barnhart and she needs orders in lots of 12. Right now she needs two more orders, you can find the details on our facebook page.

One of the ongoing events is an online auction — you go to our Facebook page, scroll down on the left and click on photos and then bring up the online auction album. There are over 100 items to bid on and the auction will run until Nov. 27 at midnight. Winners will be announced and you can pick up your items locally or we will ship.

This is an outstanding opportunity to purchase Christmas gifts for pennies on the dollar. A gorgeous hand-crafted quilted purse, brand new items with the tags still on them, some gently used, primitive decor, even a bubble gum machine, all can be yours.

We recently had an original work of art donated to us, we will be preparing raffle tickets for this and will have those for sale soon, stay tuned for this event.

It has been an exciting time with a large donation coming in from Dunkin Donuts. Many animals being adopted out, lots of fundraising going on, and an atmosphere of joy, you can feel it in the air — the change — everybody at the shelter smiling all the time, almost giddy with delight each time a sweet precious animal goes to their forever home. Working hard to care for them each and every day and then handing them over to their new mommies and daddies, hoping that by the holidays every shelter resident will be in a warm loving home. That’s the goal for today, homes for all, by Christmas. Help us meet that goal!

The Houlton Humane Society open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is located on 263 Callaghan Road, Houlton. Officials can be reached at 532-2862 or via email at HoultonAdoptsAPet@gmail.com.