Animal Rescue League Of Berks County

Imagine being in a haze as you are unexpectedly rushed into the hospital, and you had no choice but to leave your only family behind - your dog. On top of the stress you're already going through, you might start to worry about if someone is taking good care of them, or if you'll even ever see them again. This was a reality at first for Terry when he was admitted to the hospital for a medical emergency and had to leave his beloved dog Zeus at home. While Terry needed to take time to recover, Zeus needed a place to stay – But since Zeus does not handle himself well around strangers, we ended up taking him in and caring for him for 24 days until his owner could come back home. Since then, the two have reunited, and life is back to normal for them now - Terry is even back to preparing Zeus’s favorite dinner of hamburger and rice! “I am just so glad I didn’t have to worry about him while I was dealing with everything else going on at that time. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have your help, and I am so grateful because Zeus is my family. It’s just me and him here, so I can’t imagine coming home without Zeus being there," Terry says. Here at the ARL, we are committed to keeping families together during difficult times, just like Terry and Zeus. We offer more than just temporary emergency boarding services via our Pet Help Center - Pet supplies and food assistance, medical help, and other pet-related needs are all within our community’s reach at the shelter.

After we found him as an emaciated stray, helped him get back to a healthy weight, removed his ruptured eye, and extracted many broken teeth, the last thing we wanted to tell Creed was that he had one final life-changing surgery to endure on his road to recovery. But after discovering he was also suffering from a mandibular fracture, we couldn't delay slating his surgery to give him the pain-free life he has always deserved. We are so excited to let you know that his surgery was a success, and he is already feeling so much better! Nothing beats seeing Creed pain-free for the first time, especially when we remember how much pain he was in when he first came into our care.

This is Loaf, a seven-month-old cat who came to the ARL this fall with a fractured femur, dislocated hip joint, and several pelvic fractures. As you can imagine, this means Loaf was in a lot of pain and couldn’t even put weight on her poor right leg. While a few routes of treatment were possible, we wanted to do everything we could to make sure she didn’t have to lose her leg. After evaluating her circumstances carefully, our medical team proceeded to perform a procedure called femoral head ostectomy, where the bones between the hips and legs are essentially shaved down to prevent them from painfully rubbing together. It took Loaf time to heal from this procedure, but luckily, it was a smooth success. Within ten days of her surgery, Loaf was regaining strength in her leg and beginning to walk on all four limbs again! Better yet, one month later, Loaf found her furever home with a family who is nurturing her back to good health as she learns to find a healthy balance between strengthening her leg post-surgery while being careful not to overexert herself. This happy ending wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our community and the diligence of our excellent medical team who is always taking swift action on rescuing animals like Loaf every day.