Friends of Homeless Animals | September 2024 Shelter Spotlight

Each month, we donate to 10 animal shelters nominated by you. One of the shelters we will be donating to is Friends of Homeless Animal (FOHA). After reading their nomination email they sent to blog@Luckypet.com , we were so happy we could help them out! 

About Friends of Homeless Animals

Friends of Homeless Animals (FOHA) has provided a safe haven for homeless dogs and cats for over 47 years, giving them a second chance at life and love. As a no-kill shelter, no matter how long cats and dogs stay with FOHA, they are loved and spoiled by their staff and volunteers. 

Most of their animals come from smaller shelters in southwest Virginia and North Carolina, although they do accept some owner surrenders.  On average, they support approximately 60-70 dogs and 40 cats that are adoptable, and another 20 animals in permanent foster care.  All animals are up to date on shots, spayed/neutered, microchipped, and on HW preventative.  While in their care, shelter dogs are provided with enrichment toys and activities.  There is also a weekly "Tails to Trails" hike where some of the longer term dogs are escorted on a 2-3 mile hike at a local park with senior volunteers to give them exercise and a change of scenery. 

They have special, larger runs with individual houses for dogs who have been with them long term or are showing signs of shelter stress.  For the cats, they have two communal catteries that feature indoor space that is climate controlled and a screened-in sunporch.  One of the catteries is for cats who tested positive for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).  FOHA is proud to be one of a handful of shelters and rescues in Virginia that consistently rescues cats who are FIV+.

How COVID-19 affected the shelter

During the COVID 19 pandemic, they made some adjustments to their adoption process and put new guidelines in place for volunteers and staff, but still continued to bring in dogs and cats on a bi-weekly cadence.  They were pleasantly surprised that their animals were getting adopted in record numbers.  In 2020, they found homes for 434 dogs and cats, as compared with 357 in 2019.

If you would like to help Friends of Homeless Animals, you can make an individual donation to the shelter here.  

To view a full list of shelters we donated to last month  – check out our most recent donations blog post. Do you know of a shelter in need of some extra support? Send an email to blog@Luckypet.com and tell us more about them for a chance to be one of the 10 shelters selected for next month’s animal shelter donations. Thank you!