• Keep your pet on the wagon. Since alcohol is potentially poisonous to pets, place all wine, beer and spirits well out of paws' way.
• Avoid scraps from the grill. Stick with your pet's normal diet—any change, even for a day, can result in stomach upset. Certain foods like onions, avocado, chocolate, grapes and raisins are especially toxic to pets .
• Avoid lathering your pet with any insect repellent or sunscreen not intended for the four-legged kind. Ingestion can result in drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst and lethargy.
• Stay fire-smart. Keep your pet away from fireworks, matches, citronella candles and lighter fluid, which if eaten can irritate the stomach, lungs and central nervous system.
• Be cool near the pool. Don't leave pets unsupervised around a pool or lake—not all dogs are expert swimmers! Also, pools aren't large water bowls—they contain chlorine and other toxic chemicals that can cause stomach problems.

It's heartbreaking, the condition of some of the animals that we take in here at the Stevens-Swan shelter. For example, this sweet female puppy was brought in by Utica Animal Control Officer Chris Collver after a concerned citizen on Blandina Street in Utica spotted her and took her in. Upon her arrival, we saw the extremely malnousished and dehydrated shape she was in and we gave her our total attention and care. A foster volunteer also stepped in to take her for the evening. This little pup has now spent the week at a local veterinarian's clinic receiving medical treatment and is being kept there for observation. We're hopeful that this little girl will soon be on a path to much better health. We are so appreciative of our 'eyes and ears' in the community who help us in the fight against animal abuse. If you see any forms of abuse, please contact your animal control officer and help those animals who can't speak out for themselves. Your calls will be kept confidential and annonymous if you wish.

We are following up with information as to this poor puppy's previous owners and mistreatment.

**Update: (Below) Here's Angel now known at SOPHIA after 2 weeks at the Veterinary Hospital and she going home with her foster family. She has made some progress but has a ways to go. If you'd like to help us in paying for her medical bills (now over $1,000) please send your donation to: The SOPHIA Fund (Checks made out to SSHS) c/o The Stevens-Swan Humane Society, 5664 Horatio Street, Utica, NY 13502

Thank You !

Golfers: If you are planning on attending the Turning Stone Resort Championship event at the Atunyote Golf Course on September 28 to October 4, please purchase your admission tickets through our shelter and help the animals here at the Stevens-Swan Humane Society.  This is our first year involved in the ‘Tickets for Charity' program and we are excited about the opportunity to be involved in this premier golf fundraising event.

Here's how it works: Advance tickets are available through our office ( 5664 Horatio Street , off Rt. 12 N in Utica , just past the Riverside Center ). One-day tickets are being sold for $25 each and are good any one day Wednesday through Sunday. There are no weekly booklets or Monday/Tuesday tickets. * Tickets at the gate increase to $35, so we encourage you to get your advance tickets through our office. WE KEEP 100% of the money collected from ticket sales at our office!

You purchase your golf tickets through our office and we will provide you with a ticket voucher. We will then secure the actual admission tickets from the Oneida Nation and we will mail the tickets to you in a timely manner.

For more information, please contact Jerry Kraus at our office at 738-4357 ex 23.  Please help us get the word out by telling all of your golfing friends. Thank You !

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to join us for the June ADOPT-A-THON at the Stevens-Swan Humane Society Saturday June 6th.

14 of our animals went out for adoptions and fostering! We are allready planning our next one in July. Keep checking back for all the information.

(see photos below)

THANK YOU !

To Dave Morgan, the organizers of the recent Blues Fest at the Ilion Moose Lodge and everyone who brought a donation. Nearly 600 pounds of pet food was collected for our animals here at The Stevens-Swan Humane Society (photos above & below)

The crowd enjoyed great blues and rock music from The Nighthawks (from Washington DC) and a hot opening set from Phil Petroff and Natural Fact (From Syracuse)

The Pet Food Collection and Blues Concert was held To Honor Bruce Gigliotti (1954- 2004)  
   Please go to web site for much more http://www.petconcert.com

Looks like our shelter dog 'Teddy' will be adopted as well!

Lydia Bolton, a 7 th grader from Perry Jr. High in New Hartford, recently collected towels from her family, friends and the Senior Center as part of a school-community service project for our shelter. Lydia washed and folded the towels which will be used to make the cat cages more comfortable for the cats up for adoption.

Here's Lydia with ‘Gizmo' our 18 year old shelter house cat 'mascot'.

The 1st Annual ‘Spring Fling' Party to benefit the Stevens-Swan Humane Society of Oneida County was a great success thanks to all of you who came out to enjoy the party!

Thanks to Daniele's Restaurant at Valley View, on the Parkway in Utica,

The Bandella Brothers,

Magician Shaun Robison, John Naegele & the Saranac Beer Sampling

$4,000 was raised to help out our animals

Plus, Assemblyman Dave Townsend made an additional $5,000 check presentation for repairs to our shelter!

Thanks to Christine and Mary from Excellus BC/BS for bringing in a huge supply of food donations for our animals. Also, thanks to The Fountainhead Group for supplying 10 beautiful baskets for our raffles.

Special Thanks to : StaffWorks, Big Apple Music (New Hartford),

WKTV Newschannel 2 and KISS-FM

Please take a moment to help us at The Stevens-Swan Humane Society-

It's : The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter Challenge

The Animal Rescue Site is awarding $100,000 in grants to eligible Petfinder.com member rescue organizations. The grand prize is a $20,000 grant and there are many more prizes ranging from $1,000 for weekly winners up to $5,000 for the runner-up. There will be a winner in every state as well as other grants!

The shelter organizations with the most votes will win. You can click to help animals at www.theanimalrescuesite.com and then vote for The Stevens-Swan Humane Society. Clicking and voting are free, with no registration required. You can vote once every day during the Challenge, which is on now through July 26, 2009.

Visit www.theanimalrescuesite.com to learn more. It's free, and only takes a moment of your time. Thank you!

Click the Icon below to vote for us.

THANK YOU to everyone who came out for the first annual Bunny Breakfast hosted by our Auxiliary to benefit the Stevens-Swan Humane Society. It was a great time and raised nearly $2,000 for our animals! Special Thanks to Carmelita Balsdon and the Auxiliary for organizing this fine breakfast at the American Legion Post 229 in N. Utica. Here's some of our happy helpers from the event.

Special thanks to all of our sponsors including DeSantis Deli and Meat Market (Barneveld), Price Chopper (N. Utica), Hannaford's, Wal-Mart, Dunkin Donuts (Rome), Freihofer's and Broad Street Cash & Carry (Utica). Our 'Iron Chef' kitchen helpers included Craig Horak, Dave Dellecese, Bill Panella, Jerry Kraus, Al Baker and John Joseph.

Jackie Romano of the Fountainhead Group recently stopped by for a visit and tour. She also presented the shelter with a $2,000 donation to help our animals! Thank you Jackie and the Fountainhead Group, a local company that is very community minded.

Pictured in our lobby L-R : SSHS Board Members Dave Taurisano and Anita Vitullo, Jackie Romano, and Diane Broccoli (Executive Director) & Jerry Kraus (PR/Marketing/Development Director)

Thank You !!!

Over $91,000 raised for our animals

The 4th Annual Stevens-Swan Humane Society Telethon was held Thursday January 15th on WKTV Newschannel 2 from 6a until 8p at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Utica. This is our major fundraiser for the shelter. We want to thank Anita Vitullo and the staff from StaffWorks, our major presenting sponsor. Special thanks also to our Telethon sponsors, volunteers, the Auxiliary, Crash's Critter Corner, the Radisson Hotel, WKTV and everyone who helped with the Telethon.

Thank you to everyone who called-in a pledge. We are still taking donations if you couldn't get through. (315-738-4357 or through our PayPal link on our web site)

We couldn't care for our animals if it wasn't for the outstanding support of our members, sponsors, Auxiliary, board and volunteers.

(Here are a few photos below)

(Dec) Here's a recent picture of 'Mickey', who is improving daily. He's now 15 weeks old and growing up to be an energetic playful dog. Eileen Bowes has done a wonderful job of foster caring for 'Mickey' and has now officially adopted him!

Happy Holidays to Mickey and Eileen and to everyone who has followed this story and who has provided support and prayers for Mickey's return to good health.