Independent Animal Rescue’s mission is to rescue and care for cats and dogs in need through adoption, spay/neuter, and community education.

News

Help Us Sustain Our Lifesaving Work in 2024!

Last month, we kicked off our annual year-end campaign. Our hope this year is to raise $100,000, and we believe that with your support, we can achieve this lofty goal! All funds raised will go into IAR’s general fund, which pays for:

  • Medical care for the cats and dogs in our foster and feral cat programs, including spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, dental work, injury care, and other medical issues
  • The maintenance of our Durham facility, as well as personnel and administrative expenses
  • Temporary boarding for animals as they await foster homes
  • Pet food, toys, and other supplies to keep our animals happy and healthy!

Every day, we work to help unwanted cats and dogs who have nowhere else to go. Whether they need lifesaving medical care or just plenty of affection, we do our best to save them from suffering and secure them a safe, loving home. You may even be the pet parent of an IAR cat or dog! IAR cannot continue to provide critical care for these animals without financial support. We are primarily funded by donations from supporters like you, and we hope that you will help us sustain our work by giving to our year-end campaign. You can donate online through our secure portal, or via PayPal, cash, or check.

2023 Successes

  • Found homes for 383 cats through our Cat Foster program, from January to November
  • Found homes for 73 dogs through our Dog Foster program, from January to November
  • Funded the spay & neuter of hundreds of owned animals in NC communities, particularly in underserved rural counties
  • Spayed/neutered thousands of animals through our feral cat trap, neuter, vaccinate, release (TNVR) program and the Cat- and Dog-Foster programs
  • Introduced our new Owned Animal Program, which provides veterinary or behavioral care for pets whose owners can’t afford treatment. This program reduces animal suffering and helps keep pets in their current, loving homes instead of in already over-crowded shelters
  • Raised more than $40,000 through our 21st annual Painted Chair Auction
  • Brought on two full-time employees: Lex, our Fundraising and Communications Manager, and Virginia, our Veterinary Assistant/Foster Support

Challenges We Are Facing

  • As the community’s need for our work has increased, we’ve been working to grow our volunteer base to continue providing our essential services. We need volunteers across all of our programs, but especially within the Cat and Dog Foster Teams! We receive so many requests to bring animals into our program, but as a foster-based rescue, our capacity is set by the number of active fosters we have.
  • We’ve settled into our wonderful new location, but we are finding ourselves outgrowing its capacity faster than we anticipated! In particular, as demand for our clinic’s services has skyrocketed, we’re having trouble meeting it with limited space. We hope to expand to a larger location within the next few years.
  • While local shelters have been filled to capacity across the region, we’ve noticed that adoption rates have been lagging, particularly for dogs. In the next year, we’re hoping to continue raising awareness of IAR so we can get more of our dogs and cats adopted—especially those who have been with us for a long time!

How You Can Help

By giving to our Year-End Campaign to help us raise $100,000 by January 1, 2024, you will help us continue to save lives and improve animal welfare in our community. You can donate online through our secure portal, or via PayPal. You can also mail a check or cash to IAR; please make checks payable to “Independent Animal Rescue” and mail to:

Independent Animal Rescue
PO Box 14232
Durham, NC 27709-4232

We hope you will also consider volunteering in any capacity you can. IAR has hundreds of volunteers who perform our crucial work. We are in need of help on all of our teams: Dog Foster, Cat Foster, Feral TNVR, Fundraising, Social Media, Email, Volunteer Coordination, and more. Some roles can be done remotely whereas others are primarily or totally in person. Please visit our Volunteer Signup page to check out all the opportunities (or suggest one of your own!).

Thank you from all of us at IAR!

Congratulations!

Lots of cats and dogs found their forever homes this month!

Congratulations to Emma, Enni Eini, Erja Evelina, Cheerio, Wheatie, Slinky, Dot, Willow Wisp, Seamus, Lana Del Rey, Sissychip, Io Turner, Cosima Turner, Marcy Star, Purrl, Hammy, Moogle, Miss. Meepers, Marlene Brando, Didi, Socks, Nosocks, Cappy, Henry, Katharine, Cowboy, Alfie, Momo Bangle, Colleen, Badger, Julius, Salem, TeaCake, Quinn, Moonpie, Pumpkin, Greta, Eddie, Bing Clawsby, Nooch, Nelli Macki, Noelle, Esmi Esmeralda, Apollo, Fruit Loop, Angel, Lucky, Tangie, Charlie, Penny, Sandwich, Ginger, Typo, Jiminy, Hoku, Toffee, Kevin, Tulip, Lucy, Hayley, Cinnamon, Rosie, Beansprout, Tay, Trav, Blake Lively, Sammy, Stevie, Lexi May, Button, Monkey, and Elvis!

Upcoming Events

Sat 23

Adoptable Pets

Is your pet lost?

Visit Petco Love Lost to bring your pet home safely!

You can learn more about Petco Love Lost, report lost and found pets and more here.