After three years at HSSW, I am very proud of the hard work of our staff and board of directors and I’m grateful for the amazing support we receive from our donors, vendors, volunteers, fosters, residents and municipalities. Together, we are helping pets go home again!

We are working on expanding our vet services to provide the medical and surgical services needed to support our pets, other rescue and shelter pets and resident pets in our community. We are excited and recently started doing additional procedures and spay/neuter services for rescues and other shelters, some of which are beyond Rock County. We will be expanding these services to the general public very soon!

We have made some staffing and position changes as we expand service offerings since our move into our new building. We received a grant for training from ‘Dogs Playing for Life’ and are focusing on providing dog play groups for all dogs in our shelter. This helps them to reduce stress and improves the quality of their shelter experience. Our cat towns have recently been upgraded to include cat enrichment equipment to allow them to climb, scratch, swing and more! Our Catio will receive similar upgrades in spring. These upgrades were made possible due to a wonderful donation!

Our new facility also marked the expansion of our Wellness Clinic. Since it started, we’ve also extended our appointment offerings to Mondays and Thursdays from 10:00am – 5:00pm. Wellness Clinic appointments are available for non-emergency examinations, vaccinations, ear cleaning, toe nail clipping, and much more.

We continue to be a ‘No Kill Shelter.’ No animal is ever euthanized for space even though we typically serve between 3,000 – 5,000 animals each year. If an animal is euthanized, it is truly for humane reasons. We resolve to make the best outcome for every animal no matter their age, length of stay, breed, color, medical condition, or lack of decorum. We are extremely proud of our efforts to maintain our “No Kill” status and routinely fall well below the minimal requirement.

Our fosters and volunteers are instrumental in helping us to achieve everything that we do. We are incredibly thankful for each and every one of them.

So… we are extremely excited to enter 2024 with smiles and enthusiasm. From our ‘family’ to yours, we all wish you a spectacular new year!