Les Amis des Animaux
From foster to forever home
From foster to forever home
This year has seen the association “come of age” – it has been our tenth year of operations and while we are not in any way an oak-tree we have certainly come a long way from a tiny acorn sown in the late months of 2013, giving birth to the Association early in 2014 with our first fund-raising fete in April 2014.
Ten years on and several thousand dogs and cats saved later, it feels like we have a legacy to protect, a reputation to keep and a passion to continue doing what we do best. Coming of age has served to give us shape to what we do – a realisation that we can think and work strategically – and we are very proudly owning that. Whilst we don’t go in for traditional organisation charts – we have got a diagram that demonstrates how we have evolved and how we see ourselves going forward.
Thinking in this way has helped to give us sharper purpose and a sense of wholeness.
In the cases of emergencies such as: a litter of puppies left at the vets for euthanasia, a cat suffering from having been knocked down, kittens just a few days old left in a box in someone’s garden, a dog whose owner has walked away from the vet because costs and effort of care are too much – thanks to our wonderful foster families and deeply caring supporters, we inevitably say an immediate ‘yes’ and sometimes we are miraculously moving into action within the hour of notification. On other occasions, distance to get the animal to the right place – be it a specialist vet, the right foster home, or even a pension to get them into safety – can take a little more time.
The foster period – the filling in the middle of the sandwich – is as varied as the choices in a sandwich bar. It truly is horses for courses and our “frequent fosterers” as we call them, know where their strengths lie and what they do best. And the range is vast – from people who are able and willing to break their sleep patterns in order to get up and feed neonates round the clock for the first few weeks of life – through those who can help a neglected/traumatised dog or cat become adoptable, to those at the other end of the spectrum – our seniors and those fosterers who have the courage and compassion to take on an older dog or cat and give it a great rest of its life, however long that might be.
This leads me to talk about those souls that have “died in care” – and there have been quite a number this year. Like us humans, animals are at their most vulnerable when they are very young, sick or old. This is one of the least “enjoyable” facets of our work. For the puppies and kittens whose apparent allocated lifespan is but a few days or weeks, this is not always just luck of the draw – it is the fact that they are taken from their mothers without having suckled, or barely at all; their mothers are carriers of diseases because they are not vaccinated; they have not had the best of food during the gestation period. Despite the odds being against them, our courageous fosterers always say, we have to try. And so they do, and alongside success goes loss which hits hard.
Sometimes we just have to make the decision that the kindest thing to do is to let them go. Our lifetime fosterers know that this is an inevitability – and everything is done to ensure that their passing is in loving arms. We are so grateful for that. There have this year been many beautiful tributes written by these wonderful people. The very hardest is when a dog or cat comes into our care in such a terrible state that we are cripplingly unable to truly help – and we have to say, it is time. We try our best to rationalise it but there is inevitably hurt and disappointment that the only recourse we had was to give them a dignified end.
Of course thankfully the major part of our work is leading to the success of finding a permanent family for the dog or cat in our care. And this is without doubt the part that keeps us going thanks to the dedication, skills and knowledge of the placement teams. Knowing that the animal’s journey has been a success in our hands and that they are going on to spend the rest of their lives in safety, surrounded by love, and as an integrated member of that family is definitely what makes us tick. As we reach the end of this celebratory year, we have already more than 251 adoptions and 38 Lifetime Foster placements found (as of the end of November) and as always is the case, there are several more in the pipeline.
MONTHLY DONATIONS are a crucial part of our survival and is largely unsung. So for those who over the course not only of this year, but previous years too have seen an amount going into our coffers month after month we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you benefit by seeing what we do through our newsletter or our regular posts on our Support Page. You truly do make a difference.
AUCTIONS – their reputation goes before them! Every week for the major part of this year, the Auction Team have produced interesting, enticing and often creative and innovative auctions. We do hope that those who participate – whether in the gifting of items for auction, or in the bidding, see this as a win:win:win. The team are slick, skilled, astute and full of good humour – even when the going gets tough as sometimes it does.
It is the above two sources, along with contributions for adoptions that keep the wheels turning – that allow us to make important decisions – especially around the use of specialist vets and giving the go-ahead for life saving operations. The evidence of this is in the vet bills paid – usually within 48 hours.
TARGETED FUND RAISING – is perhaps an area that people see the most – and this has worked significantly for several dogs over the course of this year – perhaps the most significant being for the two dogs who have benefited from double hip replacements in 2024 and who because of their complex needs had to go to Italy for this to be done. People are incredible when there is a specific call for help. Raising 10,000 euros not once but twice is no mean feat.
INNOVATION plays a huge part too – from individuals who do fabulous things like run marathons, offer their accommodation as prizes, through developing our online merchandising facility, to supporting people who wish to organise their own event – such as we started with our Coffee Mornings Initiative in October.
The next major innovative project will be Support our Seniors to see if people would like to help us by sponsoring the seniors in our care which varies from between 85 and 100 ageing animals at any given time and is a unique part of the service we offer. These costs are a good 40% of our total vet bills – so something of the order of 60,000 euros in this year alone.
GIFTS FROM FUND-RAISERS come our way from time to time and we are truly honoured to be on their lists. These gifts turn up at crucial times and are always very very welcome. Our thanks to Ark 79, Hope, Rainbow, Boussac Brocante, Furry Tails, Mains Tendues for the gifts over the course of this year.
LEGACIES AND WILLS – We had hoped that we would qualify for ARUP status and the last two years have seen us working towards that. Sadly it was not to be and given the now-known parameters, we are unlikely to qualify in any near future. But we are delighted that all is not lost and we have learned that even as an association “d’interêt general” we can accept bequests and as an association working for animal welfare we qualify for tax exemption. We have a guide available to anyone interested in remembering us at their passing HERE.
STORYTELLING – people love to have insights into what we are doing, difficulties we are facing, successes we are having, the great wins in our “where are they now” stories and the tributes for the losses. This is possible only because we maintain a Les Amis community and endeavour to remain in touch with all adopters. As part of our birthday celebrations we were still able to contact people who were some of our first adopters way back in the early days.
Fostering is unpredictable – as a dog or a cat unpacks its baggage, knowing what to do to help is vital. Neonates go up and down with the speed of lightning and often cause consternation in their fosterers. Having a resource to aid that need that is part of what we do so that our fosterers feel supported, guided rather than guessing, and empowered to act.
Any adoption is meant to be for life. All dogs and cats are individuals and we have always been there to help when the going gets a bit “sticky”. And yet it is only in this tenth year of our working that we are now looking to garner information, support and guidance and harness it in a format that makes it accessible at the point of need. And like the association itself, it will grow by following the alive path, where there is energy and enthusiasm.
Subscribe to our newsletter to keep updated on our cat and dog rescues, adoption alerts and to learn how you can help neglected animals.