Monthly Archives: June 2015

Love Cats? This Month’s ‘Touch of Gray’ Promotion Is for You

By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Volunteer and Cat Correspondent The current collection of adoptable cats at the Aiken County Animal Shelter includes felines of all colors and sizes, making it a challenge to choose just one to take home. But now through July 11, cats that are completely gray, partly gray or just have a touch […]

At the Aiken County Shelter: puppies, kittens and kids – oh my!

6/22/15 By Ellie Joos, FOTAS Director and On-site Event Coordinator What’s way more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Puppies and kitties and kids, that’s what! And we had them in spades over the past several weeks when the Aiken County Animal Shelter hosted a birthday party and a visit from a group of twelve […]

Help! They’re coming out of our ears!

By Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice President It’s summer time at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, and we’re swamped with dogs, cats, puppies! So many puppies! A hundred kittens! Seriously. The County Shelter and FOTAS need your help… desperately. Many of our dedicated volunteers have gone away for the summer, leaving us critically shorthanded. The kennels in the adoption pod […]

The joy of fostering

07 June 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President The Igoe’s have fostered close to 100 puppies and dogs from the Aiken County Animal Shelter. The Wolcott’s and Courtney Conger have fostered well over 350. The Wisemans average about 100 per year. The Heuberger’s, our newest foster family, have already fostered 6. Ray Eckenrode […]

Then and now at the Community Aiken County Animal Shelter

31 May 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President 5000 square feet. Concrete floors with open trenches for waste removal. No air conditioning or air exchange system. No isolation facilities. No medical facilities. A tiny food prep area. No hot water. Peeling paint. Inadequate lighting. No separate cat facilities. No play yards. No volunteers. […]

FOTAS: Transfer program and foster families save lives

27 May 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President. It’s not even Memorial Day yet, and the intake wing of the Aiken County Animal Shelter is inundated with abnormally high numbers of owner surrenders, puppies, kittens and strays usually reserved for the summer months. Intake during April and May has been at record highs, […]

Summer Heartbreak at the County Animal Shelter

17 May 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President Summer is tough at the Aiken County Animal Shelter. While the rest of the world settles into the sleepy tempo of summer, FOTAS volunteers and County staff shift into hyper-drive to address the inevitable onslaught of puppies, kittens and owner-surrender animals that crowd the intake […]

The Aiken community comes together for Woofstock

12 May 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President Last Saturday FOTAS held its 4th Annual Woofstock Dog, Cat & Music Festival at the Aiken County Animal Shelter. It was all we hoped it would be and more. The weather was perfect. Puffy white clouds drifted across a bright blue sky. The cool temperatures […]

Love Stories at the Aiken County Animal Shelter

12 May 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President I love a good love story. Not the stuff of steamy bodice-ripping romance novels, but stories where love triumphs over tragedy and compassion trumps cruelty. The kind of stories where opportunity and luck sprinkled with a little magic create a bond that transcends the wounds […]

FOTAS hosts 4th Annual Woofstock Festival and 1st Doxie Derby

12 May 2015 By Joanna Dunn Samson, FOTAS Vice President Imagine this: It’s Saturday morning, May 2nd, at the Woofstock Dogs, Cats and Music Festival at the Aiken County Animal Shelter. It’s 10 a.m. – almost starting time. Excitement is running high. Competitors and handlers crowd around the starting gate, jockeying for position, muscles tensed […]