ASL Solutions Blog

The nonprofit Claws & Paws Animal Rescue Center in Olney, Illinois is currently in need of your help! The old storefront A rescue in crisis Claws & Paws Animal Rescue is an animal rescue in Olney, Illinois. It is financially supported by running a thrift store. Unfortunately, the building the resale shop is in (and where most of the animals are housed) was just sold. They have to be out by October 1st of this year. Without the thrift store, there's no money to continue running the rescue. The owner of Claws & Paws , Shelley Brinkley, bought a plot of land and a new building for the animals with her own money, but the building isn't big enough for the resale shop too. Claws & Paws has started a  GoFundMe , a Paypal, and a building fund at First National Bank in Olney. Their goal is to raise $25,000 for the new building, and they're trying to get the 40 x 40 store constructed before wintertime. Ready for a new home! About the rescue Claws and Paws Animal Resc

ASL Solutions has been cooking up some surprises for a long time, and we are excited to finally be able to share them with you! Welcome to our Summer 2023 product launch. We are releasing a new line of products dedicated to our feline friends: the Cat Palace, the Palace Kitten Nursery, and completely revamped, faux fur beds for each size of Palace. Cat Palace Gray's got a pretty sweet setup. If you've got outdoor cats, the Cat Palace is just the thing for you. Some folks worry about whether or not their cats will learn to open the insulated swinging door. But there's good news! Cats can absolutely be trained to do just that. Gray, for example, was easily motivated by placing fresh tuna inside the house, and from then on he understood how it worked, and now he comes and goes as he pleases from his new Cat Palace. The stylish purple door is also pretty sweet. Gray exploring his new digs. Palace Kitten Nursery Who wouldn't want to curl up in there? We are so excited to sha

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a professional dogwalker or petsitter? We interviewed Rainey, a woman in her mid-twenties living in Middle Tennessee, to find out. Rainey walking one of her clients, Rainey When and why did you first start walking dogs? "I started dogwalking and dogsitting when I was a sophomore in college, or maybe just before I started, in 2018. I started because I needed extra money. It's kind of the ideal job, spending time with dogs and getting paid for it." How did you determine your rates? "The first house I dogsat at, they gave me their price, so I used that as a basis for every other house. Then a bunch of people kept telling me "Your price is too low", and I realized that first house kind of cheated me, and I didn't know because I hadn't done it before, and I needed the money. They paid me $40 for staying overnight. Then I raised my price to $80 for a night, and people told me it was too much, but I found a r

One in three pets go missing in their lifetime.  Chances are, you or someone you know has lost a pet. One method of identifying pets and making it easier to return them to their families is called microchipping. According to the American Kennel Club, pets with microchips are 20 times more likely to be reunited with their humans. But what exactly is microchipping? Image by Gabe from Pexels What is a microchip? A microchip is a tiny, grain of rice-sized device that gets implanted in a companion animal for identification purposes. Like a vaccine, it's a quick and relatively painless process. It's also incredibly low-risk and designed to last for the lifetime of your pet. The microchip has a special ID number unique to your pet and your pet alone. It's not a GPS or tracking device. It's got no battery or power source. It simply has a little antenna within it that can only be read by a special kind of scanner. Veterinarians, animal shelters, and animal control facilities u

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, natural disasters are on the rise     they happen three times as often as they did in the 1970's/80's. Do you have an emergency plan for what to do if disaster strikes? Have you thought about how to incorporate your pet(s) into this plan? Image by José Carlos Alexandre from Pexels What is an emergency preparedness plan? An emergency preparedness plan, or a disaster plan, is a plan for what to do in case of emergency     be it a natural disaster or a more directly human-caused disaster like terrorism or war. What sorts of disasters you may be at risk for depends on where you live. For example, the Pacific Northwest of the United States experiences wildfires. Coastal regions experience rising sea levels are more at risk for events like hurricanes and tsunamis. Danger doesn't have to be catastrophic and global to be worth preparing for, either     maybe you live in the wilderness, and need to know what t

According to the American Kennel Club, one in three pets will go missing in their lifetime. Losing a pet can be a scary experience! Thankfully, there are tons of resources available for finding pets, and many steps you can take to be reunited with your animal companion. Image by Thom Gonzalez from Pexels What to do if your pet gets lost According to American Humane  and the American Kennel Club , there are many steps you can take to recover a lost pet! The first step, as inscribed upon the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , is Don't Panic!  (It's understandable if you panic a little, but take some deep breaths, you've got this! And, we prepared a whole list of steps you can take to find your lost companion.) First steps As soon as you notice that something seems off, start looking for your pet. The longer you wait, the more lost they might be getting themselves. Check your neighborhood or the area where they got lost. Call your pet's name or words they