On March 10, Homeward Trails volunteers will join Critters for the Cure to honor and support people fighting cancer and the dogs in their lives!

Critters (and Couture) for the Cure is a fashion show held on March 10th, 6:30- 9 p.m. at the Bloomingdales in Chevy Chase, MD. Models and thier dogs will model fashions and raise money for cancer research. Homeward Trails is the official dog handler group for the event!

To learn more about Critters for the Cure and this event, visit www.crittersforthecure.com.

Dine at Aria Pizzeria & Bar on Wednesday, February 23, and they will donate 10% of the proceeds to Homeward Trails Animal Rescue from 2 p.m. to close!

Aria Pizzeria & Bar serves an array of delicious handmade pizzas, panini, salads, wraps and baked penne pasta dishes. Enjoy a great meal and help homeless animals at the same time!

Aria Pizzeria & Bar

1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20004

www.ariapizzeria.com

Homeward Trails helps dozens and dozens of animals annually who need serious medical care.  You can donate to a fund in HT that is specifically designed to help animals that have injuries or illnesses that require beyond-routine medical care, such as broken limbs, heartworm, parvo, FIV/FelV and other diseases. These are ailments that so many animals in shelters suffer from and often cause them to be the first to be euthanized.

Our friends at Causes have joined Homeward Trails to help us help homeless animals in the name of LOVE! Simply go to http://www.causes.com/valentines/118848 to purchase so many lovely gifts, like flowers or chocolate-covered strawberries, and a $10 donation will automatically come to Homeward Trails. And it won't cost you a penny extra!

What better way to say I LOVE YOU than with flowers AND the gift of life for a homeless animal?

Hurry! Shop now!

With all the wonderfully, generous support we got from our loyal friends, HT has been able to save 10 puppies from Parvo in the last two weeks. These puppies came to us from a rural WV shelter - 4 different litters. All but one litter had multiple puppies each fall sick to this deadly disease. In so many cases, Parvo puppies are immediately euthanized because the cost to treat them is prohibitive. You all made it possible to avoid that and to give these pups a chance at life.

We now have just one puppy left still in the hospital....still needing financial support to allow us to keep treating her and get her as soon as possible!

Please consider a donation to help Felicity get well and to help HT have the ability to continue taking in dogs and cats in need. Each donation helps us better be able to financially take on such needs.  Sadly, we lost three pups to Parvo but not for a lack of giving them all that we had.

We thank our friends at Palisades Animal Hospital in DC and Burke Animal Clinic in Burke, VA who pulled out all stops to save these pups. They are now home, recovering and ready for homes. Check out Fiona, Frank, Flora, Felicia and Francesca; Beagle Boy 2; Retreiver pup 1 - all saved from Parvo and now looking for homes. And donate in the name of Felicity who is still fighting hard after two weeks of hospitalization.

Just click here: http://helpjack0.chipin.com/sick-parvo-pups-final-act

Don't miss this great dog-friendly event! Join us on Saturday, April 16th at the Washington Post for an evening of local art, music, food and fun.

Enjoy the art of more than 35 local artists, bid on dozens of donated items in our silent auction, enjoy live jazz, food and drink.

And get Fido and Fifi a bath - they are welcome at this year's extravaganza!

Buy your ticket at http://www.homewardtrails.org/pawcasso

HT ended 2010 with a spectacular effort to empty the shelter in Fayette County, WV. We did so by partnering with two other local rescues to take in 34 puppies, 6 dogs and 6 cats!

Sadly, just two weeks later, the shelter was full again with puppies and they faced euthanizing 40 puppies to make space. HT once again stepped up, taking in 18 puppies. However, an unprecedented number of these rescued puppies have been stricken by Parvo, a deadly puppy virus.There has never been a time where so many puppies from different litters have been hit by this deadly virus at once. It is devastating!

This week, we lost three puppies. Here are the faces of two we lost:

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18332329

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18312247

Just today, 3 more went to the hospital in grave condition. We now face losing more if we cannot find a way to hospitalize them for up to five days each at a cost of $500-$800 per puppy.  We are lucky to have vet partners who are willing to treat our puppies at up to 50% less than emergency vets, but the cost still runs quite high. By plunging $5,000 in debt to save these puppies it will hamper our efforts to afford to rescue more in the near future.

Below are some of the 13 other puppies that are either currently sick or part of sick litters who face quickly succumbing to Parvo if we are not prepared to hospitalize them right away.

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18312227

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18312139

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18332309

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/18332290

Please help us during this difficult time so that we can give these puppies the chance that they have never had before. They've come this far - help us take them all the way!

To make a donation of any size go to http://helpjack0.chipin.com/sick-puppies

This week 9 years ago Homeward Trails started (by accident). You can read here about our humble beginnings: http://www.homewardtrails.org/about/about-us

We take time to celebrate the more than 10,000 animals we have rescued!  We could not do what we do without the help of our wonderful volunteers and partners!

This Saturday, Noon-7 p.m. come by those books you've been wanting to read or to give as gifts! Have them wrapped by an HT volunteer and your donation goes directly to our homeless animals!

Join us at Barnes & Noble, 6260 Seven Corners Center, Falls Church, VA 22044  703-536-0774!!

You can help HT win $2,000 so easily! Just vote for this photo of our foster kittens in the Animal Rescue Site Shelter Fan Photo Contest!

http://bit.ly/ibWpk1