Bringing No-Kill to Rutherford County, NC

Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS) of Rutherford County, NC

PAWS’ most notable successes from our humble beginnings of three volunteers in August 2013, through April, 2016, with approximately 20 volunteers, include:

• Performed over 1,400 free or low-cost spay/neuter procedures on county pets thanks to generous funding from grants, fundraisers, and additional help from the Community Partnership for Pets, Inc., of Hendersonville, NC. (We currently have over 350 pets on the waiting list.)

• Provided free spay /neuter for 133 pits and pit mixes, the most difficult breed to re-home.

• Distributed over 14 tons of high-quality pet food to pet owners in urgent need, through donations by Lulu’s Rescue, concerned citizens, and Forest City Pets.

• Inoculated 200 Rutherford County pets from rabies at no charge to owners on public assistance and $5 for general public.

• Expanded outreach efforts to include low-income pet-owners and their children. Collected and donated 1000 diapers and over 300 warm coats and additional outerwear items, including sweaters, hoodies, boots, gloves, and hats. Providing these items helped loving pet-owners have more funds in their budgets to care for and feed their pets.

• Pet re-homing program has resulted in 248 pets finding new homes with to keep homeless pets out of Rutherford County Animal Control, a kill facility.

• Building a strong foster program with food and vetting provided.
• Distributed 27 dog houses so pets can have shelter from the weather.

• PAWS obtained their 501c3 status on March 26, 2015.