Santa Paws stopped off at Tri Lake Animal Hospital just before Christmas to get some seasonal photos with the hospital’s furry, feathered and scaly clients and to support two local charities: Critteraid and Beagle Paws Rescue.
The event proved to be an amazing success with over 50 pet owners from Lake Country, Kelowna and Vernon coming to the event and Santa meeting over 70 pets including Jekyl, Topo & Gigo the rats, Xanthus a bearded dragon, and Kira the python, as well as festively attired cats and dogs and several babies.
Thanks to everyone’s generosity the Tri Lake Animal Hospital was able to raise over $600 for the two charities.
Representatives from both charities were at the event and were able to meet and chat with owners and potential new forever homes.
“We have been doing animal rescue and providing sanctuary for animals for over 20 years,” said Paula Rains, director of cat sanctuary ops at Critteraid. “There is no way we could do what we do and provide the services we offer, without the help of the doctors and staff at Tri Lake Animal Hospital in Winfield. During this time period, we have seen amazing advancements in veterinary medicine. For Tri Lake to provide us with a fundraiser to help further, we are enormously grateful for their generosity and support over all these years. Best Christmas ever!”
Jenaya Monti from Beagle Paws Rescue was also thankful for the support.
“Beagles Opie and Ember had a great time and were so well behaved at the Tri Lake Santa Paws event, they even managed to get through their photos with Santa (which turned out great),” said Monti.
“Opie was a very lucky boy that day as he found his forever family when they came for a visit. It was so neat to see all of the different animals getting their photos with Santa, from dogs and cats to snakes and lizards. I would like to thank Tri Lake for their continued support of Beagle Paws over the past years. Everyone at the clinic is so wonderful and we appreciate everything they do for us”
Tri Lake Animal Hospital would like to say huge thank you to their clients and pets for their support of this event, and also to all the staff who helped make this happen and donated their time and resources for free.
Particular thanks to our Santa Paws; local Winfield resident and all round amazing Santa, Ken Dehnke; Chris and Ellen Duggan of Duggan Photography who helped every pet look their best; Dr. Autumn Pulfer who helped get pets into photos and was also available for any pet related questions and Pam Kirstiuk for her handmade jewelry and refreshments.