Living again. Given another chance at life. Gratefulness.
Phoebe’s new owners came to the “Scratch My Back” event at Skippers Smokehouse and shared a special moment with Pam P, HCAS’s lead investigator.
Then last week, the Phoebe’s family was kind enough to bring ‘thanks’ from Phoebe to those who gave her life after being buried up to her snout and shot twice in the head.
Sometimes, there just are no words……………………….
Heartworm Treatment Fund ~ It takes a Village
Organizer: Rescue Me Tampa – Shelter Dogs
Beneficiary: HCAS Heartworms Fund for Foster Dogs
Hillsborough County Animal Services dogs in foster program need donations to pay for heartworm treatment.
Six great dogs in foster care who have heartworms. They need your help to pay for the treatment so they can be adopted into loving forever homes.
Please donate to help them over this last hump to a long and happy life! Your donation will help with heartworm treatment for Jake, Jenna, Jordan, Major, Lila & Gypsy. THANK YOU!
Friends of HCAS is an awesome organization who works hard to help the dogs at HCAS. They are a registered 501c3 organization so your donations are tax deductible! We appreciate their working with us to help these dogs with heartworms.
The purpose of the Friends of the Hillsborough County Animal Services (FOHCAS) organization is to help:
- to provide loving care for the shelter’s animals;
- to raise funds for their medical and other care;
- to reduce euthanasia by assisting in the promotion of adoption of shelter animals;
- to assist in reuniting lost pets with their owners; and,
- to promote the humane treatment and care of cats, dogs and other companion animals through the education of the public as to responsible pet ownership.
Please consider donating to FOHCAS so they can continue helping the animals at HCAS. Thank you!
Cats, Cats and more Cats!! Please help.
HCAS is in desperate need of wet food, towels and toys for these guys…
Honesty and Truth
Words from the Lead Investigator at HCAS:
“Summer is two weeks away. There are 1,000 animals in the shelter. Not all of them are from cruelty cases or hoarding cases. In fact less than 150 are Investigation animals.
These 1,000 animals are part of our every day lives, and they are part of your lives too. WE are responsible for them. They will continue to die without the community solving the real issues. Putting some teeth into responsible pet ownership. Spay and Neuter. Microchips. Education.
These beautiful cats, dogs, puppies, and kittens have been left behind in YOUR community and now they are at the end of landfill road. Turned in by their owners, turned in as strays, and picked up by Animal Control Officers because people are complaining or concerned for the animals welfare.We don’t drive around looking for animals to pick up. We answer over 300 citizen calls a day.
You can fluff it up, paint it, re-organize it and market it. If you don’t turn off the flow coming in it’s just window dressing the same problems.”
IT TAKES A VILLAGE…BE PART OF OURS…
Volunteer ~ Be a ‘foster’ parent ~ Adopt ~ Donate ~ Share the animals that are on our Facebook pages….
“Intake Stats” for May 2013 HCAS
“Intake Stats” for May 2013
Hillsborough County Animal Services
The reason we all do what we do…
DOGS: Read more…
Scratch My Back
Sixteen years ago, Scott Peterson’s beautiful, black Lab Molly lost her life due to heat after being left in a vehicle for ‘a few minutes.’
A very good friend of Scott’s was ‘pet sitting’ her. The friend Read more…
Memorial Day Cookout 2013
Well..we were all set up and ready to go!
The FOHCAS Memorial Day Cookout was a success..thank you to all who donated time, money and supplies to the event. We love you all!! :)
HCAS had visitors!!
Brownie Troop 738
Brownie Troop 738 visited HCAS a week or so ago and had a great time! And they came ‘bearing gifts’.
Some of the HCAS Investigators took them on a tour of the shelter and vet services. These young girls are part of our future. Learning the life of shelter animals at this age gives us all great hopes for the future. :)
Thank you girls!!
Skippers Smokehouse Donors
Last night’s Scratch My Back event would not have been possible for FOHCAS without the invitation from organizer Scott Peterson. Our most heartfelt gratitude to him for believing we could pull this off! Thank you Scott, Skipper’s Smoke House, it’s management & staff.
The musical talent was incredible – The Groves, The Lint Rollers, The Quivering Rhythm Hounds, Dennis Toerpe & Denise Moore. And of course, the evenings Emcees Steve Ott & Marti Ryan – Thank You all for making this the first of what we hope to be a long standing tradition in successful partnership!
AND
A round of “Thank You’s” from the Scratch My Back event. The following donated goods and/or services for the raffle. 
Dawson Dance Academy, Tampa
Little Pet Project, Tampa
Signature Massage, Tampa
The Bead Boutique, Brandon
Gulfstream Guardian Angel Rottweiler Rescue, FL
Groovy Cats & Dogs, Tampa
Gracie Tampa, Tampa
Pibbles Pawish, Lutz
Timberlane Pet Hospital & Resort, Plant City
Heather Rippert, Artist, Tampa
Kim Kenney, painted glassware, Tampa
There were a few last minute donations as well.
Because of these generous donations, the raffle generated far more money than we anticipated.
A giant Thank You to each of these donors!
Team FOHCAS for the Skippers Smokehouse Event
A great time at the Skippers Smokehouse “Scratch My Back” Event.
Huge shout out to Skipper’s Smokehouse and Scott Peterson!! It was an absolute BLAST!!
Pictures to come of what Skipper’s announced was the MOST SUCCESSFUL Scratch My Back event in it’s seventeen year history. How cool is that!!
Our Village grew by many tonite. To all those who came to enjoy the music, the fun and donated so generously. WE LOVE YOU!
UPDATE:
Donation update for the Memorial Day Cookout at HCAS.
We have the bestest Villagers in the world. Everything was donated for our cookout, and we believe we are gonna have plenty of everything. (hamburger bun and condiment status, were kinda lost in the shuffle, but we think we will be fine ) WE WILL EVEN BE HAVING VEGGIE BURGERS!
Thank you to all who gave so generously. We love you!
Please come by for lunchon Monday, or send people..we are gonna have plenty to eat! And we will be having lots of pups and kitties that will be looking for homes. Special adoption prices!!
Come one, Come all
FOHCAS has two back to back events this Sunday and Monday!
We will be cooking out from 10-2 on Memorial Day at HCAS, and Sunday night we will be at Skippers Smokehouse doing all kinds of stuff. :) Come see us and support those without a voice!
Bead Boutique of Brandon!
Thank you Bead Boutique of Brandon!! An FOHCAS “Villager”
Don’t you just love these dog bones? The wonderful fused glass instructor, Laurie Authelet- Fuller, along with the owners mother, have made these pendants for customers to purchase. Please consider purchasing one for yourself, or as a gift for a dog lover. For each dog bone sold, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to FOHCAS.
Please consider making a donation today to help Friends of HCAS Inc., a not for profit 501c3 that focuses solely on the animals in need at our county’s shelter. FoHCAS is committed to enriching the lives of shelter animals, and improving the shelter’s live release rate, with community outreach, public education, shelter enrichment, volunteer mentoring, medical donations and off-site events to showcase shelter adoptables. BeadBoutique Brandon is proud to be a contributor to this worthy organization!
Guess who?
Last fall, HCAS ACO Renee Northrop dug a wounded, frightened, betrayed dog out of the dirt. On her hands and knees, with care and love, so the little dog would suffer no more terror or pain, NeNe (as her HCAS family knows her) gently excavated until she was freed. Officer Northrop then rushed the injured pup to seek emergency veterinary care. The dog that Hillsborough County, Florida and the nation learned to call “Phoebe” owes her life to the love, passion and dedication of this fifteen year veteran ACO.
You might call Renee Northop a “dog catcher”. Her friends and colleagues call her a “hero”
Oh, and here’s a recent picture of Phoebe – “the dog that was shot in the head”. She will never be abused, shot, buried alive or terrified again. She is home.
(Thank you Laura Page for the post)
Downtown Tampa Market
It started off a little shaky, but ended up being fun.
Thanks to the foster families who brought out their pups.
“Intake Stats” for April 2013
“Intake Stats” for Hillsborough County Animal Servives for April 2013
DOGS
TOTAL DOGS 786 Read more…
A widdle happy tail.
Janet McDonald, formerly of the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office who handled HCAS cases, and is a champion for animals is the proud new mom of “Gilligan”. :) Thank you Ms. McDonald for saving a life!
National Pet Week
Today ( 4-27-2012) at 11:00 am is the first presentation of National Pet Week.
It will be held at the Lutz Branch Library
101 Lutz-Lake Fern Road, W. in Lutz.
(There will be 7 more coming up in May at other library locations).
The Happy Tail of “Boucher”
It’s now been over a year since we have had Boucher in our family, so I thought I’d drop you a little message letting you know how he is.First of all, we decided against heartworm injections and instead worked with our vet on a slower treatment plan with medicine. He was just re-tested on Friday and he is officially heartworm free!!! Yay!!! We had a feeling he was going to come up negative since he has become rather energetic in the past few months.
He has now learned to play with toys, though only soft ones. After months of ignoring all his toys, once day he just came in from walk, picked up a toy, and started running around! We are working on teaching him to fetch but he still hasn’t quite understood the concept. His favorite thing is a soft squeaky ball made to look like a stuffed cheetah.
He sits, rolls over, plays dead, and lifts his paw to shake hands on command. Once he got comfortable here he was pretty easy to train with some of his favorite treats. He used to be a bit shy with other dogs but he now loves animal friends. We go to the dog beach and he runs around and plays with all kids of dogs. Our walker takes him out with a Lab and they are best buddies. He even has neighborhood dog friends he loves to see when we take him out.
Some things didn’t change. He is just not a barker. He will bark back at a dog if the other dog starts it, but he so rarely barks in the apartment we jump a little if he does! Not at cars in the parking lot, not at dogs outside, not when the doorbell goes or the pizza guy knocks. If he sees a cat on a walk he does make a little squeaky sound. We joke he’s trying to speak cat!
He still loves a cuddle on the couch in the evenings, and will jump right into our lap or arms when we call him. He is every bit as loveable and sweet. When my husband’s family was in town for our wedding, his 3 year old cousin adored Boucher. He is great with kids! He was so sweet and obedient to that little boy. Good news for our future
He’s still so well behaved – We even took him on our honeymoon to Naples! (in Florida…not Italy!) His naughty habit is that he likes to sneak into our bed in the night, especially if it is cold. Most of the time we scoop him up and put him back in his bed, but I must admit we let it slide during the very cold nights!
Attached is a few more pictures of Boucher. I just wanted to thank you once again for taking care of our little boy before he became part of our family. You’ll never know how much it means to us every second he was being cared for instead of being alone and abandoned.
-Heather
Princess Josie and Friends
Princess Josie is 10 years old, adopted 5 years ago from HCAS.
The Chihuahua mix returned in a state of neglect and will need a rear limb x-rayed.
Princess Josie greatly enjoyed her day of sunshine and fame with Marti at Islands Fest where she met Dr. Jo Giovenco of FOX 13 TV. :)
Remember your donations will help us to continue to help animals like Princess Josie so they may have a chance to find their furever homes!
Come visit FOHCAS on Davis Island !
Come visit FOHCAS this Saturday (April 20)
from 10:00 – 4:00
on Davis Island for Islands Fest. :)
A Happy Tail
A story from a family who looked past the irregularities of a scabby faced pup and reaped the benefits. :)
This is Jenna. She was known in the shelter as Fifi.
We adopted her at the beginning of February from Hillsborough County Animal Services. She was diagnosed with generalized demodex mange. She had no fur on her face, was losing it in clumps all over her body, and was bleeding in some areas from the skin that had come off. 
But when we first met her, her personality did not match her looks. She was the happiest pup!
Since we’ve brought her home, she has been on treatment for the mange. All of her hair has grown back and she’s gained close to 20 pounds! She has found a great friendship in our other dog, Moose and she plays wonderfully with our 3 children, ages 5, 4, and 2. She couldn’t have been a more perfect fit for our family.
I wanted to share her Happy Tails story with y’all. I had seen another puppy on here that’s currently in the shelter and wanted to encourage everyone to look past the ick because there IS a great dog in there! ADOPT!
These little pitties went to the market….
Fabulous day at the Sunday Market in downtown Tampa 4-14-2012
Thank you to the terrific group of HCAS volunteers who spent the day with some awesome dogs changing minds and educating the public.
FOHCAS will be at the Tampa Downtown Market! Come visit.
Yep, it was a last minute thing. Read more…
Watch for more on the “Colson 9″
The “Colson 9″ on Baynews 9
Watch the story airing every hour this evening, (April 11) and visit Hillsborough County Animal Services daily from 10 until 7.
