By adopting a kitty, you are making room in our shelter so we can help save another innocent life from starvation and death. Baby kittens are born on the streets everyday - we can't help them unless adoptions and financial support increase. These poor little guys will never know what love is - they will spend everyday frightened, in search of food and water trying to avoid becoming food themselves. Won't you please help them by adopting or making a financial donation today.

Home For The Holidays

Kitty Wishes

I wish upon a star so bright, I may get a home tonight.

The shelter has saved my innocent soul, but is it too much to ask  to have my own bowl.

 People come and people go, always with promises of taking me home.

If promise was truth,  50 homes I would have had  …

Yet here I  am, still behind bars.

 Though I’m so grateful to be alive, I would like to know the joys of living.

 I promise to not ask for much, my only demand is your unconditional love.

In  return, I will give you my joy, my friendship and my loyalty.

 My debt to you will only be fulfilled once I leave your gentle arms and join my friends at Rainbow Bridge.

 Star so bright, please find me a home tonight.

*****FALL Special******

Do you have two or more kitties? Do you have room in your home and heart for a 'shy' kitty? We are offering 50% off adoption fees to get these kitties placed quickly. All they need is a little extra love and understanding.

 We need to get them out quick in order to save others

Mastercard/Visa   WELCOME!

Visit our Very Best Pet Network Adoption board at the Wareham Wal-Mart

Hot Deals That Raise money for our shelter click here:    www.promofundraising.com/promo4732

Pet Of The Month

"Kittens Needing X-tra LOVE"

AHP is  a true rescue organization - this means we directly rescue pets from the streets so they may live happy lives away from the fear and starvation on the streets. Many of the cats and kittens we take in simply aren't adjusted to life with humans and it simply takes a little while for them to enjoy regular meals and the love from a human. After all, this is all new to them, living a life of fear is all they know, it's the only way to survive a life on the streets. Sadly, sociaty sees these wonderful animals as 'trash', something to be done away with and sadly for most they are destroyed. It is our job to teach them that they are now safe and that humans won't hurt them. AHP prides themselves on the work they have done with these special kitties, and tears come to our eyes every time one gets a permanent home - we know they will now be safe and cherished and we've made such a difference for them . Unfortunately few organization will work with these kitties as it can be time consuming and few adopters are willing to give these pets a chance. My first kitty, Dorothy, was one such kitty. At four months old she wanted no part of human contact. She hissed everytime I approached. The only time I was able to touch her is when we almost lost her due to distemper. She received nursing care constantly through out the day, reluctantly I might add, even in her weak state.  Thankfully she was strong enough to fight the disease and she made slight progress in socialization but was still very nervous around strangers. Needless to say adopters weren't interested in her. So I took her home - 6 years later she is one of my most lovable cats - many times I can't get away from her - she follows me through the house with her demand for love. Do you think you can change the life of a kitty? Are you that special someone? All these precious pets need is time and truly caring homes that understand what these cats have been through. The more love and care you put into the relationship the faster these kitties transform. If you would like to learn more please contact us at pets101z@aol.com or call 508-759-2887. Many times discounts are given for adoption fees in order to place these pets in homes ASAP as it is crucial to have 'one' special person working with them. If you are unable to adopt but would like to save a life of a special kitty , we are always in desperate need of funding. Each cat or kitten we rescue costs over $150. for medical care and because many times we offer a reduced adoption fee in order to place them quickly we don't recoup the funds to help more. $150 per kitty may seem like a lot, but it is the difference between life or death!

Just For Clarification:

Difference Between Kill and No-Kill Shelters

   During a recent fundraiser our volunteers had to be badgered by a man who was overly opinionated  about us being a no-kill shelter. And this is not the first time someone has rudely voiced their opinion to our hardworking volunteers. Stating that our ‘no-kill’ shelter is directly causing the deaths and abandonment of hundreds of animals a year by turning away pets. We are told we are worse than a kill shelter because our work is deceiving.

   For clarification: I, the founder, started this organization to save innocent animals from life on the streets and help with some of the overflow from other area shelters. I felt there was an important need for a place that could lessen the amount of animals dropped off at overcrowded kill-shelters. A place that was able to hold an animal until it was adopted instead of being destroyed when a new one came in. This organization was not started  to make it easy on people who found their pet to have become an inconvenience.

    Since this organization started we have helped hundreds and hundreds of animals who would have been destroyed in traditional shelters, get warm loving homes. Not to mention the hundreds upon hundreds of animals that we have spayed/neutered to prevent further unwanted pets from winding up in shelters. Traditional shelters do not offer spay/neuter assistance in order to reduce the overpopulation problem. 

   There are countless organizations out there and they all have different policies. Some are kill shelters that take in every pet, some are no-kill shelters that hold pets until they are adopted, some rescue animals from Southern states and some only specialize in specific breeds.

    The majority of  kill-shelters are run by the town. Towns that don’t have a shelter will have a contract with a large shelter that also houses animals from other towns. Typically these shelters take in every pet, they have no alternative but to destroy ones that aren’t adopted quickly or have medical or behavioral problems. Employees are haunted by the daily cruelty they see and by nightmares of having to end innocent lives. Tax payers dollars are the main source of funding for these shelters. These shelters generally have not only paid managers, but also paid employees, and a veterinarian on staff,  relying on volunteers for additional help.

   No-kill shelters are generally small organizations completely run by the kindness of volunteers who give up their precious time. Instead of destroying an animal as soon as a new one comes in, a new one is allowed in once another has been adopted. Many small shelters offer spay/neuter programs to help prevent unwanted animals from being destroyed. These organizations rely fully on private financial donations and the funds they raise doing events and activities, they receive no town/government funding. 

   Granted with both types of shelters there are variances. Some no-kill actually destroy sick pets while others don’t. Some kill shelters will hold a pet for several months while others may destroy them the same day. Regardless of how a shelter runs, both types of shelters compliment each other and have the same goal of helping end needless suffering, cruelty and overpopulation.

   Setting up A Helping Paw as a no-kill was a personal choice by me. A Helping Paw was not organized as a dumping ground for people who no longer wanted their pets. We were organized to rescue  the countless animals living on the streets. If we have room, then we will help people who no longer can keep their pets. With two other kill shelters within a half hour distance,  people have no excuse to abandon their pets on the street. Our shelter is not responsible for idiots who are too lazy to drive to a  shelter or can’t face having the pet ‘put-to-sleep’ themselves so they drop them off at a ‘shelter’ so they can convince themselves the pet got a home. (If I have to hear one more time, “my cat will get adopted right away, it’s special”, I think I’ll puke!)

   Every time we are unable to take a pet in we make suggestions of how an owner can work out their problems so they can keep a pet, or make countless suggestions of other shelters or ways of finding a home for their pet. When will people take responsibility for their own pets instead of expecting a shelter to take on THEIR responsibility!

    Another good reason we are not a kill shelter:  as I mentioned, most kill shelters receive funding through your tax dollars, either directly or by contracts with the town. This allows them to have the vet and equipment necessary for euthanizing animals. A Helping Paw does not have a vet on staff, nor does it receive  funds from tax dollars. Not having a vet on staff means we rely heavily on the kindness and generosity of local vets that help our program. And when they are unable to help, such as in those 2 AM emergencies, we pay the same emergency visit price you would.  If we were to begin killing animals we would have to make an appointment with a vet, drive to the appointment and then pay probably $50. per animal plus burial expenses. We have a hard enough time keeping up with our bills now.  Considering we get more than 10 calls a week from animals needing homes that would be over $500. per week just killing animals, we don’t even take in $2,000. a month now, where would we get the funds to help save animals?

   Again keep in mind, unlike shelters who receive funds from tax dollars,  all of our funds are donated by kind generous souls, who want their funds spent saving animals, not killing them. And I’m not sure it would go over too well if I asked volunteers to spend a day raising funds because we need to euthanized some animals in order to make room for more.    We take in the ones that don’t stand a chance at a traditional shelter—ones who have lead fearful lives, every day searching for food on our streets, the ones that have a medical problem and would be immediately euthanized. Does Mittens Kittens deserve to die just because he is FIV positive? Did Marble deserve to die because his owner didn’t want to pay for his eye to 

be removed when it swelled up like a ping pong ball? Do bottle babies deserve to die because it would be too time consuming to feed can care for them every two hours? Did Murphy, the Lasa Apso deserve to die because he had ongoing ear infections? Did little Susie deserve to die when some kids couldn’t keep her and left her in a plastic bag at an old-age center and she had so many fleas it made her anemic? Because traditional shelters are overcrowded, not one of these animals would have lasted a minute. Some say spending money on sick or injured shelter pets is absurd when there are so many more out there that need help. Yet isn’t this the same thing as an owner who doesn’t want to pay a vet bill so they euthanize their animal because they can get a new one cheaper? I wouldn’t adopt to a person that did that, so why should our organization do the same?

       As you see, not every shelter has the resources to take in every animal. Though we aren’t able to  help every animal out there, (which is completely unrealistic anyway) we do have an important role to play. By taking in as many pets as we can, less are having to be dropped off at kill shelters, saving hundreds of lives each year, in addition through our spay/neuter program we prevent thousands of animals from being born just to die. And all of this without one penny of your tax dollars.

   The killing will never end unless drastic changes are made. A Helping Paw is helping create that change. We are forever grateful to those who feel the same and offer their financial support so we can continue our good work. People shouldn’t pin no-kill shelters against kill shelters—but appreciate the important role both do in helping end animal suffering and cruelty.