Animals First Foundation (AFF) came to Pet Elements at 6701 California Avenue SW on Saturday April 10 joining and Teri Ensley of Furry Faces Foundation to bring more attention to the issue of animal adoption. AFF is a West Seattle based animal rescue group. They accept many of the dogs with special needs, giving them everything they need until finding the perfect home.

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AFF brought two dogs, of the many they help every year, Bowser T. Schnauzer and George a pit bull, who was "Rescued running down I-5 with his mom," said Heather Enajibi of AFF. "We are a local rescue group," Enajibi said, "We tend to take in the harder cases, we take in a lot of senior dogs or dogs with health issues. We've had animals in foster care for up to three years now, we don't give up." The organization places animals in foster homes until they can be adopted by someone permanently. They supply all the food and medical care for the animals so there is no out of pocket expense for the foster care givers. One of the issues the organization faces is 'Foster Failures" meaning foster care givers come to love the animal so much they become permanent. "That's fine," Enajibi said, "however we find them a good permanent home."

Last year AFF found homes for 55 dogs. They are on track to exceed that number this year and got their non profit designation of 501c3 in June. Now they are seeking more visibility and of course interested in fundraising to support their efforts.

While AFF does mostly dogs, they help other animals too. "We do cats whenever we get foster homes for them and we're talking about bunnies right now but first we have to learn about them before we rescue them," Enajibi explained.

Teri Ensley of Furry Faces brought "Frosty Mogul" and his brother "Snowpack" two brother cats who "do everything together," Ensley said.
Their story is that when their previous owners were evicted, they were left behind. "They were indoor cats and the people left them out. They were outside for three weeks and they were very frightened," Ensley said. "They just want to be together all the time.

To learn more about Animals First Foundation visit http://www.animalsfirstfoundation.org/home/default.asp

To learn more about Pet Elements see their website http://www.petelements.com/