INDIANAPOLIS — Amanda Ryan has worked in animal rescue most of her adult life. She started Redemption Rescue in 2018 to help animals most in need find a way out of Indiana shelters and into loving homes.
Ryan helps animals who have been hit by cars or need other medical care, in addition to moms with puppies and kittens. One of those new moms is Althea, who now has seven puppies.
Redemption Rescue took Althea in before she delivered her pups. Now, the rescue bears the responsibility of the hundreds of dollars to care for, spay, neuter, and find homes for all the puppies.
"I have about 30 fosters in central Indiana," Ryan said. "I have 10 that are ongoing that, almost constantly, as soon as one's gone — one puppy or one cat's gone — they pull right another. It's their thing."
Ryan said the fosters are all volunteer-based, and the offer is open to anyone who is willing.
Pets of the Week: Redemption Rescue
The biggest issue the rescues faces animal rescue is the lack of spay and neutering, resulting in large litters like Althea's. Some places like Hamilton County have a spay and neuter law in place. Under the ordinance, cats and dogs must be spayed or neutered by the time they're 6 months old unless the owner is a breeder or a vet writes a note explaining why that's not possible.
Christian Travis and her family are all involved with fostering dogs from Redemption Rescue.
"We keep a pretty consistent flow of fosters in our house," Travis said. "We start working with them the minute they get in our house. They get a ton of snuggles. We start potty training right away, working on basic commands."
Redemption usually spends about $80,000 a year on medical costs for the animals. So, they always need donations and volunteers to foster the animals. To fill out an application to foster or adopt animals at Redemption, click here.