Gabe Has Been Adopted!!

A year to the day that he was cleared for adoption, our wonderful, lovable, goofy Gabe has been adopted!!!!!!!

That's right, Gabe has finally gone home with his furever family and we could not be more excited for him.

It's undeniable that after the amount of time he's been with Joa’s Arc that we have all grown very attached to Gabe, especially his foster family, but a home of their own is always the goal for our extra special furbabies.

Gabe's new family actually wrote us just this morning saying: "I just wanted you to know that Gabe is GREAT!!!! He is adjusting to his "forever" home, beautifully. Our stairs were a challange at first, but he now is, as Jeff says, the "stair master". He gets along well with all our other pets, but Cecelia, our little terrier, is still a little afraid when Gabe shows he wants to play by pouncing at her. It's really fun to watch.

Thank you so much for choosing us as Gabe's family. He really is a special boy."

A great big thank you and hug to Gabe's family. May he bring you all the happiness (and laughs) that we know that goofy boy is capable of.

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Happy New Year!!

A new year - a new opportunity to help more shelters, help more animals, save more special lives and make new friends who share the same goals!

As we reflect back on 2011, we see so many accomplishments and happy tails...

Besides caring for our special needs animals like Wil, Faulk, Mia and Gabe (who are still available for adoption), Joa's Arc was actively involved in a huge cat hoarding situation for several months! Joyce M, Jen S and Jen W were some of the very first people to become involved with this house at the very beginning and it has to this day remained a stressful, demanding situation. Because we were so wrapped up with this hoarding house for so long, we were very slow on adoptions this year and, of course, each ended up with some of these cats in our homes at one point. Stay tuned for info about this whole ordeal soon!

Gabriel got surgery, healed up and was finally available for adoption this year! Joa's Arc rescued Gabriel, a 4 year old hound boy, who was found on the side of a road after being hit by a car in the south. Although we mainly rescue shelter animals in South Jersey, Gabe had not one, but two incidents making him a more than usual desperate case. Although another rescue down south initially took him in, had his leg casted and placed him in foster care... Gabe chewed off his cast in anxiety after another dog decided he didn’t like Gabriel and nearly tore off Gabe's entire ear! After surgery to staple his ear back in place, this rescue reached out for help and Joa’s Arc agreed to take Gabriel.

Gabe came to New Jersey and had surgery on his broken leg, which was some sort of rare break that the seasoned orthopedic vet we took Gabe to said he had never personally seen before. After months of rehab and vet care, Gabe is good as new now though! He is a goofy, loving, sweet hound who loves everyone including dogs and cats. We have one final step to accomplish in his recovery and that is to find him a loving forever home, preferably with another dog he can play with.

Joa's Arc also recently pulled two kittens, Guppy and Gizmo, from a local shelter. Gizmo has some serious eye deformities and and ulcer in her one eye. Guppy has a deformed back leg and tail, though it's hard to tell because this vocal, little munchkin gets around really well! Thanks to networking and some kind people stepping up to help us help them, both kittens are now safe in foster care.

Right before the holidays, two very special cats found themselves happy in homes - Maizey the CH kitty and Inferno, a blind, older cat who was in a local shelter.

We can't forget about Savior and Sal either! A very nice person found Savior, an all white adult male cat, and Sal, an all black male kitten, all by themselves in an empty apartment. This odd pair were both suffering from neglect - skinny and sick. Joa's Arc was able to help get the two cleaned up, back to health and both neutered. Through this all, we found that Savior and Sal had an incredible bond together... and we completed their story with us the only way we knew how - by finding them a loving home together!

Talk about a transformation!!

Joa's Arc has helped many special needs (and normal) animals this year, with some still waiting to be adopted. It is thanks to your help and support that we've been able to accomplish so much! With your continued support, we look forward to whatever 2012 holds for us.

Here's to a happy, healthy, life-saving 2012! Tweet This

Checking In On Gabe

Gabriel is still in foster care and doing well.

Gabe has come a long way from his rough start which brought him to us. There was been a long transport, surgery to fix his leg, lots of rest, x-rays, sututre removal, doggie playdates ... and time being a total goofball!

Gabe dressed for a Spring  fundraiser

Since being medically cleared, Gabe's been hanging out in his foster home, which has kids, cats, a bird and other dogs (though they're all cat-size compared to Gabe) - he gets along with all of them swimmingly! He's warmly welcomed a few new fosters, like Mia and Kissy's kittens. Through all of this, Gabe has kept his same silly antics up.

Gabriel and his pal, Mia, resting after wrestling

Although he's happy in his foster home, Gabe would really like his own home. We'd prefer Gabe go to a home with another dog and maybe a kid or two as well. We feel this would be best for him because Gabe loves other dogs (especially his pal, Mia). He's goofy as well and yet quite gentle, so we think gabe would be a great pal for a kid to grow up with.

Although he has made a full medical recovery, a home is still needed to make this guy's fairy tale have a happy ending. Please consider adopting this happy hound boy! Tweet This

Gabe's Been Cleared For Adoption!!

How about some good news?!

Gabe has been cleared for adoption! Yes, after months of surgery, funny colored casts, rest and recovery, Gabe is finally all ready for a home of his own!

A great big thank you to Winslow Animal Hospital's staff, including the very awesome, very skilled Dr. Coudrai who did Gabe's surgery and monitored his recovery. The people at this vet office are just exceptionally sweet, caring and kind. This is the same office that has done two Spring/Easter fund raisers for us and helped Cup of Joe too!

Thank you to Jen S and Hailey for their awesome love, energy and time fostering Gabe. Thank you to Joyce for kindly offering to transport Gabe occasionally to the vet's for his check ups too! Last, but not least, let's thank Gabe for being such a good patient. :)

Now, we anxiously wait for that special family to complete Gabe's long journey and wants to call this hound boy their very own... Will it be you? Tweet This

Introducing Gabriel the dog

An email flashed in our inbox which was hard to ignore: "Gabriel the hound suffers severely broken leg then violently attacked!!!!"

The email explained that Gabriel is a sweet, tri-colored hound boy ... and “EVERYTHING BAD seems to happen to him”!

First, this hound dog came into a county shelter in North Carolina with a severely broken hind leg (see photo). A group down there and a wonderful woman named Sylvia were nice enough to spend thousands of dollars on the vet bills to piece poor Gabriel’s leg back together. After Cup of Joe, we at Joa's Arc know this isn’t an easy task – the fundraising, the time, the trips to the vet for check-ups, the special care that extends for weeks even after surgery to ensure the leg heals properly, etc. This is not an easy journey for a rescue or a dog.

Gabriel was boarded at a kennel for his recovery. Well, as if poor Gabriel wasn’t going through enough just with a broken leg healing, another dog escaped its kennel and went after poor Gabriel! Obviously, Gabriel was in no position to get away, let alone defend himself and he suffered horribly! During the attack, the other dog practically scalped Gabriel and nearly ripped one of his ears off too.

“No dog should ever experience the pain or suffering that this pathetic creature has endured in his short life time. It is so unfair.” The quote from the initial email about Gabriel could not be more true.

The emails we get are always heartbreaking, but obviously this one struck a chord ... a shelter dog already set back from being adopted due to a broken leg and then to be so violently attacked in a kennel... Ugh! Poor baby!

Like we do as often as we can, Joa's Arc volunteers wrote to check in on Gabriel and see how we could help – even if that just meant networking around. We got some more information from our friend and found out that although there had been talk, no solid offers of rescue for this poor guy had come through. The organization that had been helping Gabriel had pretty much exhausted their funds and Gabriel still needed a rescue/foster/adopter ... obviously recovering in a kennel had not gone successfully and a quiet home would be best.

Our hearts broke for Gabriel. So much so, that Jen S wrote the woman in NC that had Gabriel:

Hi, I left you a voice mail about Gabriel.

If he does not have a foster and is available for transport, I would love to foster him through my South Jersey Rescue, Joa's Arc. Our mission is to assist with Special Needs animals for local NJ and PA rescues/shelters.

Gabriel is tugging at my heart strings, I would love to open my home to him so he can know love and kindness. I know Gabriel is outside our Mission but we the Board of Joa's Arc unanimously voted to reach out a helping hand (paw) to Gabriel. Plus, we had a Special Needs kitten named Gabriel who has since crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He was attacked by a dog and became paralyzed in the rear. He lived a happy life for a little over a year. No more fear of being attacked for Gabriel.

I have 2 friends that own hounds and I will make sure he has regular plays dates with all 3 of them. All my hound friend's want to do is play!

Please let me know the current status and availability of Gabriel.

Thank you!!

Jen S, Board Member
Joa's Arc

Well, guess what? As of today, Gabriel is on his way to Joa's Arc!! Coincidentally, a small transport of dogs were already scheduled to head up from the same shelter Gabriel came into in NC to a town near by in South Jersey. Joa's Arc! is also making a donation to the rescue who put so much hard work, time and love into Gabriel already. We're all excited for Gabriel's arrival sometime between tomorrow and we're looking forward to a quiet, happy and safe recovery for Gabriel in Jen S's home while she fosters him.

Thank you for all your support, friends. Without you, none of this would be possible. Check back for an update soon! Tweet This