Sassy Supports: Catherine’s Puppies

Support the team at Catherine’s Puppies’ in their mission to help abandoned pups find forever homes.

It’s heartbreaking to think how many puppies there are without a home. Shelters such as Catherine’s Puppies are doing their best to help as many pups find a family. But with a limited number of volunteers, it can be really challenging. While we may not all be in a position to take in a dog right now (as much as we might desperately want to), that doesn’t mean you can’t still help one find a home. We talked to Catherine’s Puppies founder Catherine Lumsden to find out more about the dog shelter and the ways we can support its cause.

Read more: Sassy Supports: RUN, Rebuild, Unite And Nurture

Tell us a little about your charity. What does Catherine’s Puppies do?

I’ve always loved animals, especially dogs, and was lucky to be in a position where I had time to help them. I opened the shelter in 2015 in Ho Chung, Sai Kung, where our dogs can roam free a lot of the time. At Catherine’s Puppies, we are focused on rescuing dogs and giving them the best possible care until they are homed. We are entirely funded by donations, with no government funding, and we wouldn’t be where we are now without our amazing volunteers.

Why should we care?

We’ve been able to home more than 1,000 dogs in the past five years, which is something I’m very proud of. It’s no doubt a rewarding job, but it’s certainly not an easy one. We still have a shelter full of dogs (around 70 at the moment) that are still in need of a home. As you can imagine, that’s quite an enormous worry, responsibility and burden – both emotionally and financially.

Read more: Sassy Supports: The Sovereign Art Foundation

How can we help?

We are based in Sai Kung and are very lucky to have a supportive community around us, with many animal lovers. I remember being so excited to have 100 people “like” our page when we were just starting. Now Catherine’s Puppies has more than 11,000 followers. Something I’ve noticed is that people are becoming more educated about animal welfare and a number of them are interested in helping – which is great! We need help at the shelter in just about every way.

If you don’t have the space or money right now to care for a dog, there are plenty of other ways you can help. You can donate money or volunteer your time to the shelter (i.e. spend a day surrounded by adorable doggos). Even simply liking our Facebook and Instagram pages or spreading the word about us would be a great help. If you are looking for a new furry friend, always remember to adopt not shop.

Catherine’s Puppies, 7 Tai Lam Wu Road, Sai Kung, Hong Kong, 6799 7530 (message only), [email protected], mlsparrow.wixsite.com/catherinespuppies

Editor’s Note: Charities are constantly looking for volunteers, donations and support – and they need it now more than ever. To help them during this difficult time, we’re putting a spotlight on a different charity each month. If you’re a charity, or know of one that could use a shout-out, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] and we’ll try our best to feature them in one of our upcoming Sassy Supports!