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Special Needs Animals 

Help Us Give These Very Special Pets a 2nd Chance At Life

The animals featured here are some of the hundreds who have treatable but costly illnesses and injuries that Homeward Trails rescues every year. We have limited resources and must make life and death decisions weekly. Too often, these animals are left behind in shelters simply due to cost. We need extra help to take in animals whose care will cost more and for animals who may be with us longer as they recover.

Your sponsorship of an animal will save a life in real time. Every donation helps save a life.

Please, consider a tax-deductible donation today to help these animals. They deserve a 2nd chance at life. And together, we can give them that.

 
MarleyPuppy-Parvo

MARLEY & HER PUPS

Whole family struck by deadly parvovirus!

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Poor Marley and her 3 adorable pups were discarded in a rural community and thankfully found and taken in by a loving person. We thought they were on to better days when we secured the funds to transport them. But this family arrived yesterday and all 4 were sent to the emergency vet with PARVO. 

Parvo can kill. But it can also be treated – it’s just very expensive. But we will always try. So far we are hoping this entire family will pull through. Our expenses are over $3,000 – but we SO feel they are worth it. PLEASE donate and SHARE.

Izzy

IZZY

Izzy can barely stand up!

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We don’t know what’s wrong with Izzy, but we need answers fast. In the several months before coming to us, Izzy was at best unsteady on her feet and during bad spells barely able to walk to her food or litter box. She would fall over or be unable to stand long enough to pee or poop. She couldn’t climb into a litter box or join her brother upstairs in the home they were living in. When she arrived she was unkempt and in pain. We rushed her to the vet for some initial tests, but without sponsorship we can’t say yes to the more extensive (and expensive) tests she’s going to need to get to the bottom of what’s going on. They have been able to rule out a couple of things, but we’re currently left with more questions than answers. So far, the vet believes she can have a good quality of life if we can figure out what’s casing her issues. 

Through it all, she’s been purring and doing her best to get to her caregivers for pets. Please help us get her the care and diagnostics she needs – before it’s too late.

IMG_3481

MAX

Senior Max needs some major TLC!

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Max recently arrived to us from a rural shelter where he ended up after his owner passed away. Max himself is a senior boy. We don’t have any medical history on him, we don’t know if he’s ever had blood work or x-rays. Diagnostics that are critical for older animals to know if he has any underlying conditions such as kidney disease, painful arthritis, or thyroid issues. At 15 years old, we want to make sure Max has everything he needs to make the most of his golden years. Please help cover the cost of getting him into the best shape possible to be ready for adoption.

Nessa

NESSA

Nessa is incredibly sick

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Nessa arrived at Homeward Trails and within a few days, she was struggling to breath, very lethargic, and refusing to eat. These were all very bad signs – signs that her heartworm disease was so far advanced it could be fatal.

The vet determined that there was a bundle of worms blocking portions of her heart and taxing her body to the point the vet wasn’t sure she would survive. It’s likely Nessa has been suffering for years because she never received treatment. 

To give her the best chance to live, Nessa needs injections of medication to help destroy the worms and allow the clog to pass. We’re hoping this will also lessen the burden on her heart and lungs and that her breathing will return to normal. She’s still coughing and has little appetite. We will need to continue to provide her supportive care if she’s going to make it.

Please support Nessa’s treatment so we can hopefully get her into recovery. She’s still in really rough shape and needs all the help she can get.

More News from the Trail!

  • Saving 200 Lives – Our Biggest Event Ever!

    We are SAVING 200 LIVES THIS WEEK!!  Our biggest event ever! This time next week we have TWO Trails UP teams hitting the roads to save lives in this unprecedented effort! And we need your support to make it happen. We are sooo excited!! And to make it more fun for everyone, this effort is part of our Quarterly Raffle. For each $100 donor, we pick one winner at random to win a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal. 120 DOGS WILL BE STERILIZED….. “I love this dog that wandered up to my house. But I’ve got a female dog inside and this dog is not neutered. The cost of getting him neutered is more than I can afford. But I hate to take him to the shelter. So for now I have to keep him chained up. If I can get him neutered and vaccinated then he can live indoors with us. I would love for him to be a real part of our family.” – Mr. Jenkell For the first time ever, Homeward Trails has organized a 120-dog spay/neuter event in Galax, VA, one of our most favorite Trails UP communities. We will be traveling to Galax where we have been working for months to secure 120 dogs who desperately need neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. These animals are loved but have owners who simply cannot afford their surgery. Without this event many would face becoming pregnant and ending up in the local shelter with puppies. Or possibly facing a life on a chain. This is no way for a family to live.  As much of our Trails UP spay/neuter efforts have focused on cats due transport options and surgical availability, our hearts have been hurting as we see the shelters filling up with dogs & puppies and so many people desperately wanting to get their dogs neutered. And so we have been working overtime to put together this major event. We will be partnering with several groups to bring a mobile unit to Galax and bring these lifesaving and lifechanging services to these dogs. We cannot WAIT. Every dog will be neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. And we hope to send all home with dog food, flea/tick meds and for those who need it – a dog house! The cost to us for this event comes to $120/dog  – as we are providing these services totally free to the community. PLEASE consider sponsoring a dog for this event and allowing us to truly change the life of a dog and the people who love him/her. A donation of any amount will truly make a difference! 80 CATS WILL BE STERILIZED The second half of our Trails UP team will be heading to Buchanan County to do free spay/neuter and Trap-Neuter-Return for 80 cats. The number of cat lives that will be saved from preventing unwanted kittens is often totally hard to digest. It’s HUGE. Just last month, we spayed almost 25 early pregnant cats – you can see how many lives that saved through prevention. It also means the world to the human caretakers of these kitties who so often struggle to feed their own families let alone the dozens of cats they care for. We will spend 5 days in the field working with community members in this very under-resourced communities. We will set traps in trailer parks, in yards and barns, on decks and in gardens – wherever we can – to get 80 cats sterilized, vaccinated and microchipped.    This will require not only 36 hours of trapping but more than 10 additional hours of driving to and from our surgical clinic. Our van will be loaded up with 80 cats (the very most we can fit) to make the 3.5 hour one-way trip to the surgical center. This is a huge undertaking each time we do it. But with no affordable large-scale spay/neuter clinics close by, we take what we can get. Our team is so dedicated! And so over a short period of just 5 days, we will sterilize, vaccinate and microchip 200 animals in two separate but equally under-resourced communities. And we are SO EXCITED. Please sponsor a dog or cat at just $100 and you can be a winner of a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal.

  • Helping Happy Hounds – Fee Waived Adoptions for All Hounds

    As you may or may not know, Virginia animal shelters are filled with Hounds. These amazing dogs are most often discarded by callous hunters, found starving wandering the countryside. Many never make it as hunters and are then tied up to chains or left along the side of the road like old furniture. A good number of them do not make it out of shelters alive.But these dogs – like all dogs – are amazing and worthy of families. We just cannot get them families fast enough to stop them from dying in our shelters when there is no more space.And so we are trying something new here. ALL HOUND DOGS ADOPTED FROM HOMEWARD TRAILS WILL BE FREE. Yes, we are WAIVING ADOPTION FEES for Hounds for the foreseeable future.We hope that will entice well-matched applicants to consider a Hound now. Use the money you save on training, treats, toys.We think all dogs are worthy. But the reality is that some take extra incentives. Some have more barriers to getting adopted. And the result is well, more end up dying. And no – this does NOT mean we are just giving dogs away. All applicants will still go through our application/screening process to ensure good homes. This is just us trying to save more dogs by eliminating one more barrier to adoption. And hey, Hound lovers can use all the extra money they can get to buy treats, right?Help us help these Hounds. Our program Helping Happy Hounds is live NOW. Let’s save some lives!

More News from the Trail!

  • Saving 200 Lives – Our Biggest Event Ever!

    We are SAVING 200 LIVES THIS WEEK!!  Our biggest event ever! This time next week we have TWO Trails UP teams hitting the roads to save lives in this unprecedented effort! And we need your support to make it happen. We are sooo excited!! And to make it more fun for everyone, this effort is part of our Quarterly Raffle. For each $100 donor, we pick one winner at random to win a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal. 120 DOGS WILL BE STERILIZED….. “I love this dog that wandered up to my house. But I’ve got a female dog inside and this dog is not neutered. The cost of getting him neutered is more than I can afford. But I hate to take him to the shelter. So for now I have to keep him chained up. If I can get him neutered and vaccinated then he can live indoors with us. I would love for him to be a real part of our family.” – Mr. Jenkell For the first time ever, Homeward Trails has organized a 120-dog spay/neuter event in Galax, VA, one of our most favorite Trails UP communities. We will be traveling to Galax where we have been working for months to secure 120 dogs who desperately need neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. These animals are loved but have owners who simply cannot afford their surgery. Without this event many would face becoming pregnant and ending up in the local shelter with puppies. Or possibly facing a life on a chain. This is no way for a family to live.  As much of our Trails UP spay/neuter efforts have focused on cats due transport options and surgical availability, our hearts have been hurting as we see the shelters filling up with dogs & puppies and so many people desperately wanting to get their dogs neutered. And so we have been working overtime to put together this major event. We will be partnering with several groups to bring a mobile unit to Galax and bring these lifesaving and lifechanging services to these dogs. We cannot WAIT. Every dog will be neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. And we hope to send all home with dog food, flea/tick meds and for those who need it – a dog house! The cost to us for this event comes to $120/dog  – as we are providing these services totally free to the community. PLEASE consider sponsoring a dog for this event and allowing us to truly change the life of a dog and the people who love him/her. A donation of any amount will truly make a difference! 80 CATS WILL BE STERILIZED The second half of our Trails UP team will be heading to Buchanan County to do free spay/neuter and Trap-Neuter-Return for 80 cats. The number of cat lives that will be saved from preventing unwanted kittens is often totally hard to digest. It’s HUGE. Just last month, we spayed almost 25 early pregnant cats – you can see how many lives that saved through prevention. It also means the world to the human caretakers of these kitties who so often struggle to feed their own families let alone the dozens of cats they care for. We will spend 5 days in the field working with community members in this very under-resourced communities. We will set traps in trailer parks, in yards and barns, on decks and in gardens – wherever we can – to get 80 cats sterilized, vaccinated and microchipped.    This will require not only 36 hours of trapping but more than 10 additional hours of driving to and from our surgical clinic. Our van will be loaded up with 80 cats (the very most we can fit) to make the 3.5 hour one-way trip to the surgical center. This is a huge undertaking each time we do it. But with no affordable large-scale spay/neuter clinics close by, we take what we can get. Our team is so dedicated! And so over a short period of just 5 days, we will sterilize, vaccinate and microchip 200 animals in two separate but equally under-resourced communities. And we are SO EXCITED. Please sponsor a dog or cat at just $100 and you can be a winner of a $350 Amazon gift card, a custom dog or cat goody basket and 2 free tickets to our Chili Bingo event in the fall – winner to be chosen as soon as we meet our $ goal.