Petpalooza Right Around the Corner!

Cowley County’s party animals are at it again! For one day only, on Sep 10^th at Black Creek Park in Winfield, baseball diamonds will be transformed into dog parks, the pavilion will house a cake walk and the lawn will be the site of many canine-friendly activities, contests, vendors, silent auction, raffle, hotdog bar, and an adoption event.

Our third annual Petpalooza will be kicked off at 10:00 a.m. with a 1-mile leisurely dog walk through the beautiful Fleetwood neighborhood. At 10:45, special guests Lynda Symes and Tammi Harris will introduce their miniature horses who are sure to enchant visitors with their tricks - a first at Petpalooza! We will honor our volunteers at 11:30 and at 11:45 it’s contest time! The categories are best dog costume, best dog kiss, and most photogenic dog. Dogs of similar height can compete against each other in the noon dog races and show off their secret greyhound skills! The event ends at 2 p.m.

Bring your family and have lots of fun at the only festival in Cowley County to celebrate our furry friends!  Dogs must be current on rabies vaccination to attend. Admission is free! Like us on Facebook for updated information.

Our vendors this year:

- CCHS Doggie Boutique: all things pet-related
- CCHS Hot Dog Bar: vegetarian/vegan chili available
- Face painting by Sarah Martin
- Pampered Pet: hand-made soaps for pets and humans
- Dawson Monument: pet memorial items
- Matsufoto: pet photography
- Scentsy: wickless candles and warmers
- Salon 5th Avenue: "doggie tattoos" with stencils and human-
grade hair paint, colorful tails
- Crafts: wooden signs, chalk-painted furniture, crocheted items
- CHARG: Cowley Health Assistance Resource Group; info
info material
- South Central Kansas Kennel Club: info material
- Girls On the Go: pet/house-sitting, errand service

A huge thank you to our sponsors: American Family Insurance-Jonathan Leeper Agency in Winfield, Winfield Chiropractic, RCB Bank, and Wheat State Telephone!

Hope for Hondo

Hondo’s journey with the shelter started out, like so many animals, somewhat tragically. Hondo escaped his yard and was hit by a car. Injured, he was taken to a local vet and his owner contacted. Unfortunately, the owner did not have the resources to be able to pay a potentially large vet bill. After some heart wrenching thought, the decision was made to surrender him to the humane society so that he could be cared for. And so Hondo’s extensive treatment process began.

CCHS veterinarian Dr. Lindsay Gehring cleaned and flushed Hondo’s wound. There was also a fair amount of dead tissue that had to be removed. His wound was cleaned of that and sutured. He had bruising to his abdomen as well and we feared possible internal bleeding. Luckily, this was not the case. Hondo was placed on antibiotics to prevent infection and was taken in by shelter employee Dovie Browning to be fostered while he healed.

Unfortunately, Hondo had to come back in a week later to have more tissue removed. Once again, he was sutured and sent back to his foster home. Another week later and his sutures had opened and he had to be stitched up a third time. Yet again the wound tried to reopen. We were beginning to fear for this big, lovable dog but were not willing to give up on him!

In April, retired veterinary wound specialist, Dr. Swaim, volunteered his time and assisted Dr. Gehring in a skin graft on the area that refused to heal. Hondo’s activity was severely restricted to give the graft time to adhere and begin to grow to the healthy flesh. For weeks Hondo had to be kept in a crate when not on a leash so that he would move the healing hip as little as possible.

Through all of this, Hondo has remained a cheerful and loving dog. This big shepherd just doesn’t give up! Dovie says, “He’s a very good dog! He just loves to be loved.”

Nearly three months after his medical journey began, Hondo was finally declared well on the way, if not completely, recovered! He is currently in a foster-to-adopt home. His current foster mom reports that he loves to play and, if his foster brother won’t play with him, he’ll throw a ball up in the air and chase it by himself. It’s this “won’t give up” attitude that has seen him through months of repeated medical treatments. We’re holding out high hopes that this precious boy finds his furever home soon! He deserves it.

Petpalooza Is Coming Up!

Bring your four-legged friend(s) and have some fun with us! On Sep 10th, we are celebrating our furry companions with Petpalooza! There will be a 1-mile fun walk, contests for you and your pets, dog parks, miniature horses, dog race, vendors, cake walk, activities, raffle, silent auction, doggie boutique, hotdog bar, adoptable shelter animals, and more. See you there - admission is FREE!

August Adoption Special!

All adoptable animals are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, vetted and microchipped!

View our adoptable animals on our website

www.cowleycountyhumanesociety.org

Lucky Lucius

By Diana Russell

Last December the humane society received a litter of three 4-month old kittens. The owner had been unable to re-home them so turned to us for help. The beautiful, little Siamese mixes quickly found homes. About two months after he was adopted, the male was trapped running stray and returned to CCHS. We called his adopter but she informed us that she had been forced to re-home him and didn’t know the name of his new family. He was held for the standard stray period but no one came forward to claim him. Already vetted, he was immediately made available for adoption.

Lucius

I work at the CCHS and kept being drawn to him every time I walked by his kennel. We had an 8-month old kitten at home, also adopted from CCHS. My husband kept saying she needed a playmate but she showed no interest, and often outright distaste, for the little foster kittens I brought home. Still, it was worth a shot. Maybe, since he was closer to her size and looked less like a mouse than the tiny foster kittens we occasionally had, she’d take to him? Not holding out much hope I brought him home. Within 30 minutes the two youngsters were chasing each other up and down the hallway, wrestling, and napping together. It warmed my heart.

Lucius and Narcissa

We renamed him Lucius since his new friend was Narcissa. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll get that. Luc, as we call him, proved himself to be just as friendly, cuddly, and loving to humans as to Narcissa. He doesn’t know a stranger. When anyone visits, rather than hide like many cats, he rushes out to see who is visiting him.

Lucius being a foster daddy

Luc’s loving nature isn’t limited to the humans who live with and visit him. He loves our fosters! 

We regularly bring home 4-6 week old kittens to hang out at our house until they are old enough to be ready for adoption. They all LOVE Luc and he loves them back. It’s very common to find one, or a pile, of kittens sleeping on him. We call him Lucky Lucius but, really, we are the one who are lucky to have him.

Lucius and another one of his fosters

Little Orphan Annie

Annie at the shelter

On a hot summer day last July Annie, a sweet-tempered Treeing Walker Coonhound, was found running stray in the country. She was exhausted, underweight, hungry, thirsty, and seemed to have some minor injuries. She was brought to the CCHS for care. She had fly strike to both ears, a wound on her cheek that was flayed open and swollen, hair loss on both back legs, what appeared to be a BB stuck in her side, enlarged lymph nodes in her neck, and a corneal ulcer in one eye. She was a pitiful sight. But her disposition was sweet and gentle and she immediately captured our hearts. She was treated for her multitude of afflictions, given lots of food, rest, and a warm, safe place to recover.

Soon Annie was healing well and ready to find her furever home. Three months later a family was taken with her gentle nature and adopted her. However, she didn’t work out for them and they returned her. This happens from time to time. Not every dog is right for every family!

The search for a home for Annie began again. Annie had a four month stay at the shelter this time until Holly DeVos met her at an off site adoption event in Wichita. Annie quickly charmed Holly and her medical history touched Holly’s heart. Holly has other hounds so is familiar with the breed and their requirements. Holly decided to give Annie a furever family and brought her home to live on her 20 acres with six other dogs, four of them hounds, three house cats, two barn cats, thirteen horses, and assorted guinea hens! Annie was a very happy girl. 

Annie in her chair

Annie and her water dish

Holly says, “She sure does soak up affection and every day after breakfast or dinner she comes and stands next to me while the other dogs are finishing their food. I sit on a milking stool while she rests her head on my thigh and gets lots of love and scratches. She loves that special time.” 

Annie has a funny habit of standing in the water dish while she drinks and buries her whole muzzle in the water. She spends her days dozing on the porch until she rallies to run with the other dogs or chase a squirrel. She sleeps in "her" chair by Holly's bed each night. 

We’re thrilled that Annie has found such a happy, loving home. It didn’t happen quickly but, sometimes, it just takes a little patience waiting for the perfect match to come along. Annie has found hers.

Bark In The Park

CCHS was invited to be present at the Wichita Wingnuts game on June 5th. We had booths, contests, adoptable dogs and a lot of fun! Visitors were encouraged to bring their dogs to the game and many did! Thank you to everyone who came and to the Wichita Wingnuts for having us! Many of the visitors donated supplies and our Doggie Boutique took in $130!

All set up

Bobbing for hotdogs

More bobbing for hotdogs

Brynn, on of our adoptable dogs, enjoying the game

Volunteers with adoptable shelter dogs

Board member Tiffany Smith with her dog Hella, who was recruited for the first pitch

Olivia and Eugenia Moffit with their dog Dakota, who won the "furthest traveled dog contest"

Bark In The Park visitors