Spring is a time of year all Minnesotans look forward to after the long cold winter! It’s a time of de-winterizing, spring cleaning, planting, mulching, and Easter festivities. But take heed, many activities and planting agents can harbor toxic or other hazards for your pet such as:

blood meal (can cause vomiting, diarrhea for dogs and can result in severe pancreatitis) bone meal (can cause GI tract obstruction)

herbicides containing glyphosate (causes eye/skin irritation, numb-ness, nausea, elevated blood pressure, and heart palpitations)

N-P-K fertilizers and fertilizers containing disulfoton (an insecticide used against sucking insects, such as aphids, thrips, leafhoppers, spider mites, etc.)

cocoa bean mulch (contains theobromine, which is toxic to pets) iron in common fertilizers can result in iron toxicity Easter lilies (as well as Tiger, Day, Asiatic, and Japanese Show lilies) are

extremely toxic to cats - even as few as 2 or 3 petals or leaves, or the pollen! Initial signs of toxicity are vomiting and lethargy, which can rap-idly progress to kidney failure and death, if left untreated. Contact your veter-inarian immediately if you suspect that your cat has eaten any part of a lily plant!

Easter treats and decorations can also be hazardous to your pet: chocolate is derived from the cacao plant, thus it contains theobro-

mine, a toxic agent for your pet, so guard those chocolate eggs! xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol sweetener added to candies, gum, and in-

creasingly in some baked goods and nut butters, is highly toxic to dogs. Ingestion can lead to hypoglycemia and hepatic necrosis, so be sure to keep any items containing this ingredient well out of reach from your pets!

plastic Easter grass can pose a deadly threat if ingested, as it may cre-ate a “linear foreign body”, leading to vomiting or straining to defe-cate, as well as a painful abdomen. It is not advisable to attempt pull-ing out any visible grass from an animal, especially in cats, as this may cause more damage if the piece is trapped extensively inside the body.

Seasonal Update: Spring

Hope Springs Eternal…. Spring greetings from Southwest Metro Animal Rescue (SMARAS)! As the winter snows are melting away and giving hope to the tender green shoots of a new Spring season, we are likewise forging ahead to help create new hope and opportunities for every homeless pet possible. We greatly appreciate your support of SMARAS over the last year! Remember, whenever you adopt a rescued pet, you give love a second chance...

Inside this issue:

News & Events 2

Dog Corner 3

Cat Corner 4

Second Chance Tails 5

Healthy PAWS 6-7

SMARAS Contacts & Info 8

Southwest Metro Animal Rescue & Adoption Society

TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

Call your vet if your pet has ingested any toxic or foreign body!

Printing services performed by Riverfront Printing

128 Holmes St. South Shakopee, MN 55379

(952) 496-0202 www.riverfrontprinting.com

Dry cat food

Dry dog food

Scoopable cat litter

Food & water dishes

Dog leashes & harnesses

Pet beds

Toys (cat & dog)

Postage stamps

Monetary donations

Copy paper (plain & color)

Blank address labels

Paper towels

SPRING 2016

Donation Wish List

Photo credit: www.trupanion.com

Page 2 TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

Pet Adoption Days

SMARAS’s Pet Adoption Days are held the 2nd Saturday of each month from 11am to 2pm at PetSmart in Eden Prairie (11200 Prairie Lakes Drive, 952-941-4660). If you wish to meet a specific pet, please call ahead of time at 952-368-PAWS (7297) to confirm that the animal will be at the event. A list of our adoptable pets can always be found on our website or look for us on www.petfinder.com!

Upcoming dates March 12, April 9, May 14,

June 11, July 9, Aug. 13

PetSmart Charities Nat’l Adoption Weekend

Fri-Sun, May 13-15, 2016 Eden Prairie PetSmart

Please check our website in early May for a complete schedule of when our animals will be on site.

News & Events

Check Out SMARAS’s Pet of the Week!

Look for SMARAS’s fea-tured pets in our weekly ‘Adoption Options’ ads in these local papers:

Chaska Herald

Eden Prairie News

The Waconia Patriot

A heartfelt thanks to the following individuals who made memorial or special honor donations to SMA-RAS in 2015:

► Jeffrey and Lori G., in memory of Carol Meyer.

► Lizabeth L., in memory of Middy.

► Wendy and Steven E., in memory of Molly.

► Stephen and Diane S., in memory of Todd Pushing.

► Elizabeth P. on honor of her father Todd Pushing.

Silent Auction at the Chaska American Legion (Jan 31) We had a lot of wonderful gifts donated for both products and services alike. The big item was a large gas grill donated by RJ from Home Depot. It took three people to load it into the winner's vehicle!

Wine Tasting at Century Wine and Spirits (Apr 16) Several wine and beer ven-dors brought their wine and beer samples to the wine tasting, with customers and friends of SMARAS attend-ing the event. We also held a raffle for about 50 prizes at the end of the tasting.

River City Days in Chaska (Jul 24-26) SMARAS sported a brand new bright green tent and had LOTS of items for sale at the booth! Our team of expert merchandis-ers laid out tons of costumes to prepare Chaska residents for Halloween. The at-tendees really enjoyed dig-

ging through the fun cos-tumes and buying their fa-vorites for their pets!

Paws on Grand (Aug 2) The dog team of Leanna, Kim, and Marci volunteered their time for the big Paws on Grand event in St. Paul. There were a huge number of dog lovers and cat lovers in attendance!

Eden Prairie Cub Foods Hot Dog Stand “Weenie Wagon” (Sep 18 & 19) SMA-RAS volunteers sold hot dogs, burgers, brats, chips, and soda at the hot dog stand in the park-ing lot of the EP Cub Foods. The volunteers did a great job and even enjoyed a hot dog or two themselves!

Minnetonka Buffalo Wild Wings Fundraiser (Sep 28) SMARAS partici-pated in a fundraiser at BWW by earning a percent-age of all sales by customers bringing in a voucher on that day. Our volunteers distrib-uted the vouchers to mem-bers of the community and also participated in the fund-raiser themselves that day. Marci brought her work team in for lunch and Cristi had dinner at the res-taurant that night.

Eden Prairie Mall Booth (Oct & Nov) SMA-RAS had a booth in the main part of the EP mall across from the movie theater in Oct and a booth in the Holi-day Merry Market on Black Friday. We had great

support from our volunteers and even had some Eden Prairie High School students help out on Black Friday!

Unfortunately a few factors conspired against us so the booth wasn't quite as lucra-tive as we hoped... Our Oct date was gorgeous weather so the mall was pretty empty and Black Friday was not as big of a deal as it used to be, due to the fact that many stores open on Thanksgiving night and many shoppers are just using the web to buy Christmas presents.

We want to thank the other vendors in the Merry Market that helped to sell our items after our booth was closed up on Black Friday. They were very supportive of our cause!

3rd Annual Chili Con-test at the American Le-gion (Nov 14) The Ameri-can Legion in Chaska has been a great supporter of our rescue over the years and their chili contest has been a big hit each year! Members of the legion and other Chaska residents made their best batches of chili and brought them together for a night of competition.

Tasting "judges" paid a fee to test and rate each chili, and a winner was crowned. The best part (beside the awesome chili)? All pro-ceeds went to our rescue! A good time was had by all in attendance.

Page 3………………… TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

SMARAS had a very exciting year in 2015! Our rescue adopted out 64 dogs, which is the most we have ever had in our rescue in one year! The dogs ranged in size from Paloma, our Chihua-hua (coming in at 9 lbs), to Plex, our Newfoundland (weighing in at 126 lbs) - that is a huge variation in sizes. We took in all types of mixed dogs: Cairn Terrier, Coonhound, Beagle, Corgi, Dachshund, Sheltie, Shep-herd, Cattle Dog, Pug, Poo-dle, Labrador, Westie, Jack Russell, Newfoundland, Bor-der Collie, Shar Pei, Boxer, Maltese, Schnauzer, Bichon Frise, Cockapoo, Papillon, Boston Terrier – you name the breed, we will foster!!!

One of the highlights SMA-RAS experienced in 2015 was Puppy-palooza!! All told, we had 17 puppies that all found forever homes, including one pup that was successfully treated for heartworms and is very hap-py in his new home. But probably the biggest puppy story we’ve experienced in a long while was the litter of 11 (yes, that’s eleven) from

Tina, a darling Australian Cattle Dog mix that came to our rescue from a local Na-tive American reservation in Minnesota just days before she gave birth.

Tina was very malnourished and had a BB lodged in one of her ears. You can only imagine our surprise when we heard that this waif of a dog had 11 puppies in her! Given that number, the vet told us to expect that some of her pups would either die, likely be born dead, or just not sur-vive. Nature is amazing though, because all 11 of her pups survived and thrived due to their tenacious moth-er and good veterinary care! We are happy to re-port that the puppies are now in great forever homes.

But Tina’s story didn’t end there, as this tough little gal is facing another challenge in her transition... Although Tina is good with the foster family, their resident dog and a cat, we discovered that she is struggling with fear aggression towards people. She can tolerate various oth-er dogs in the house and plays with her pups when they come to visit, but she gets so nervous with

strangers that she will pre-emptively lash out to bite first before she feels she might be harmed. She has so much anxiety that when a new person comes near her she literally shakes and her breathing gets noticeably louder. Rescues often have only two options with a dog like her, and that is to either get spe-cial training or to eu-thanize. SMARAS opted to get her special training with a behaviorist since less costly methods just didn’t work with her and we did not want to give up on this little survivor. Her training was effective on the issue regard-ing walks, but it didn’t help with the issues in the home, which her behaviorist felt may be due to her lack of socialization as a puppy and perhaps some mistreatment she may have experienced on the reservation.

Fortunately, due to wonder-ful volunteers and a support-ive community, SMARAS was able to raise $2900 (via GoFundMe), which was the amount needed for a board and train program to help Tina work through her stranger fears. This program gave her a very good start in the right direction. She is still in ongoing training but has learned to actually make friends with several peo-ple. That’s right – Tina has people friends! We aren’t going to give up on her!

The Dog Corner Upcoming SMARAS Events:

SMARAS Silent Auction

Love to bid and help a great

cause at the same time?

SMARAS is planning a Si-

lent Auction event at the

Chaska American Legion,

April 30th from 4-8pm! We

would greatly appreciate

donations of nicer, unique,

or one-of-a-kind items for

the silent auction.

Visit our website to find out

emerging details on the fol-

lowing events which benefit

SMARAS’s rescue and

adoption operations.

SMARAS Wine Tasting Event

Get your palette ready to

enjoy some wine and help

SMARAS raise funds! We

will be hosting a wine tast-

ing event at Dolce Vita in

Chaska in June so stay

tuned to the SMARAS web-

site for further details on the

date and time. Come wine a

little!

Page 4 TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

The Cat Corner Happy Spring from Cristi Emerson (SMARAS cat adoption coordinator)!! It has been a very busy time for the Cat Program, as it always is! During 2015, we adopted out 135 cats. Surrender calls are always present as people's life situations change, sometimes quite unexpect-edly. Thus, we are trying to re-home as many ani-mals as possible. We are also partnering with Four Paws, Maple Grove Im-pound (PUPS), and Min-neapolis Animal Care and Control (MACC) to find loving homes for the nu-merous cats that are aban-doned or displaced from their families. One of our favorite suc-cess stories this year has been the happy occasion of finding a wonderful home for Sam and Smile, two bonded sibling cats that have been in our res-cue for years! It is said that patience is a virtue, and for them it certainly rang true! They waited ever patiently to find the 'purr'fect home. They are living the good life together and are so happy to finally have a 'fur'ever home! Our next goal is to adopt out a few long-term cats that continue to be with the rescue due to either behavioral or medical con-

ditions. Halle, Huff and Spot are all looking for a wonderful and loving home to call their own and could use your help to get the word out that they would be grateful to find that forever home! SMARAS is currently re-viewing applications for the cat intake coordinator position. If you are inter-ested in being a part of the totally rewarding and ever-busy cat team, please feel free to inquire at 952-368-PAWS (7297) line 3, or s w m e t r o a n i m a l r e s -cue@hotmail.com, or via www.swmetroanimalrescue.org. As for 2016, we are head-ing into that time of year where there are going to be multitudes of kittens being born that do not have homes. On top of that, there are so many adult cats out there that have been displaced from their homes as well. Wouldn't you like to be a foster home to one of these beautiful souls? We are also looking for fosters, both short and long term for some of our cats. PetSmart has a 48 hour hold policy that is placed on all cats receiving vaccinations, finishing meds, or recovering from a medical procedure, where they are not allowed

in the store until 48 hours after the aforementioned action has been complet-ed. We are in need of short term foster homes that have the capability to hold onto these animals for the hold period, as well as homes to relieve our PetSmart animals from being in the cage for a break to 'stretch their legs.' Long term foster homes are also needed to provide a stable environment for our more love-starved ani-mals that do not feel com-fortable at PetSmart. A foster home can make a world of difference in these animals' lives and give them the much need-ed love that they crave. If you are interested in giving love and attention to one of the wonderful cats or kittens that we have in the rescue, please complete a foster application on the SMARAS web s i t e (www.swmetroanimalrescue.org). Take it from me, fostering is one of the most rewarding experienc-es you will ever have!

SMARAS Pet: Halle

► Sign up to foster, adopt, or volunteer with SMARAS?

Signing up is easy! Just go to the SMARAS website home page at www. swmetroanimalrescue.org and follow the Adoption or Volunteer links. Com-plete the form online and click “Submit”. Really, it is that simple!

► Donate to SMARAS?

Donate items on our Wish List

Monetary donation

Donate items to our Garage Sale

SMARAS’s website now features a link to PayPal for a quick & easy way to donate - just click & pay!

How Can I …

► Stay informed on SMARAS events?

Want to stay informed about rescue animals and upcoming adopt ion events? Join us on Face-book! Just search for:

SW Metro Animal Rescue

Second Chance Tails

Page 5………………… TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

Y

No Choice A poem written by Maria S.

Fighting for human entertainment

No choice of their own. No chance for love,

Humans took away the choice.

They aim to please And fight to the death,

Or until they are stopped But they have no choice.

Blood and drool

Wounds deep and shallow Silent cries for help, There was no choice.

Growls and snarls

Aggression towards another Battling on the grounds,

No choice to run.

Pain. Gasping pain.

Nowhere to run. He was given no choice…

Fought to the fullest

The battle has come to the end Only one was victor

The choice of life taken away.

Freedom will come From people outside

In the unknown Or from a lost battle.

They are not a lost cause,

They are not naturally vicious They do not fight because they want to

Because they had no choice.

The only fault Was the will to please They had no choice.

The following article is reprinted from onegreen-planet.org, Kristina Pe-pelko (author), copyright 2014.

1) There are about 70 mil-

lion stray animals living in

the U.S.

2) Of this 70 million, only

about 6 to 8 million cats

and dogs enter the na-

tion’s 3,500 shelters every

year , according to

the Humane Society of

the United States.

3) That evens out to about

five homeless animals for

every homeless person in

the U.S, reports DoSome-

thing.org.

4) Out of 6 to 8 million

cats and dogs, one in four

animals brought into shel-

ters are pit bulls or pit-

associated breeds and

mixes – currently the

most (wrongly) marginal-

ized dogs in the U.S. and

many other parts of the

world.

Nina

I adopted Nina on August 9, 2015. I saw her picture on the website and ruled her out as she looked to be too small for me. Then I decided to go to the pet adoption on August 8th in Eden Prairie and was really surprised had how much different she was in person. I sat down and she was right up in my lap. Maybe she chose me, and I am so happy with her. She actually is the same size and weight of my other dog. She is such an affectionate dog and house broken and just a delight to have around. I have another dog that I have had for sev-eral years and we lost her partner in Janu-ary. At first it was tough but she has ac-cepted Nina and is really happy to have a companion again. When I went to the adoption day, everyone was so nice and really thought I would really like Nina. Thanks to all of the volunteers for being so nice and finding Nina for me. I would highly recommend Southwest Metro Ani-mal. I want to thank Jeff for bringing her out to my place and helping me get this wonderful dog. I wish I knew more about her past, she at times is so afraid when I leave that I feel she had some bad days when the people she loved had to leave her. At any rate we are one happy family now. VeeAnn W.

SMARAS’s motto is “Rescue, give love a second chance” and we love to hear and share stories of folks who did just that by adopt-ing from us! We call it ‘Second Chance Tails’...

12 Alarming Facts About Pet Homelessness

Page 6 TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

5 questions to ask yourself before you foster a pet

Fostering can help save lives, but there are things to consider before you commit.

By Laura Moss, MNN.com

Newborn kittens and puppies are often placed in foster homes so they can receive around-the-clock care. (Photo: Sue McDonald/Shutterstock)

(MNN.com) -- Animal shelters are often busy and overcrowded, so it can be diffi-cult for workers to provide every cat and dog with the individual attention they need. Certain animals — such as nursing mothers, newborn puppies and kittens, and those with medical issues — often require more space or personalized care than a shelter can provide. That’s where foster owners come in. The people who volunteer to provide a temporary home for these animals relieve crowding at shelters and care for animals that need special attention. Foster owners also help cats, dogs and other animals adjust to living in a home, and they provide inval-uable information to rescue groups that ensures the animal will be placed in the right forever home.

Healthy PAWS — Pets And Wellness Series These animal-loving volunteers are vital to the success of shelters and rescues, but before you sign up to foster an ani-mal, be sure you’re prepared for what fostering entails by asking yourself these important questions. 1. Do you have time?

Many shelters require foster applicants to attend a training session, and they may also need to conduct a home visit before placing an animal with you.

Once an animal is in your care, it’s your responsibility until the animal is prepared to return to the shelter — and the shelter has space for it. You may be asked to shel-ter an animal for a few days, but those few days could turn into a few weeks or months depending on circumstances. While you likely won’t need to be home all day to care for an animal, you may have to postpone or cancel plans.

Also, keep in mind that there’s more to fostering than simply providing food, wa-ter and attention. The animal in your care may require frequent bottle-feedings, regu-lar walks or grooming. You may also have to housetrain a puppy or work with an ani-mal on behavioral issues, which takes a serious time commitment.

2. Is your entire household on board?

Your family or roommates need to be supportive of your decision to foster, and they should be willing to treat foster animals as part of the family. An im-portant part of fostering is preparing an animal to live in a home environment, so it’s important that everyone in your household be willing to lovingly accept new animals into their daily lives. Also, consider how your own pets will re-act to the introduction of another furry family member. If your cat or dog is pos-sessive of you or has a history of acting out when other animals are around, your home may not be a good fit for a foster animal.

The following article was published online by Mother Nature Network and is reprinted here with permission from Sarah Hicks, MNN.

Copyright © 2016 MNN Holdings

5) The two main reasons

animals end up in shelters

are because they’ve either

been surrendered by their

guardians or picked up off

the street by animal con-

trol officers.

6) Around 10% of animals

entering shelters have

been spayed or neutered,

which is problematic con-

sidering in just 6 years,

one un-spayed female dog

and her offspring can cre-

ate 67,000 dogs and one

un-spayed female cat and

her offspring can produce

420,000 kittens in 7 years,

reports Watatuga Humane

Society.

7) About 30% of shelter

dogs are eventually re-

claimed by their guardi-

ans, with cats far behind

at only 2 to 5 %.

8) What’s more, only

about three to four mil-

lion cats and dogs are

adopted from shelters

each year.

12 Alarming Facts About Pet Homelessness (cont.)

Page 7………………… TAILS OF THE SOUTHWEST

It's important to give your own pets just as much time and attention as the animals you foster. (Photo: Budimir Jevtic/Shutterstock)

3. Are your pets up to date on vaccinations?

Animals placed in foster homes may have health issues, and they could poten-tially expose your pets to worms, para-sites, respiratory infections and other diseases. Before you bring a foster ani-mal into your home, talk to your veteri-narian and ensure that your pets are up to date on vaccinations. Keep in mind that you’ll likely be responsible for any health costs related to your own animals.

4. Is your home ready for fostering?

The shelter you’re fostering for will likely provide you with a checklist or fostering tips to help you get your home ready, but you’ll need to have available space for an animal and be willing to pet-proof your home — especially if you’ll be fostering mischievous kittens or puppies.

Also, keep in mind that your home and belongings may become damaged while fostering. From scratched furniture and overturned plants to chewed-up slippers and housetraining accidents, another ani-mal in the house means more messes.

5. Are you emotionally prepared to return a foster pet?

You’re probably interested in fostering because you’re an animal lover with pets of your own, so it can be understandably dif-ficult to part with an animal you’ve be-come emotionally attached to. However,

fostering involves caring for cats and dogs that you’ll eventually have to return to the shelter. It may help to keep in mind that, thanks to you, the animal is now more likely to find a loving forever home. While foster owners can certainly adopt an animal they’ve developed a bond with, becoming that animal’s permanent home may mean that you won’t have room or time to continue to foster for the shelter. And losing a good foster home means the rescue will be unable to take in as many homeless animals. A note from the SMARAS editor: If you are able to answer ‘Yes!’ to all of the above questions and are ready and will-ing to be a foster, we’d love for you to climb aboard the SMARAS foster train! Please visit the Foster section of our website (www.swmetroanimalrescue.org/index.php/foster) for more information!

Healthy PAWS — Pets And Wellness Series 12 Alarming Facts About Pet Homelessness (cont.)

9) Know what this means?

Nearly half of all animals

that arrive in U.S. shelters

are euthanized because

there is a lack of space

and adopters, amounting

to roughly 2.7 million

dead animals every year

or 5 out of every 10 dogs

and 7 out of every 10

cats – that’s like 80,000

animals per week.

10) Five out of every ten

shelter dogs each year

amounts to about 5,500

euthanized dogs every day.

11) Of all the dogs that

enter the shelter system,

pit bull types have it the

worst with a shockingly

high euthanasia rate of

93%.

12) To pay for all of this

– the impoundment,

sheltering, euthanasia and

subsequent disposal of

homeless animals – U.S.

taxpayers shell out be-

tween one to two billion

dollars annually.

SMARAS Board President - Paul Purington Secretary - Cristi Emerson

Treasurer - Mary Ann Kottke Member - Marci Stevenson

SMARAS Coordinators Cats Dogs Cristi Emerson Marci Stevenson Kay Lindstrom Leanne Busillo Sharon Jones Kim Thommes

Calls Fundraising Judy Kammer Judi Williams

Social Media Storage Ashley Skaja Sheila Lundin

Newsletter/Advertising Volunteering Renee Lake Judi Williams

Southwest Metro Animal Rescue & Adoption Society

PO Box 493 Chaska, MN 55318

952-368-PAWS (7297) 952 487 5206 FAX

E-mail: swmetroanimalrescue@hotmail.com

Visit us on the web: www.swmetroanimalrescue.org

SMARAS Contacts & Information

Southwest Metro Animal Rescue & Adoption Society

PO Box 493

Chaska, MN 55318

Our Mission Page 8

Southwest Metro Animal Rescue & Adoption Society is a non-profit organization as per sec-tion 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Your donation is tax deductible!

Some ways your $$$ can help… $30 sponsors a dog or cat for 1 month

$50 helps cover costs of a spay/neuter

$100 assists with yearly heartworm meds

$200 assists with surgical/dental costs

$360 sponsors a dog or cat for 1 year

$500 assists with costs of treatment for a serious illness or injury

Name

Street Address

City, State, Zip

Telephone

Email Address

Enclosed is a check for my tax-deductible donation of $ ________ to assist SWMAR in the rescue and care of homeless pets. Please send a receipt for tax purposes to:

Southwest Metro Animal Rescue and Adoption Society is a non-profit organization committed to the rescue of abandoned, abused and stray domestic animals. We believe the animal-human bond is strengthened through educa-tion of the public on the humane treatment of animals, pet popula-tion control and support for ani-mal protection laws.

We are an all-volunteer non-profit organization. We do not have any paid staff and receive no government funding. Our found-ing members have over 35 years combined experience in the ani-mal rescue field. We have estab-lished federal tax-exempt status as a 501 (c) (3) charitable organi-zation. We rely on donations of food and supplies to care for the pets. We maintain a no-kill poli-cy except in cases when euthana-sia is deemed the only viable,

reasonable and humane option.

YOUR KIND DONATION HELPS A HOMELESS PET IN NEED!

Southwest Metro Animal Rescue & Adoption Society PO Box 493 Chaska, MN 55318

Rescue, give love a second chance . . .

Address Service Requested