Message From the Director
Happy holidays and my message of gratitude:

Well another year of happenings, success stories and adoptions. With volunteers/fosters being the backbone of everything that happens at Lake Haven let it be known that we could not exist without them. I can’t think of another organization that has such a dedicated and committed group of wonderful people that make up Lake Haven. They are all so important to the cause no matter what they do. They bring new meaning to the words “it takes a village.” That could never have been more apparent than when my son in Florida became very ill and passed away and I had to leave and go unexpectedly to Miami. With a new mom Labradoodle and 13 puppies that had nowhere to go I wondered if it would come together and it did. With Amanda Delong picking up the worst shift in the morning at 8:30 (just imagine having to face 13 puppies at the first thing in the morning) Bianca Sharp and her family came every night at 5:00 for another clean up, and other volunteers did noon shifts and some came and tucked them in at 10:00, when I got back 9 days later everyone was alive and well cared for.

I have people call me and thank me all the time for the efforts and consideration of our volunteers when adopting a dog or a cat. Our volunteers are highly motivated and efficient always maintaining our high standards.

The second component to our highly successful rescue is our Veterinarians, some of the best surgeons in Western MI. Without them we are powerless to help the suffering. I have been a client of Fremont Animal Hospital since 1984, and have seen Vets do stuff there I did not know could be done. I remember kittens brought in by the Muskegon Police that were set on fire deliberately burning off their ears and the flesh on the top of their heads, their eyelids were burnt and not operable. Dr Russell went to Gerber hospital and got  Cadaver tissue and fixed them. It took a long while but they could open and shut their eyes after they healed. I remember a Christmas morning he came in to euthanize a litter of kittens with distemper. I remember a Sunday with a Cockers ear the would not stop bleeding, he left a birthday party on Sunday to meet me and stitch it up. When we took part in a Montcalm County raid and took in 126 ill cared for dogs, there was FHO’s, entropian surgeries, 4 middle of the night C sections…he did it all without complaint. I would like to wish Dr Russell a well earned retirement after selling the clinic in January. I am hoping not to disturb him much. Although he already came back to do a detached ureter surgery for a rescue dog in need.  I will never be able to thank him enough for the huge part he played in our success. I wish him the very best in his retirement as he has certainly earned it. Dr Marie Breuker is the proud new owner of Fremont Animal Hospital and a highly skilled experienced surgeon in her own right and has performed lots of miracles for us as well. Her new Vet, Dr Diamond Garrett, has just started doing surgeries for us too. This is a wonderful well run Vet Clinic, with great highly qualified surgeons and a fantastic staff of caring and kind people.

Plymouth Road Vet was a clinic I used about 20 years ago, owned then by Dr Lemke along with Allendale Vet Clinic owned by his wife. Dr Lemke has sold his clinic and retired and we wish him the very best. The clinic was purchased by Dr Jennifer Wheler, and now she has built a new state of the art clinic at the corner of Leonard and  Plymouth Rd. in Grand Rapids. The Vets there have all been fantastic and they have been instrumental in keeping our rescue afloat with all the old masters retiring. They have done lots of difficult surgeries for us as well. We are looking forward to building a great relationship with this great new clinic and their caring, efficient staff.

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Dr Larry Nauta has helped us also in fact Dr Nauta and Dr Brueker teamed up to save my own dogs leg at his clinic. He has just built a new Emergency Pet Hospital right next to his regular Vet clinic. I have not been there yet but it is pretty impressive looking. I believe it is opening soon. Would be a great alternative for us “up northers” instead of having to go all the way to GR in an emergency.

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Our Veterinarians are our very existence. We would not be who we are without them and our reputation is tied to who they are...exceptional and highly skilled Veterinarians, who we obviously highly recommend to anyone looking for a really good Vet.

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And where would we be without our wonderful adopters who wait patiently while we wade the mountains of paperwork and applications to get to them.  Some are so grateful and stay in touch with pictures and stories. When we see the love that pours from them unto their pets it makes it all worthwhile. Please post pictures of your adopted pets on our Adopted from Lake Haven Facebook page. We love it!

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And then we have our donors who have been our lifeblood all these years. Without them we could not have accomplished what we have. Since 1999 we have adopted some 21,600 fully vetted animals to carefully screened homes.

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The gratitude I feel is overwhelming and is what keeps me going in my toughest times. I would like to thank my Veterinarian’s,  Volunteers, Adopters and Donors for their part in what is known as Lake Haven. They all are such an important part of who we are, and none can exist without the other, it is all of us working together that spells SUCCESS at the end of the day.

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Cheryl McCould (director)