A Spooktacular October! — A Crooked Trail or Two

In these crazy times, when the Covid-19 pandemic has cancelled many races and the wildfire is making exercising outdoors difficult or impossible, it can be hard to keep one’s training on track, whatever your sport.

Readers of this blog know that my own solution has been to enroll - with family & good friends! - in a virtual run the length of Great Britain.

And now, during the month of October, I’m adding another layer to the virtual adventures: I’ve signed up for the Run Fur Fun Spooktacular, a month-long virtual fitness challenge that benefits the lifesaving work of Animal Friends Alliance.

So what is Animal Friends Alliance, and why should you support them?

A commitment to find dogs and cats a home, however long it takes

Animal Friends Alliance is a “limited admission, adoption guarantee shelter” for cats and dogs. That means they accept animals surrendered to other shelters, including many brought to Colorado from other states that have very high populations of homeless dogs and cats. The Alliance guarantees that every animal they accept stays with them until a good home can be found.

As one example, consider the case of Crocket, a sweet pup Animal Friends Alliance took in who had a congenital cleft palate. This condition would have left him more vulnerable to infections and pneumonia, more likely to choke on food and water, and less likely to be adopted. It took three surgeries, but Crocket is doing very well now, and is happy in his new forever home.

Crocket before his surgeries, and after… in his new forever home!

Or consider the case of Walt. He came to Animal Friends Alliance after some kind people at an overwhelmed Texas shelter reached out. Walt had been picked up as a stray, and while they knew Walt had the potential to be a wonderful family dog, the shelter didn’t have the ability to give him the attention he needed. He needed grooming to get rid of the serious mats in his coat, and he was so skittish of people that he wouldn’t come out of his igloo… a behavior unlikely to find him any willing adopters, and therefore something that was likely to lead to his euthanasia. But Animal Friends Alliance was able to give him the attention he needed to thrive.

Low-cost spay/neuter services

The reason animal shelters exist in the first place is that too many dogs and cats are reproducing… there are just too many animals, and too many more being born every day! But by providing subsidized spay and neuter for both dogs and cats, Animal Friends Alliance’s spay/neuter clinic offers a proactive solution to animal homelessness. The clinic also provides preventative health care including vaccinations, deworming, heartworm testing, feline viral testing, and microchipping.

Kibble pantry for families in need, to keep animals in their homes

One of the worst nightmares I can imagine is falling on hard times — having a health crisis or a job loss — and wondering how I’m going to feed my furry family members. This is another area where Animal Friends Alliance helps in our community: people who are in a low-income bracket or who receive government assistance can receive free kibble through the Pet Food Pantry. The program works in so many ways: animals can stay in their homes (meaning their humans don’t have to surrender them to already-overwhelmed municipal shelters), and the humans aren’t deprived of their beloved companions during a money crisis.

Animal Friends Alliance helps animals like Fuggle (who as of today, is still available for adoption!) find a forever home.

We consider Animal Friends Alliance to be part of our family, as we adopted all four of our boys from Animal House Rescue, a predecessor organization now subsumed within the Alliance, and Christi works to write grants and help with other Alliance fundraising efforts.

Gus, whom we adopted in 2009 from Animal Friends Alliance

So what’s this Spooktacular event?

Throughout the month of October, set a Spooktacular goal for the number of miles you intend to walk, run, bike, row, swim - or any combination of these - and allow that goal to help you stick to your fitness routine! Track your miles on your own, or on Strava (where some participants are cheering each other on via this group) and at the end of the month, you’ll receive any swag you’ve ordered as a part of your registration.

Most importantly, the money from your registration goes straight to helping animals (and some humans, too!) and preventing animal overpopulation.