Clyde, a Dutch Shepherd, was discovered in the desert severely malnourished, his survival uncertain. Trappers intervened, bringing him to a shelter for urgent veterinary attention. Despite a month of care, Clyde's health deteriorated, prompting his placement on the red list. Fortunately, a grant enabled us to provide him with the necessary veterinary care he desperately needed, unveiling an underlying autoimmune disease requiring lifelong management. With ongoing blood work and medication, Clyde's health has improved significantly, evidenced by weight gain and positive changes in his blood work.

Bixby, a brindle pit bull, gained attention through KTLA but struggled to find her forever home. Following knee surgery in November 2023, she required continuous veterinary support. Thanks to the grant, we were able to monitor her progress closely. Recent assessments indicate her knee is healing well, allowing her to embrace life with enthusiasm, running and playing alongside her canine companions.

We received a baby great-horned owl (GHO) who was orphaned and found at a race track who could not be returned to the nest. This baby is placed with Dillon our parent male great-horned owl and will remain with him until the fall. We anticipate more orphaned GHO's to come this spring along with osprey, red-tailed hawks and barn owls.

Marshall and Louisa are our two large farmed pigs that call Foreverland Farm home. Both pigs were rescued on separate occasions after falling off a transport truck as babies. Louisa was found on I-71 in Cincinnati as a two month old piglet. She was badly injured when a kind family spotted her and scooped her up off the side of the road. She has grown up in sanctuary since her rescue in 2021. Marshall came to us in a similar fashion, he was found running the streets of Chicago after escaping slaughter. We were able to get him to sanctuary where he has been able to grow up since spring 2023. 

In July of 2023 Foreverland Farm moved to a new larger property to continue to grow our mission. The property was set up for a lot of the animals already in our care, the one thing that was missing was adequate housing and fencing for our pig residents. The pigs were the last residents to be able to move to the new sanctuary due to not having the proper facilities for them. The Marion and Richard Graham Foundation allowed us to build safe, secure enclosures for them that will last decades to come. With the move the pigs have gotten a much larger, more enriching space to call home. It is one of the biggest upgrade to our residents well-being.

Marley and Linny came to us from a shelter after their human passed away. Marley is an 11-year old yellow lab. Linny is an 11-year old black lab. Marley and Linny were coughing and one had a fever. A trip to the vet and some X-Rays confirmed they each had pneumonia. They each had to spend 3 days at the vet. They received treatment and then came back to Lily’s to continue their recovery. These two are very connected so we were committed to finding a home where they would stay together. 

Once these two recovered from the pneumonia, they were able to have their dental needs assessed. Marley’s mouth was a horrible mess, 25 rotten teeth were extracted. The good news is he still has 14 teeth left and once his mouth healed, he felt so much better. A soon-to-be married couple met these two affectionate pups and were immediately smitten. This couple works from home and have set up space for the dogs to hang with either of them while they work during the day. The pups also have a nice backyard. Happy days ahead for these sweet senior pups thanks to the Marian and Richard Graham Foundation!

Emme Lou came to us as an owner surrendered. We noticed she seemed to have breathing issues. While she underwent a much-needed dental treatment, which included blood panel and x-rays, we were also able to have a special (CBCT) scan performed for possible soft palate issues. It was determined that Emme's soft palate was within normal limits, but she does have a deviated septum. Thanks to the Graham Foundation grant we were able to take that extra step to investigate to be on top of Emme’s possible future needs. Emme is with her forever family and doing great.

Amira is a Cane Corso who found herself at the shelter after her person ended assisted living. She was very scared and shut down at the shelter but went into an amazing foster home where she is thriving, while she waits for her perfect forever home. It's very expense to spay a large dog like this but with your grant money we were able to get Amira spayed and chipped at our local clinic.

Mazie was found abandoned and living in a bush at an industrial site about an hour away from us with her eight puppies. The puppies were about six weeks old when we took the entire family into rescue. Mazie and her eight puppies were all spayed/neutered, completely vaccinated and micro-chipped because of the Graham Foundations grant. Mazie and all of her puppies have been adopted into wonderful homes!

Estimated to be 14 years old beautiful Kit Kat arrived at a Baltimore Shelter with some serious medical issues including an enlarged heart, collapsing/bent trachea and mobility issues. Kit Kat received the urgent and necessary care needed in order to keep her comfortable in order to provide her with the best quality of life. Our promise to Kit Kat is to provide her with a safe and loving environment for the rest of her life no matter how long she is with us, and we are committed to keeping that promise.

At 17 years of age, beautiful Holly sat waiting in fear and discomfort at a Texas Shelter. Both blind and deaf, this precious soul was slated for euthanasia simply because the shelter was over capacity. We immediately reached out to our Texas team who rushed to pick her up and take her for urgently needed vet care. Once she was well enough, with the help of SWATT (Southwest Animal Transport Team), were able to fly here her to Sanctuary so she can live out her remaining golden years to the fullest.

Leia, an adorable 9 month old golden retriever that was abandoned at a training facility by her previous owner was the first to be helped by the grant funds in November 2023. Unbeknown to the Good Samaritan who took Leia in, Leia was unknowingly impregnated during her stay at the training facility. Upon finding out the news, her rescuer reached out to Real Dog Rescue for assistance. In less than 24 hours time, we found ourselves at Leia's bedside helping her to birth 4 viable pups with the aid of our incredible vet team. Leia's delivery and nursing there after was not without complications. Leia did lose her 5th pup at the time of delivery and suffered a severe case of mastitis which triggered a major mastectomy and spay procedure just 3 short weeks after giving birth. Thankfully Leia survived her ordeal and the entire family received amazing care from our partnered veterinary team (the pups will be spayed/neutered when our veterinarians feel it is appropriate to do so). All 4 pups, and mom are happily settled in with their forever families.

In mid March 2024 the turtle and tortoise rescue of Arroyo Grande was contacted by the family of an elderly lady who realized that it was time to relinquish her beloved African Leopard desert tortoise, that had been with her for the last 62 years. This Lady rarely made it out of her own home, but she really wanted to make sure that her tortoise was going to a good home. Thankfully, due to the resent grant to upgrade our walkways, this lady was able to visit the sanctuary, meet all of the animals, and see where her Leopard tortoise would live and be assured that her dear friend would continue to thrive.

Cannoli is a 13-year-old Chihuahua rescued from a local shelter after he was surrendered when his owner passed away. Cannoli is sweet and playful, and his long tail is constantly wagging. Cannoli's teeth were significantly damaged. VPR arranged a dental procedure to ensure he was not in pain and receiving proper nutrition. All his teeth were removed. Cannoli is up-to-date on his physical exam, vaccines, and blood work. Fortunately, a VPR volunteer fell in love with Cannoli and took him home, where he will spend the rest of his days loved and spoiled as a wonderful family member.

Lulu came from the Fresno shelter. She looked a lot like a Boston terrier, but in fact she was part pit bull. Sweet as could be, but overlooked. A couple with a child came in to meet Boe. They had recently lost their pit bull and were heart broken. They played with the shepherd and husky puppies, but I wasn't sensing a connection. I asked a helper to bring Lulu out. She looked at me curiously, but went in to get the dog.

Well, the moment the family members saw Lulu they came to life! Lulu raced over to the mom, put her paws around the woman's neck and laid her head upon the woman's shoulder. Everyone was crying. Lulu had just come out of heat, and we were able to get her an appointment for her spay the following week. She is now living her best life with this wonderful family! You'll see her photos below. Thank you SO much for your support!!!

The newly purchased vehicle, made possible by the Marion and Richard Graham Foundation, helped us in many ways over the last few months and it's hard to pick JUST two. In addition to the following stories, the vehicle transported our education team and ambassador animals to 28 local programs in the short 2.5 months we've had it. These programs spread knowledge, passion, empathy, and compassion for wildlife and enthusiasm to learn more about how we can all improve the lives of animals in our homes and in the wild.

One story of success this grant made possible was for Juniper the beaver. During the summer months it can get extremely hot during the day and the vehicle we had been using has unreliable air conditioning. On a particularly scorching hot day, (101 degrees!) we needed to transport an orphaned baby beaver to the veterinary clinic for a serious medical procedure. The baby beaver was having difficulty breathing and chewing and radiography was needed to determine treatment. Beavers are very sensitive to hot temperatures, and they can easily overheat, especially in stressful situations like being uncomfortably hot.

Thankfully, the new vehicle has excellent air conditioning, and we were able to make the transfer safe and stress free for baby Juniper beaver. Juniper received the treatment needed and is now healthy and growing huge!

Blackjack was turned into a rural shelter starved and covered in feces. He had been kept in a crate and was 30 pounds underweight, just skin and bones. Although his blood work came back normal, he had unresolved diarrhea and was scheduled for euthanasia when we took him. He steadily gained weight and with a lot of testing and check ups, our vet came to the conclusion the diarrhea was caused by allergies. We found food that worked, he was fostered by the founder and learned to socialize with people and dogs. True to breed, he is very smart and a quick learner and is now in the process of being adopted by a lovely couple with two other dogs. He is healthy and stunning and has gained from 50 pounds at shelter intake, to now 69 pounds.

BigMac is an estimated five year old mastiff mix who we transferred from Fresno Animal Services via Furry Freight. His foster noticed he had several fractured teeth (probably from his previous outdoor life and chewing on rocks). Our vet felt these broken canines were likely to cause him problems so we had them extracted. BigMac is feeling much better now, happily adopted and living his best life as an indoor dog with frequent outdoor adventures.

Doberman puppy "Jerry" was sick with symptoms that sounded like parvo. His family could not afford veterinary care, and thought that surrendering him to the shelter might be the only way to save his life. Instead, our counselor offered them a plan to received discounted veterinary care, where our organization would pay for the cost of care that they could not afford. Jerry made a full recovery, and his family is enrolled in our Pet Support Space program that offers ongoing support for all the pets in this family's household.

Nine year old "Peaches" had a tumor that had ruptured, and was infected and painful. Her low income family could not afford to take her to a veterinarian for an evaluation, and they definitely could not afford the cost of a surgery to remove the tumor. Despite adopting Peaches as a puppy, they were thinking that if they surrendered her to the shelter, the shelter would remove the tumor and adopt her to a loving family who could afford the medical costs. When our counselor explained that she already had a loving family, and traumatizing this senior dog by entering the shelter was a bad idea. Instead, we offered to send Peaches to one of our partner hospitals, where the surgery would be discounted. Her family could pay a percentage they could afford, and we would pay the balance so that Peaches could continue to live with her family who loved her.

Roo - Saki is a young pup who came to us from the Humane Society of Tacoma and Pierce County. They diagnosed her with a heart murmur so they asked us to take her into our rescue so we could get her further diagnostics. Besides her heart murmur, Saki had some developmental complexities that have needed addressing; she was born with both male and female reproductive parts. Saki has visited the cardiologist as well as surgery and internal medicine. Unfortunately, her heart murmur is due to an untreatable heart disease (subaortic stenosis) but, because of the support of the foundation we were able to diagnose her heart disease and do surgery to resolve her developmental issues.

Earl came to us via our friends at Veterinary Specialty Center of Seattle. He was brought in by his previous owner with a prolapsed rectum. Instead of euthanizing him, VSC of Seattle reached out to us to see if we could save him by taking him into our rescue. Of course, we said yes! He required surgery but is all fixed up and has already found his forever home!

Jack is an eight year male schnauzer mix. He was part of a hoarding situation where we rescued 20 dogs. Jack was the first one we took because he was injured noticeably limping and holding his leg up. We made sure he got the two leg surgeries, FHO for his hip and MLP for his knee. He had his final x-rays and his leg and hip are completely healed. On September 2nd, 2023 Jack was adopted by a two-time Foxy and the Hound adopter; he is loved, content and safe in his forever home.

Moe is a five year old Standard Poodle. He was never allowed inside and had spent his entire life outdoors. He was used as a stud by a backyard breeder that was moving out of state and did want his beautiful dogs. Foxy and the Hounds were contacted and asked to help these dogs that were living in horrible conditions with no kindness just the expectation to breed and produce . Terri and Daryn, two of our board members, drove to pick up the puppies and their mothers in Perris, California. At the very last moment when all the other dogs had been surrendered and loaded in the van, the irresponsible breeder walked Moe out and asked if we could take Moe too.Without hesitation we rescued five dogs along with three others that another recuse took to help. Working together with other rescues can save more lives. Thankfully all eight of those dogs rescued that day have been adopted, spay and neutered, and are living as family members indoors safe and loved.

Betty was a huge medical case for RGR. She was set to be killed at the Carson Animal Shelter due to an upper respiratory infection and not using her hind limbs. In order for Betty to be able to use her back legs, she required two hip replacement surgeries. The total cost was $25,000 for surgery's medications, follow up x-rays, etc. Betty spent a year under RGR and was adopted by an incredible family and is now living her absolute best life.

Teddy was found by a Good Samaritan in the Downey, California area and turned over at the county shelter where he was held for the required time for his owners to claim him back. Teddy's owners never came for him and he ended up catching pneumonia and kennel cough (Upper Respiratory Infections) at the shelter, which in the end caused the shelter to release Teddy to rescue for medical care reasons. Teddy received medications and treatments for his respiratory infections while in rescue. Teddy's additional care included pallet surgery, neutering, shots, and micro-chipping to make he ready for adoptions.

We are thrilled to share the journey of Snowball, a stunning five-year-old male cat whose life was transformed thanks to your generous support. Surrendered to a local shelter a year ago with a promise from his previous owner to return for him — a promise that was never fulfilled — Snowball struggled to adapt to the shelter environment. Recognizing his distress, one of the Animal Control Officers urgently reached out to our organization for assistance. With the aid of the grant funds, we were able to confidently welcome Snowball into our care, ensuring that his medical needs, including the management of his previously unregulated diabetes, were met. In our loving environment, Snowball’s affectionate and playful nature flourished, and we discovered his delightful fondness for Halloween costumes. 

Today, Snowball is thriving in foster while waiting for his forever home, all thanks to the support provided by the Marion and Richard Graham Foundation. We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in Snowball’s life and are proud to report this success story as a testament to the positive impact of your funding.