Our mission is to reduce the number of homeless cats & dogs by paying for needed medical treatment and assisting with the permanent placement of these animals through our partnerships with local rescue groups.
If you have an animal lover in your life, show your love with a donation to 4 Paws 1 Heart instead of using flowers which will die or candy which will be eaten. A donation to 4 Paws 1 Heart changes the lives of those who have no one else. – diana
HI, Fergus here. I’m manning up to do this post to you lovelies because foster Mommy can’t stop crying (really being a babbling idiot) to write it herself. SOOOO here I go….so after being returned back to our foster home 5 months ago….OUR NEW HUMANS FOUND US!!! We nailed the meet and greet last night! They fell head over heels for us and just in time for Valentines Day! Hearts all around….especially to 4 Paws 1 Heart who takes care of medical for stray, abandoned and abused animals. If you have a heart – donate! Fergus and Ivan…signing out! – Dee
2/13/23 – Momma, a stray cat, was being cared for by a kind man who lived alone. One day she showed up with two kittens. A shelter was built for the family but one day one of the kittens was found dead by the side of the road. The other kitten went on to have a litter where one eventually died after being injured. A home was found for the two remaining kittens and that mom. But the original Momma remained elusive until one day she showed up with 3 kittens. During this time, the elderly man had been hospitalized and when he got back to his home his ‘caretaker’ didn’t allow any cats within the home. His daughter continued to feed the cats as they remained outdoors. As in so many cases in which too many of us experience, the rescuer’s dad could no longer live in his home and we were contacted to help end the cycle of births while the daughter and her husband took in the family. So, here is Momma, Lil Squirt, Willow, and Bright Eyes. As the family continues to care for two parents unable to care for themselves, they are working on socializing the feline family so that everyone can eventually be adopted. We were, once again, thankful to be able to get everyone tested, vaccinated, spayed/neutered. – diana
Thank you so much to Diana & 4 Paws 1 Heart for helping! I truly am forever grateful for your help, understanding & compassion! You truly are a blessing to these beautiful cats and all the other cats & dogs you have helped. I will continue to work on socializing all of them & keep you updated! – Sherry
2/12/23 – Last year was a big success-especially for the many animals helped through this fundraiser. Please share and plan on attending. You won’t regret it. – diana
Venue Spotlight: We are thrilled to have 2000 Brooklyn as one of our venues for the upcoming Corktown Music Festival / 4 Paws 1 Heart Fundraiser – March 3 & 4th!
Situated conveniently a block behind Lager House ! We will have 2 stages (left and right) with back to back bands on the half hour starting at 7pm. We’ll also have a variety of vendors inside (possibly outside depending on weather). Check out the video to get a sneak peak of this amazing space! It is available to rent for other purposes and corporate events. Click the contact button on their website to learn more. We are so thankful for their support!
We are so excited for this year’s Corktown Music Festival happening March 3rd and 4th! Over 75 amazing bands playing over 2 nights at 5 Corktown Detroit area venues.
This is a fundraiser for 4 Paws 1 Heart so be sure to get your $20 all access wristbands at any of these locations (during their regular business hours) and avoid lines at the festival.
Iconic Tattoo & Body Piercing :3401 Cass Ave, Detroit
2/12/23 – On this Super Bowl Sunday i thought I’d share Chance’s MRI’s report. We all wish it had been more promising but what it did show is that our Chance truly is a Super Hero. The doctor was amazed that Chance was ever able to walk. We all love this boy and his mom and Aunt Shelly will be doing everything possible to make him comfortable, safe, and loved. When a paralyzed kitty on death row in a municipal shelter was rescued so many years ago, 4p1h committed to this guy for as long as was needed. And, we will keep that commitment—as long as we have the the help of our supporters! – diana
Hi Team, mom here. So, the news is not what we had hoped for. Chance’s spinal cord is severely compressed by the narrowing of his spinal canal near his T3 vertebre. The narrowing is so severe that it’s compressing his spinal cord and the signals to his bladder are not getting through. So when he drinks water it just goes straight through him. The signal isn’t getting from his brain to his sphincter muscle to hold or release his urine. Dr. Palma said he could not understand how he was able to walk at all! But there’s a thing called “spinal walking” and even though it looks like he knows where his feet are going, it’s just memory basically..Habit. The signal isn’t really firing through the spinal cord. The good news is…his loss of bladder control really can’t get any worse then it is and he doesn’t seem to be in any pain…right now. The bad news is he will decline in mobility over time. Dr doesn’t want Chance going up and down the staircases anymore, no jumping on or off any furniture either. I’m actually waiting for Dr. Palma to send me his written report and images which will help to explain everything in better detail. Hopefully I will get all that tomorrow. It’s a lot to process as our hopes were so high for better news and we will need to make a lot of adjustments at home in his routine and equipment to make sure he’s comfortable and safe. For tonight we’re all exhausted, it was a very long day and we need to process and have Sleep-in Sunday instead of Saturday
Thank you all for your love & prayers, we’ll see you all tomorrow – Denise
That must have been a long exhausting day. I’m glad you got some answers and there is no doubt Chance is in the best hands. He is lucky to have amazing love and care. Let me know if there is anything I can do. Meanwhile I’ll keep you both in my prayers – Gina
I just wanted to post a Muffins’ update. I wish I had better news, but I guess it could always be worse.. This has been a very frustrating roller coaster ride.
On Monday I was able to speak to the doctor we saw at Mi. State on Jan 18th. She said that after speaking with the Internal medicine team and the head interventional Radiologist, the recommendation would be to place a temporary silicone stent. They would repeat CT, flush her out, use guided fluroscopy, rhynescopy, make a hole or make the stricture bigger. The stent would eventually be removed and hopefully relieve the symptoms. There are risks associated and one of them is swelling and inflammation in that area will constrict her airway, so a trachea tube would be placed to keep her airway open. It would be left in until discharge from the hospital which could be several days. Other considerations are, the stent might move, cause infection, fistula, not work, etc. This is rare and some studies have been done.
They could try the balloon dialation, but it sounds like there is very high risk that will not work on the 1st try.
Another option would be consulting with a soft tissue surgeon specialist to see if there is a less invasive way to help Muffins’ aside from going through her jaw or placing a stent.
I made an appointment yesterday with the Animal Surgical Center in Flint for a consultation with Dr Stanley.
I have to make the best decision for her longterm while weighing out the good and the bad of all scenarios. She is not even 1 yr old.
March 31st we will be going to our next appointment. In the meantime, I’ll be sedating her to do another nasal flush with a culture of her discharge and I’ll be stocking up on non alcohol baby wipes for her poor raw nose.. Please keep going for this sweet girl.. Gina
Java Junk now makes personalized coffee mugs. $10 each, or $5 each with in-store purchase of $50 or more. Proceeds from the sale of mugs are donated to 4 Paws 1 Heart
You may have seen my story on the 4 Paws 1 Heart page recently. You see, my mom, a beautiful pit mix, was found outside chained to a building in the cold, and some Good Samaritans took her in with the help of our friends at 4P1H. Unbeknownst to them, she was pregnant with me and all my littermates. We were born just a couple days later, on Black Friday, and that’s where my story begins. Unfortunately, me and my brother, BOGO (do you see a theme here?), were the runts of the litter, so we went to a foster at ARAR for some ICU care. BOGO had a cleft palate and was severely dehydrated and malnourished, and he did not survive. After weeks of tube feeding, though, I was finally strong enough to eat on my own, and I’ve been thriving ever since! So let me tell you a little about me…
My foster mom says I am full of spunk and energy! I rely big time on my canine foster brothers, and I would definitely benefit from a home with another dog to play with.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE cats. I don’t know what it is about them, but I want to play with all of them! Thankfully, my foster family has cats who are more than happy to play with me (they wrestle SO hard!), but as I get bigger, I will need some boundaries set with any cats in my forever home.
I need a fenced yard because I love to run! All this spunk and energy needs to be released somewhere, so zoomies are kind of my thing. I would benefit from some training classes, so please be prepared to work alongside me learning the rules of good doggo life.
I love everyone I meet, and while I haven’t met kids yet, my foster family feels I would be just fine with kids old enough to put up with my goofy antics.
2/9/23 – And, once again our great friend and owner of the Knotted Needle is holding a raffle with proceeds benefitting 4 Paws 1 Heart. You can also drop off donations of cat and dog food which we will distribute to our friends who care for community cats as well as rescue cats and dogs. This is an amazing shop with beautiful arts and crafts items. – diana.
4Paws1Heart RaffleLots of new stuff in the store. Super bowl fund raiser for 4Paws1Heart
2/9/23 – to the many supporters who joined us last night in support of our fur orphans roaming the streets. We couldn’t have done it without the staff and owners of the Firehouse Pub and Grill, our volunteers – Tony (my sidekick for life), Dennis C. , Deena and Tom Terzo, Board members Pam Willer, Dee Gudenau, and Melissa Jeffrey (along with her mom Diana and friend Bob), Deanne Lovan, director of Ferndale Cat Shelter, and Aimee Martin, independent rescuer. And, as Chance said, DJ Dave Kurlee (rescuer of Maddie who was found on I-94 with a broken tibia). Dave brought Maddie and, for a short while, she met friends at the door. I meet very few of the animals we help so it was a true pleasure to meet Maddie; I’ve never met a sweeter dog. It’s like many of us often say — an animal who’s been rescued never seems to forget what her human has done for her/him. I’m just sorry that we didn’t think of taking some photos while she was visiting.
So now on to our next fundraiser which is our annual Bowling Fundraiser at Harbor Lanes Bowl, St. Clair shores on Saturday May 20, 2023. This is always a fun, adult event and is one of our major fundraisers. Get it on your calendar and I’ll be getting more information out soon. BUT in the meantime, we will continue to work on giving animals a second chance at life! – diana
CHANCE: Hey there Team, sorry we’re late tonight but we were waiting up to hear about the fundraiser. Mom says everybody had lots of fun and even Auntie Marilyn was a winner!
But the big winner was the animals who will benefit from all the fun. So thankyou to everyone who came out and opened their hearts and wallets. Thankyou to all the volunteers, Dave the pawsome DJ whos rescue dog (who you can see on 4p1h website) Maddie even made a guest appearance and of course the owner and staff of Firehouse Pub & Grill who fed everybody yummy food annnd provided the venue. Talk about an awesome village!!! Yep, now we can all go nitenite and dream about all the animals who will be helped. Sweet dreams Team
