8/19/14 – URGENT – This little guy who may be under 3 years old was kicked out of his home after his owners were evicted. He was rescued by the Warren Animal Control Officer, Lisa. He is neutered and comes with some food, a scratch pad and his litter box. If he cannot find a home, rescue or foster, he will have to be taken to a shelter and because of his age and color, very likely euthanized. Please contact me at [email protected] if you can help. ~ diana

8/21/14 – Update:  A friend of 4 Paws 1 Heart adopted this sweetie.  Let’s wish him years of love. ~ diana

8/18/14 – It was four years ago today that Gina and I started this journey having no idea where it would take us. It started with me having some money to donate to Gina’s little cat rescue at Moore’s Veterinary. I would hold family bowling parties where proceeds would go to buying headstones for long lost relatives, but this particular year, we ran out of headstones to buy. That is when I learned that Gina had moved on to the Animal Urgent and Critical Care Center and she saw how often animals would be brought in by good Samaritans who had found an injured or lone animal on the street. Although the veterinarians and staff always tried to help, they could only do so much and it is then when we thought that if we could build an organization that could pay medical bills for these abandoned and abused souls, maybe we could make a difference. That was the beginning of 4 Paws 1 Heart. Of course, we soon learned that after treating the animal, we needed help in placing the animal in a forever home and that is when we started developing relationships with our rescue partners (although Gina knew many of our rescue friends from her prior work). Friends like Loveabull Paws, Misfit Angels Rescue, A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue and NBS helped us early in the game and later we were fortunate enough to become friends with Dog Aide, Home Fur-Ever, Providing For Paws, Detroit Bully Corp, Mutts of Motown, Hopeful Heart, Tigerlily, Michigan Cat Rescue, and the Animal Adoption Network, just to name a few of the great rescues we have worked with. Then as we became more well known we started to get calls from individual good Samaritans who needed help with animals they rescued. Since we started we have paid medical bills for over 1,000 animals including the many kittens and puppies we have neutered and spayed so they will no longer reproduce.

In 2013 we paid $54,000 in medical bills and through August 15, 2014, we have paid $46,309 in medical bills. But we can’t do it alone. 4 Paws 1 Heart relies on our friends to make this happen. We can only help as long as we have money in the bank. So on our Anniversary, I’m asking all of our friends to watch our video of some of the animals we helped in 2012 (p.s. please be sure to start the video at the beginning by clicking on the screen — still learning)docs.google.com/file/d/0B5j2WG_lEZhkMFhKdmNRVGkzS28/edit and if you can afford it, drop a donation in the mail at p.o. box 84, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080 or make a donation through paypal either on the facebook link or our website 4paws1heart.org. We’ve met some great people along this ride and my life has been made better because of it. Thank You to our great Board of Directors, our supporters, our friends, and our families. ~ diana

8/18/14 – Meet Pebbles! She is approximately one year old and her mom lost everything and could no longer care for her. Gina will be calling some of our friends who offered to foster and we will be calling a couple of a rescue friends who also offered to help. If you are interested in adopting this beauty, e-mail Gina at [email protected]. She is very afraid of dogs and doesn’t seem to feel comfortable with women (???) ~ diana

8/18/14 – Update on Coco ~ diana: “Coco says Thank you for helping her kick parvo! She isn’t 100% yet but she is definitely feeling better and putting on weight. Her tail wags and she has some spunk now! ♡~ Megan (Friends of Scooby Animal Rescue)

8/18/14 – Today is the 4th Anniversary of 4 Paws 1 Heart and I am so sorry to report that our Tuxedo Jack had to be humanely euthanized this morning. We really don’t know what happened to him while he was on the street but he continued to get worse through the night and after having seizures, it was determined that it wasn’t fair to make this little guy suffer. This sweet boy is now in peace playing with all of our loved ones who have crossed the rainbow bridge. Please pray for all of the other animals who are wandering alone on the streets with no one to care for them. RIP Tuxedo Jack ~ diana

8/17/14 – Here is the situation — As our friends know, 4 Paws 1 Heart is NOT a rescue but in our efforts to assist residents with TNR and just be there in general, we have received an insurmountable number of calls regarding found kittens. This little guy is one of them. We have had many offers from our friends to foster (A Huge Thank You) but because we are not a rescue, we really need our rescue friends to help us with placement. Rescue friends, if I can find a foster for this sweet guy who is about 6-8 weeks old, can you take them under your Paw. Or, if someone has been searching for the perfect Tuxedo kitten, he could be yours. We will try to get him in tonight for a check up because he is a little emaciated. ~ diana

8/17/14 Update on our Tuxedo, Jack, found wandering the streets: We were concerned about this sweet baby who is about 8-10 weeks old. Debra played her hunches that he needed immediate attention and she brought him to our wonderful doctors at Advanced Animal Emergency where we have a partnership. Sure enough, our baby had a fever, was very dehydrated and may have pneumonia. We have a rescue, a foster, and a potential adopter. Please say your prayers for this little guy. Today we already lost a kitten whose mom we had saved. We don’t know why but there are so many needing our help. Thank You to all of our great friends. ~ diana

8/13/14 –  I know that most of us just don’t get it. As much as it is important for us to help our rescue friends so that they can help us with placement, we feel equally obligated to help those individual rescuers who see a a situation and take action. Here is the story of Roxy (I’ve left out the graphic photos). We couldn’t say no and we are only hoping that we have a successful fundraiser on Thursday, August 14 at the BlackFinn. I hope we’ve made a slight difference in her life: ~ diana

“Last Wednesday Roxy was in a backyard with her fursibling and the 2 dogs got in a fight. They made Roxy stay outside in the dirty yard chained to a fence until I found out about her and went to try and help her. I had a couple of antibiotics that I gave her and started networking her to get her some help. A nice woman stepped up and offered to keep her until Monday, but on Friday, Dr. Good from the Dearborn Family Pet Care did a home check and took her back to the clinic. She said that her legs were swelling up from laying in the dirt and they were getting infected and she had a fever. She wanted to be able to clean the wounds and get antibiotics in her asap. So Dr Good took her with her. I talked to the doctor yesterday and she said that Roxy had a few wounds on her head that were still bleeding some, so she still wanted to keep her a few more days. She said Roxy is a smart, loving, wonderful dog. Says if she didn’t have cats, that she would even keep her. She gave Roxy a heartworm test and we just found out this morning that she is positive. I am heartbroken for this sweet baby. Her pos owners couldn’t even take care of her the right way and give her heartworm meds. They were just going to drop her off in the parking lot of a grocery store or the parking lot of the Eastpointe Police Department and let her loose. How can people be such a———???? I am begging for help. I truly hate asking, but I don’t want to leave this sweetheart with heartworm or anything else they will affect her life. She deserves a chance to live. We are still networking her to find her a foster/forever home and hopefully will have some good news soon.” ~ Nancy

8/13/14 – Another sweet feline needing our help. Our volunteer extraordinaire, Debra B., is in the process of a TNR project. This little one was rescued by one of the employees of the business and he plans to make her his own. She’s only about 8 weeks old and was found to have a botfly embedded in her skin. This is the second incident of a botfly that we have encountered. The symptoms can mirror those of an upper respiratory infection, neurological issues such as a loss of balance, swelling on the face, etc.. 4 Paws 1 Heart has paid for this cutie to be examined, vaccinated, and treated and when ready, she will be spayed. Thank You Debra and Kirk for saving her. She will have a wonderful life with her new dad. ~ diana