Pound Rescue is finding many of its cats and dogs are staying in foster homes for extended periods of time — much longer than the Okotoks-based organization would like — as adoptions have unfortunately slowed this year.
“We've had dogs in for a year that are still with us and we've had cats with us for a year and a half,” said Rosa Kurtz, who has been a member of Pound Rescue’s board for more than two decades. “It's really gotten slower for sure, but it's like that for all rescues.”
Pound Rescue is one of seven local charitable organizations that will receive funding from this year’s Western Wheel Cares campaign.
Kurtz said the rescue hasn’t been able to take in as many dogs and cats as it would like due to a lack of foster homes coupled with the aforementioned slowdown in adoptions.
“If you can’t adopt out, you can’t bring in new ones, which makes it a little tougher, that’s for sure,” she said. “We just don’t have enough fosters to handle everything.”
Pound Rescue doesn’t have a facility, so all animals in its care — about 25 dogs and more than 100 cats at the moment — are housed in foster homes, which have all their expenses covered.
Like any non-profit, the organization, which is run entirely by volunteers, is stretched financially, spending as much as 90 per cent of its budget on vet bills.
“We just got in a dog with a dislocated hip, so we’ve got a vet bill for that one,” said Kurtz. “We got another one that we’re not sure what’s wrong, but it’s got a lump on its back and torn ears. There's another bill, so within a day, I’ve got two unexpected vet bills.”
She said money from Wheel Cares is more than likely going to cover future vet bills.
“Vets aren’t going to say pay me in dog food, as much as we’d love it,” Kurtz joked.
Pound Rescue also incurs costs with a spay and neuter program it runs to stop the breeding cycle among feral cats in Magrath where it has financed in the neighbourhood of 400 operations since launching the initiative.
Kurtz, who has fostered close to 600 dogs and 300 cats over the last 20 years, said there’s always something or some animal in need, so the rescue has to pick and choose where it can help.
“Wheel Cares has been such a great support to us over the years and we are so very grateful to once again be recipients of it,” she said. “I think it’s awesome you do this every year. That support is so important, but it (the campaign) also raises awareness for us.
"We’ve been here for 25 years but some people don’t know we exist.”
In addition to Pound Rescue, Foothills Country Hospice, Inclusion Foothills, Foothills Advocacy in Motion, Okotoks Food Bank, Rowan House Society and Sheep River Health Trust will benefit from the 2022 Western Wheel Cares campaign.
This year’s campaign runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 and 100 per cent of donations go to the featured charities.
In 2021, Western Wheel Cares raised a record $72,107, pushing its 10-year total to $486,389.
Each week, the Wheel will feature one of the charities receiving money from the campaign.
To donate to Western Wheel Cares, mail cheques to Box 150, Okotoks, AB, T1S 2A2 or visit Western Wheel Cares - OkotoksToday.ca.
As well, you can drop by the Wheel office at 9 McRae St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch) weekdays or call 587-325-6234.
