The holiday season is fast approaching and this time of year brings excitement, merriment, festivities and joy. It is the season to spend time with family and friends, to send messages of love and gratitude, and most importantly, to reflect on another year past.
At the GTHS animal shelter, during the holidays we decorate our shelter and we treat ourselves to goodies and cheer. As a team, we pull together to ensure the animals receive the care they need and that each little soul receives love and affection.
Homeless animals arrive to us as strays, surrenders or through transfers from other shelters. The need for space at the shelter becomes pressing as the cold temperatures arrive. Our phones ring off the hook. We work hard to find room for the animals that need us. We anticipate over 150 animals entering our doors this holiday season.
Each animal in our care requires vaccines to prevent disease, medications to fight parasites and veterinary care. In addition, they need clean and warm housing, nutritious food, equipment for health monitoring and nurturing attention to keep their spirits high.
Our work with these animals is truly a labour of love. For them, the holidays are just another day where they will be waiting for our care as well as waiting to be chosen by a family of their own. While they wait, we work to ensure they are safe, healthy and free from fear.
We need your help this holiday season.
To continue our fight for homeless animals, every holiday season we launch the annual GTHS Supply & Food drive. This annual event provides our animals with the food, toys, blankets, equipment and supplies they need while living with us. We stock up our shelves and hope that it lasts us the majority of the year. We launch this event by inviting the community to a Holiday Open House at our animal shelter. On Thursday December 3rd, we invite our supporters to meet our team, tour the facility and view a behind the scenes of the animals in our care.
Please join us on December 3rd to learn some of the stories of homeless animals in your community.
In addition to our Supply & Food drive, we appeal to gift givers to consider a holiday gift that helps a homeless pet. Our stores at the shelter (549 Tenth Line) and Treasure Tails (186 Hurontario St.) are filled with money saving coupon books and bright and colourful 2016 calendars. We are sell gift certificates to our GTHS Dog School, the perfect gift for the new dog parent! We sell personally engraved pet tags because they are cute (!), but also because they help to ensure lost pets find their way home. Last but not least, we bring in local and high quality t-shirts to suit the avid pet lover in your family. With each gift from our shelter, a small profit is earned towards our mounting operational costs.
Your gift gives the gift of hope to a homeless pet
Lastly, to those that are considering a new pet for their family, we ask that you consider adopting an animal that is waiting at our shelter. We have over eighty cats, kittens, puppies and dogs that are waiting for you to adopt them. Adopted pets will bring a love and loyalty into your home that you have never experienced. The relationship between you and your adopted pet will bring you gifts of joy, laughter, peace and pleasure. In many ways, words cannot describe the powerful relationship that can develop between you and an adopted cat or dog.
The GTHS has over 80 homeless animals that are waiting for loving homes.
Most importantly, this holiday season, the GTHS team wants to extend a sincere thank you to our community for your unwavering support in 2015. We feel incredibly grateful to be a part of such an animal loving community. With your help, we will have taken in a record one thousand homeless cats and dogs. We are so thankful for your support.
Have a wonderful holiday season with your human and furry family!
