Truly important news

Thanks to Jim Vitelli, pet owners across Greater New Haven will be able to obtain low-cost rabies vaccines.

A low cost rabies clinic, sponsored by Wags and Whiskers, TLC, will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday May 30, at Pet Supplies Plus, 471 Boston Post Road, Orange, Conn.
The cost is $10 per vaccine and pet owners should bring previous a rabies certificate to receive a 3-year booster. Cats must be in carriers and dogs must be on leashes. For more information, please e-mail or call Jim Vitelli at pounddogs@yahoo.com or (203)937-3642.

Take your dog for a walk!

You will be in good company and help a great cause

The 2009 Walk for Fidelco fundraising event will be held from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday, May 16 at the Manchester Community College, Great Path, Manchester. More than 2,000 people and hundreds of dogs walked last year in support of the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and this year, an Honor/Memorial trail, complete with rose bushes, will pay tribute to special people and four-legged friends, organizers said.

The event is free and open to the public.

Fidelco is New England’s only guide dog school and has 53 Connecticut clients; 20 of whom live in the greater Hartford area. It also has clients in 33 other states and four provinces in Canada.

Schedule of events:
8:30a.m.: Opening Ceremony-Fidelco staff; clients and guide dogs; and The First Governor’s Foot Guard kick off the 2009 Walk for Fidelco.

10:15 a.m.: Foster families and training staff will demonstration the skills Fidelco dogs learn from puppy-hood to becoming guide dogs.

11:00 a.m.: Closing ceremony-Fidelco says “thank you” for taking a few extra steps to help men and women who are blind make great strides along the road to independence with Fidelco guide dogs at their sides.

For more information, visit http://www.walkforfidelco.org/

A purr-fect way to honor the memory of an animal lover

In a tribute to The Purr Project‘s guardian angel, the group has created an academic scholarship honoring Suzan D’Antonio.
D’Antonio, shown, a veterinary technician and animal lover, died in March 2008. On her behalf, her family and friends donated almost $4,000 to the Purr Project.
Through the donations, The Purr Project was put on a totally different trajectory in a year that saw rapidly declining budgets, and service cuts, according to a statement.
To honor D’Antonio’s memory and carry on her work of caring for animals, The Purr Project, Inc. will grant a yearly $1,000 academic scholarship to eligible college students and incoming freshmen enrolled in a veterinary technology or pre-vet program. Named the Suzan D’Antonio Full Bucket Scholarship, after the New York Times bestselling book "How Full is Your Bucket?," the scholarship will be awarded to those who have demonstrated the notion of filling buckets and therefore giving back to animals who have no voice, the statement said.
The $1,000 scholarship is meant to "support the supporter" by being available for books, supplies, meal plans, and certain fees that many other scholarships do not cover.
Complete eligibility requirements are still being formulated but will be based on: a history of giving back to animals (filling buckets), need, and GPA, among other factors. Special consideration may be given to students who attend institutions regionally, but students nationwide are encouraged to apply.
The annual award will be granted for the first time in the summer 2009 for the 2009-10 school year. Applications will be available through most college and high school counselors’ office by May 11, online at purrproject.org/D’Antonio as of May 4, or by calling The Purr Project, Inc. at (203) 865-0878. The deadline for submitting applications for consideration is August 3, 2009.
The program will be administered by The Purr Project Foundation, a volunteer group that will also include members of the D’Antonio family. Donations to the foundation can be made with a credit card or Paypal through the Purr Project, Inc web site at www.purrproject.org, or sending a check or money order to The Purr Project Foundation. 843 State St. New Haven, Conn., 06511.
As with The Purr Project rescue group, The Purr Project Foundation is staffed by an all volunteer force therefore more than 90 percent of each donation goes directly to helping students.