Paws Haven, a local animal-welfare shelter, relies on a web of small, practical contributions to keep operations running while animals wait for new homes. Over the past week, the shelter has benefitted from targeted donations, outreach visits and school-based wellness activities that underscore the role companion animals can play in community life. This report summarises the key developments, why they matter operationally, and where support is still most needed.

Operations: A Donation That Improves Daily Care

A brand-new wheelbarrow, donated by Herman van der Sluis in partnership with Potch Pay It Forward, may appear modest, but it directly strengthens day-to-day animal care. At shelters, the most time-consuming tasks, moving bulk food, bedding and cleaning supplies; clearing used litter; and transporting waste to disposal points, depend on functional equipment. A reliable wheelbarrow reduces staff fatigue, shortens cleaning cycles and helps teams reach more kennels and catteries in a morning round. The result is cleaner enclosures, faster feeding, and more time for welfare checks and gentle socialisation, all of which are linked to better health outcomes and adoptability.

Community Outreach: Companion Animals and Elder Care

Rufus, one of Paws Haven’s resident dogs, recently visited an elder-care setting where staff reported visible mood lifts among residents. Research and long-standing practice in animal-assisted activity suggest that calm, well-handled visits can lower stress, encourage conversation and provide sensory comfort. Rufus’s visit followed this pattern: residents engaged, smiled and interacted, while the dog maintained relaxed, friendly behaviour under handler supervision. Beyond the moment, such visits familiarise the public with shelter animals as potential family companions, particularly valuable for dogs like Rufus who are still seeking permanent homes.

Youth & Wellbeing: Girls High Wellness Week

During Girls High Wellness Week, learners spent time with dogs from Paws Haven in a structured, low-pressure setting. Educators often use these encounters to model gentle handling, empathy and responsible interaction with animals. For learners, the session offered practical stress relief, quiet stroking, short walks and mindful moments, which many schools now integrate into wider wellness efforts. For the shelter, it served as education and outreach: learners saw how rescue organisations operate, why adoption and fostering matter, and how small acts, donating food, sharing verified posts, volunteering, add up.

A Difficult Intake Picture: Why Cat and Kitten Food Matters

Paws Haven reports an elevated intake of cats and kittens in recent weeks, with more than 90 felines arriving in a single month through surrenders or abandonments. Young kittens are particularly resource-intensive: they require frequent feeding, appropriate formulas or high-quality kitten food, parasite control and warm, low-stress environments. The shelter supports a network of foster carers by providing supplies; this is a critical pressure valve that keeps fragile animals out of crowded catteries and improves survival and socialisation. For that reason, donations of kitten and adult cat food remain a top priority alongside cleaning materials and veterinary-related items.

How Community Giving Translates to Animal Outcomes

• Faster, cleaner rounds: Functional tools (like the new wheelbarrow) shorten cleaning and feeding cycles, decreasing disease risk.

• Better socialisation time: When logistics run smoothly, staff and volunteers can spend more minutes on calm, positive contact - key for shy or stressed animals.

• Education that multiplies impact: School and elder-care visits extend awareness beyond the shelter, turning participants into advocates, adopters or donors.

• Fostering capacity: Food and basic supplies enable foster homes to take neonates and juveniles, which directly improves survival and frees kennel space.

Ways to Help

Members of the public who wish to support can consider:

• Donations: Kitten food, adult cat food, dog food, cleaning materials and financial contributions.

• Fostering: Short-term care for kittens or recovering animals, with supplies typically provided by the shelter.

• Adoption: Offering a permanent home after standard checks.

• Volunteer time: Assisting with cleaning, enrichment and socialisation.

• Responsible sharing: Circulating verified posts about lost, found or adoptable animals to broaden reach.

Acknowledgements

Paws Haven extends sincere thanks to Herman van der Sluis and Potch Pay It Forward for the wheelbarrow donation; to Tau MeuleVoere for ongoing food support; and to the many individuals whose consistent giving sustains routine care. Gratitude is also due to the elder-care partners and to Girls High for opening their Wellness Week to shelter animals, initiatives that demonstrate how welfare and wellbeing intersect.

Final pawprint

This snapshot illustrates how a shelter’s progress is built from many small, coordinated actions: a tool that speeds cleaning, a classroom moment that teaches empathy, a gentle visit that lifts spirits, and a bag of kitten food that keeps a foster placement viable. Continued, targeted support will help Paws Haven maintain humane standards of care while guiding more animals from intake to recovery - and, ultimately, into secure, loving homes.

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