Here we are, The Paw Posse™, a rag-tag group of Tim and Jenny and their 4 cats: Lou, Sparky, Babette & Stormy Lafitte. 

We need funds at the shelter. Shelter life is going strong. We need to get the coffers up. Seems that 80%+ of the funds goes to vet bills and training. We're doing goood work there. We have programs in place that work. TNR, petfood pantry, custodial program, forever foster, rescue readers, free microchipping and rabies clinic, and more on the horizon.

If you want our history with the shellter, take a look at these links from prior years:

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/tim-breitberg/trotfortails

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/tim-breitberg/trotfortails2017

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/tim-breitberg/Trick-or-Treat-Trot-for-Tails-Walkathon-2018

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/tim-breitberg/trotfortails2019

Tim, papa to The Paw Posse™.

Jenny, mama of The Paw Posse™

We volunteer at the Evanston Animal Shelter.  Thursday night shift on the cat side (Jenny also Tuesday).

We have been with the Evanston Animal Shelter Association since it's inception.

The shelter is a good place to volunteer.

We need to raise some funds in order to keep the shelter running smoothly and enable us to keep doing the great work we do in the community.

The Paw Posse™ consists of four cats, 3 of which spent time in the Evanston Animal Shelter.

Here are their stories as told by papa:

Sparky's story-

Sparky is a 9 year old domestic shorthair cat with a storied past. He used to live with a homeless man who would use him to solicit donations in front of the CVS in Evanston on Sherman. The cat was malnourished and not in the best health. The homeless man had a health issue and when he was taken in to the hospital, Sparky was brought into the shelter. I think he was named Sparky at the shelter due to the shift supervisor passing the famous Sparky's Snack Shop on Oakton on the way into the shelter. Sparky's former owner tried to get him back and even went to the vet that was taking care of him and begged money from everyone in the reception area, they brought him out and the man took the cat and money and ran out of the vet's office. A vet tech chased him down and grabbed the cat back. What an ordeal! Sparky took to shelter life quick. He would eat, use the litter, and play with toys all he wanted. He always kept himself entertained. He was a loving boy to anyone that spent time with him. After 18 months as a shelter volunteer, my wife Jenny finally succombed and wanted to bring him home. We were at capacity in the house with 4 and I was hoping the fabled adoption counselor Chris Irwin would tell us "no" and that'd be it. Boy was I wrong. I went in with Jenny to talk with Chris and she handed me Sparky in a carrier and said "here you go". We had 5. Our youngest cat Louis was 2, the rest of the cats in the house were in their teens, so Lou had no one to play with. Sparky won me over real quick. I won't lie. A sweet sweet cat with a bit of nerviousness that just gives so much love and my life is just better with him. 

A joke within the house has been that after 3 years in the house as a cat, you get your own cat. Louis got Sparky. After 3 years...Sparky gets Babette.

Babette's Story-

Babette came into the shelter as a tiny kitten in November 2015 and was named "Snooker". Already 2 years into the new regime at the shelter, things are humming along nicely. A week or so into her stay it was noticed that her tail was extremely damaged. I don't know if it happened on shift as an accident or before she got to the shelter. I don't like to think about it. All I saw was a poor grey kitten with a bandage, and Jenny asked me if we could consider fostering her so she could heal easier and socialize. I thought it was a great idea, as we were down to 3 cats in the house (age happens) and I didn't want to adopt a cat right now. We brought her home and set her up in the bathroom and awaited vet results on the tail damage. A week later the results were in and the damage had exposed bone and the tail would need to be amputated. The vet said that she would take 4 vertebra from the tail, 2 of the exposed damaged ones and the next 2 down, so that the skin could fold under and close up nice. Early December the amputation happens. That's where the fun begins. Every time she had opportunity to attack her tail bandage, she would. Violently. She got bandages off, popped stitches, got blood all over my walls and floors. It was a nightmare. Regular emergency vet visits, regular vet visits. Very stressful. It turns out they suspected nerve damage was the cause of this behaviour and they would have to amputate more tail. Online research and forums brought me to the realization that they might have to take the whole tail. Loss of sleep, stress, all kinds of terrible thoughts went through my head, it was February, I had fallen in love with this cat, but I wasn't sure I had the fortitude to stay with her through a second amputation recovery with the thought of a possible third on the horizon. We'd been to the vet weekly, the emergency vet knew us by name due to frequent "oh, it's midnight and you just fell asleep, well, I need to rip at my tail alittle more and shriek, wanna get up and take me to get rebandaged again?". It was tearing at my sanity. Finally we decided to stick through it, as we already knew the worst that could happen, I was getting adept at rebandaging her at 2am without waking Jenny. We can do this. So, they took off some more tail. I was upset. It wasn't as much as I thought, she still has some tail, but I just felt awful about this poor cat who'd basically spent her entire life in a safety cone. The second operation seemed to be the charm, the nerve damage looked like it was gone. But Babette was still attacking her tail. Shelter director Vicky arranged to have an animal behaviorist who was doing work for enrichment on the shelter animals to visit and see if the tail attacking was something that could be solved by a behaviorist. A therapist for a cat in my home? Are you serious? That sounds crazy. So, I agree to have this happen. Val comes in for a 3 hour session. Assesses the situation and starts us off with a simple plan for working with the cat, giving her better supervised off cone time, distraction techniques, and other stuff. Less than a week later a huge dossier of Babette's treatment plan is delivered and we start working in earnest on changing her behavior. 2 months in I start noticing a marked improvement. 3 months in the cone came off for good. After almost 8 months of living with a soft cone, and 9 months of being alive, the cone came off for good. Thank you Val! (If you need an animal behaviorist for anything, I can give you her info, I cannot believe how well it worked.) Sometimes when you talk to people about fostering an animal, you hear the term "failed foster". A failed foster is where the foster family decides they can't not have that animal in their lives and adopt it for themselves. Welcome to the Paw Posse™, Babette.

It's now 5 years with Babette, but she's not getting her own cat. (We keep telling ourselves that, and work hard to adopt out any Paw Posse™ potentials.) XD

Except, she did! Meet our newest cat, Stormy LaFitte, our Covid-19 emotional support cat.

When Jenny started working from home, we talked about joining our community and fostering a cat. I knew, I just knew, that we’d end up failing, and adopt the cat. I thought about how to stop this nonsense, so a few days later, I told Jenny I wanted to hold out for the hardest of cats to adopt out: A single black kitten. We needed to kitten to keep status quo in the house, single black cats are hard to adopt out. Babette needed the energy of a kitten to cure her boredom, which was activating her symptoms of FHS. 

We talked about this Friday. Monday Jenny text me a picture of a fluffy black kitten.

We need some bucks to fund this greatness. Skip your fancy coffee for 2 days and bring a thermos from home. Skip the Subway footlong, and grab a pack of ramen and make a pb&j. Let's get this $5 going. $5 would be great. Honor Fiona's memory with a sawbuck. 

*** The Trot for Tails Virtual 5k fundraiser has ended. Thank you for all of your support! ***

If you would like to make further donations, please go to our main donation site here: Make A Donation

OUR MISSION

We give companion animals the best chance at the life they deserve through rehabilitation, foster care, adoption and community support that keeps pets with the people who love them. 

We operate out of a 2800 square foot facility caring for an average of 650 animals per year. We are very proud of our 97% save rate. With a commitment to serving our socio-economically diverse community, our support programs expand our reach beyond this tiny footprint.

Our Pet Food and Supply Pantry has become even more important during this difficult time. We are currently providing more than 1,000 pounds of food weekly to owners in need. Rather than having to surrender a beloved pet, our Custodial Program offers animal care free-of-charge when people are facing a short-term housing crisis. Our Senior Safety Net Program helps seniors on a fixed income cover the costs of routine medical care for their pets.  

We cannot do this alone. That’s why we're asking you to join us as we continue to care for animals and people in our community. They need us now more than ever.

PARTICIPATION IS SIMPLE:

1. Donate directly here OR
2. Join the Trot and have fun! Create your own fundraising page. The first 100 participants receive a free Keep Calm and Trot On bandana
3. Reach out to your family & friends to virtually participate together
4. Run, walk, bicycle, blade or paddle. "Race Day" can take place any time you choose between August 10th and 16th
5. Post on social media, #TrotOn
   • Go to our store to purchase a bandana (first 100 registrants get 1 free bandana)

Have fun. Be safe. Support a great cause. All proceeds go to the Evanston Animal Shelter.