"Twelve Degrees"

Here is some video of the East St. Louis Feedings.  A blustering 12 degrees outside and lots of pups waiting for their Angel (PJ).  Still no sign of Dribble, which makes us all very sad.  He was next on the list to be rescued, so keep all of your fingers and paws crossed that he will reappear.  The last week has brought us 8 puppies, beautiful Goldens, and the rescue of Veronica, the mom who just gave birth to 11 puppies.  

We also received a $10,000 grant from St. Louis Community Foundation, for which we are incredibly grateful.  And although we didn't win the Sweepstakes, the "Blind Cat Rescue" group that did snag the grand prize donated $ 500.00 of treats and toys that they could not use to us!  Thank you Blind Cat Rescue!  Purina One also gave us 1900 pounds of food!  We are so grateful to all of your support.  Times are tough right now, and that generally filters down to rescues as well.  Just when more people are "dumping" their dogs, the funds usually dry up.  Thank you to all who are helping these kids get off the frigid streets.  Once again, I encourage anyone who has an interest in seeing what PJ actually does every single day, to contact us for an opportunity to accompany GPG in our daily feedings. You will be inspired! And there is still time to wish PJ a Happy Birthday.  Please see our Birthday Challenge and maybe you can give a little bit of your heart to "PJ's Birthday Challenge".  And don't forget to mark your calendars for March 24th, "3rd Annual Pasta for Pets" event and April 30th, "2nd Annual Tees & Tails and Wine & Wags" events.

Desi and Danielle

Here is a video of the last rescues of the year, Desi & Danielle.  Desi is one of P.J.'s favorites and I think she would like to exchange one of her "stinker" dogs in for Desi!  If you would like to meet P.J.'s pick, then give us a holler and we will arrange a time and place.  Desi is full of life and a big lover.  Danielle was a "surprise" child, as that morning we weren't looking for any more of Dribble's puppies.  But alas, one was hanging out in this abandoned house with Dribble, Desi, Wolfgang.

In the immediate future we are hoping to rescue Veronica, who had just given birth to 11 puppies, and Dribble, who has lived on the streets his whole life and is just the biggest teddy bear you can imagine.  We need all of your good energy since it's been a few days since we have seen Dribble.  Once we do see him, it will take some luck and perseverance to rescue him.

Winter time is always difficult as it's really hard watching these kids be outside in brutally cold weather.  If you are wondering if you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding yes.  You may have a space in your home, garage, basement to temporarily house someone, you make help take kids to adoption events, you may help with vet transportation, you may help lead a "dog food drive" at you workplace, you may send our updates to all of your friends and family, you may adopt instead of buy, you may ride along with PJ so you have a better understanding of what GPG does every single day of the year, you may buy calendars and our documentary for gifts.  The list goes on.  But yes, you can help.  Please don't feel like anything you give can be insignificant, be it time or money.  The only reason we are able to do these rescues is because of our fans who help these kids find forever homes.  Everyone one of us plays an integral part in the futures of these homeless animals.

Kids that STILL need homes: Kealy (to help your NY's resolution for a skinny butt), "Boise the Bestest Border Collie", Sonny the Precious Pitbull, and Casey the Cat. And of course all of our other animals are at the Gateway Pet Guardians Website.  We are also extending P.J.'s Birthday Challenge throughout the month of January because we know December was a busy month for everyone!  Thank you to Lindsay, Kati, Bethany, Larry, Jen, Erin, Nancy and April for giving to P.J.'s Birthday Challenge.  We will updating our list soon!

The Capture of "Casey The Cat"

Yeah!  Casey finally made it off of the streets but now he has yet another journey.  He tested FIV positive. While this is not a death sentence by any means, he is going to need to find parents that aren't freaked out by this.  Often someone won't know their cat is FIV until he is old and getting tested for something else.  This can affect their immune systems.  They can live 3 years or 20 years.  But the most important thing is that he is strictly an indoor cat where he won't be exposed to lots of parasites, viruses, colds, outside.


If he is given a holistic diet and lots of love he has a great shot at life.  FIV is spread between cats by bite wounds.  Not general play.  I actually ended up with an FIV+ kitty about a year ago and knew nothing about it so was pretty concerned.  The other disturbing fact I learned is that if a cat has been given a vaccination against FIV,  then he will ALWAYS test positive for the virus.  To date there is no reliable test to see whether a cat has FIV or only has been vaccinated against FIV.  Most likely Casey was not vaccinated against FIV, but just a "heads up" to people that is such a "gray" issue.  I joined an FIV yahoo group and found out that pretty much everyone there keeps their FIV cats with their other cats. You generally would not keep cats together that were actually biting each other anyhow.  Just things to think about.  Of course it is just an individual decision, but just wanted people to realize that a lot of people keep all of their cats together with no problems.

And of course if you have no cats now, then this isn't even an issue!  But we do want to leave Casey's options open.  Maybe some of you have FIV kids already and would be willing to welcome him in your home either temporarily or forever.  This guy is just a doll.  He has been begging PJ for his rescue day for months now and we just want to find someone great to welcome Casey to the Gateway family.
Can you help?

And don't forget PJ's Birthday Challenge.