ZACHARY - What started out as a Facebook page in 2012 has led to a fully operating nonprofit organization: Must Luv Dogs Rescue.

Cindy Shotwell, founder and director of Must Luv Dogs Rescue, saw a void in the Greater Zachary area when she realized there was no animal rescue within the parish.

Shotwell created Must Luv Dogs in 2018 after her Lost Pets Facebook page gained traction. What makes the foster-based rescue different from other rescues is that Must Luv Dogs delivers food, heartworm prevention, treats and supplies each week to fosters. All foster dog families have to do is host their dog.

In six years, Must Luv Dogs has fostered 600 dogs.

"We try to take as many as we can," Shotwell said. "We are only limited by the number of fosters that we have, and sadly, there is never enough. There is a huge problem right now in the rescue world."

Shotwell and her husband, who is retired, are able to take dogs into their own home, sometimes having a dozen dogs at a time.

Before the pandemic, Must Luv Dogs started a Mardi Gras parade, Mardi Paws, with 100 percent of the proceeds go toward continuing rescue efforts. 

“It definitely, it takes a village," Shotwell said. "We have lots of volunteers, lots of fosters. We started it sort of out of exasperation."