Six Million Pets Adopted Through Iams Home 4 the Holidays

Via BusinessWire.com - Iams Home 4 the Holidays, one of the world’s largest pet adoption programs, is thrilled to announce that it has reached the significant milestone of placing its 6 millionth homeless pet in a forever home. The landmark adoption comes in the program’s 13th year as Iams again teams with founding partner Helen Woodward Animal Center, along with more than 3,500 animal organizations from across the globe to encourage pet adoption.

“We are incredibly proud of this achievement and are grateful to those families who have opened their hearts – and their homes – to an animal in need,” said Mike Arms, founder of the adoption drive and president of Helen Woodward Animal Center. “Having reached our 6 millionth adoption, we recognize that there is still plenty of work to be done in our fight against pet homelessness, which is why we’re inspired to continue our work and this yearly program.”

This year’s campaign goal is to find homes for 1.5 million pets and donate 5 million meals to animals at participating adoption and rescue centers (through the Bags 4 Bowls campaign). So far, for the 2012 campaign, more than 520,000 pets have been adopted, including 270,159 dogs and 241,640 cats.

Through January 3, consumers can get involved by:

• Visiting the Iams Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iams) to search for adoptable pets. 
• Becoming a fan of the Iams Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iams) and creating a custom adoption announcement or holiday card to share with family and friends. For each card created and shared, Iams will donate a meal to pets in need. 
• Purchasing specially-marked packages of Iams dog or cat food during the duration of the campaign. For every specially-marked package sold, Iams will donate one bowl of food to a participating Iams Home 4 the Holidays animal organization. 

“We are thrilled to celebrate our 6 millionth pet adoption,” said Michel Brousset, Iams Marketing Director. “While we’re working towards our goal of placing even more animals into loving homes this holiday season, we recognize that not everyone is in the position to adopt a pet and we encourage those animal lovers to lend a hand through our Bags 4 Bowls program. Together, we can help millions of animals in need.”

To learn more about how to get involved in Iams Home 4 the Holidays and the Bags 4 Bowls program, including details about pets available for adoption, fun ways to donate meals and quick access to informative content and tips, visit www.facebook.com/iams.

Pet Owners Use GPS Devices to Find Lost Pets

Via The Seattle Times - Houdini the dog lived up to his name.

The lab-shepherd mix, known as a crafty escape artist, was placed in a foster home by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Despite his new owner's best efforts to keep him close, the dog pushed an air conditioner out of a window and made his getaway.

Fortunately the staff at Best Friends anticipated Houdini's wandering ways and had outfitted his collar with a GPS tracking device. The device worked as promised, and Best Friends adoption manager Kristi Littrell found the errant dog in an overgrown lot in Kanab.

About half of the pets that enter animal shelters each year are strays or lost animals, but the growing use of GPS technology may offer owners a new option for trying to track down roaming cats, missing dogs and other runaway pets.

Several GPS devices are now being marketed that attach to collars and can be monitored by handsets, cellphones or computers with relative ease. Kristi Littrell, adoption manager at Best Friends, said Houdini was "the same color as the weeds" in the lot where she found him.

"I would never have found him without the GPS device on his collar," she added. Best Friends is still hoping to find a home for Houdini, and plans to give the GPS device to the new owners to help make sure that if he ever does get out again, he'll be easily tracked down.

"It's great these devices are available to us now," Littrell said. "They will undoubtedly help in a lot of cases where pets would otherwise not be found and returned home."

Read more: http://bit.ly/vjwK9I

Written by Sue Manning
Image via Seattle Times

Lemur Thanksgiving at San Francisco Zoo

Too cute to not share! The San Francisco Zoo provided a Thanksgiving feast for its 15 lemurs to give thanks for ongoing conservation efforts in the animals' native country of Madagascar.

 

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

Via ASPCA.org - ‘Tis the season for friends, family and holiday feasts - but also for possible distress for our animal companions. Pets won’t be so thankful if they munch on undercooked turkey or a pet-unfriendly floral arrangement, or if they stumble upon an unattended alcoholic drink. Check out the following tips from ASPCA experts for a fulfilling Thanksgiving that your pets can enjoy, too.

Talkin’ Turkey:  If you decide to feed your pet a little nibble of turkey, make sure it’s boneless and well-cooked. Don't offer her raw or undercooked turkey, which may contain salmonella bacteria.

Sage Advice: Sage can make your Thanksgiving stuffing taste delish, but it and many other herbs contain essential oils and resins that can cause gastrointestinal upset and central nervous system depression to pets if eaten in large quantities. Cats are especially sensitive to the effects of certain essential oils.

No Bread Dough: Don't spoil your pet’s holiday by giving him raw bread dough. According to ASPCA experts, when raw bread dough is ingested, an animal's body heat causes the dough to rise in his stomach. As it expands, the pet may experience vomiting, severe abdominal pain and bloating, which could become a life-threatening emergency, requiring surgery.

Don't Let Them Eat Cake: If you’re baking up Thanksgiving cakes, be sure your pets keep their noses out of the batter, especially if it includes raw eggs - they could contain salmonella bacteria that may lead to food poisoning.

Too Much of a Good Thing:  A few small boneless pieces of cooked turkey, a taste of mashed potato or even a lick of pumpkin pie shouldn’t pose a problem. However, don't allow your pets to overindulge, as they could wind up with a case of stomach upset, diarrhea or even worse - an inflammatory condition of the pancreas known as pancreatitis. In fact, it’s best to keep pets on their regular diets during the holidays.

A Feast Fit for a Kong:  While the humans are chowing down, give your cat and dog their own little feast. Offer them Nylabones or made-for-pet chew bones. Or stuff their usual dinner - perhaps with a few added tidbits of turkey, vegetables (try sweet potato or green beans) and dribbles of gravy - inside a Kong toy. They’ll be happily occupied for awhile, working hard to extract their dinner from the toy.

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Real Pet Lovers Don't Buy Pet Store Pets

I wanted to share yesterday's post from Steve Dale with you because I think it clearly explains why animal advocates are against the sale of puppies (and kittens) in pet stores.

In his post, Steve begins by saying:

I am a pet advocate - therefore I generally support pet stores. Of course, they're great places to purchase toys, treats, food - even winter garments and stylish holiday sweaters.

However, pet stores are not such a great place to purchase puppies or kittens... arguably the last place you want to get a puppy or kitten - unless you support puppy mills.

He then gives reasons why he believes that purchasing a pet from a pet store supports puppy mills:

I don't personally know of a responsible breeder who sells to pet stores. To be clear - not only am I not against breeders, I stand with the good ones. There's value in having a pedigree dog or cat, and a well bred pet if that's what you desire. There's most certainly also value in a shelter animal, and truly saving a life.

By definition responsible breeders are discerning about who they sell their animals to. Responsible breeders carefully socialize their animals, and do the best they can to prevent disease transmission. By selling puppies or kittens to pet stores "breeders" lose all control. That is hardly being responsible. Responsible breeders do not sell to pet stores any more than responsible pet owners should purchase from pet stores.

Most important: Pet stores sell to whoever has a credit card that works, not to the right family for that pet.

If you are thinking about adding a furry member to your family this holiday season, please consider visiting your local animal shelter. If you have your heart set on a pure breed dog or cat, contact a breed rescue group or a responsible breeder. But whatever you do - do not purchase your next best friend from a pet store.

Thanks to Steve Dale for addressing this important issue. You can read his full blog post here.

Help Spread the Word About Shelter Pets

The Shelter Pet Project is a public service ad campaign focused on spreading the word that pets in shelters are wonderful and lovable!

The Shelter Pet Project is the result of a collaborative effort between two leading animal welfare groups, the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie’s Fund, and the leading producer of public service advertising (PSA) campaigns, the Ad Council.

Their mission is to eliminate the stereotype that there's something wrong with shelter pets and to make shelters the first choice and desired way for acquiring a companion animal, ultimately increasing the rate of animals adopted from shelters.

They do this by breaking down misconceptions surrounding shelter pets and communicating that “A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet. Be that person. Adopt.”

You can learn more about the Shelter Pet Project by visiting their website, liking their Facebook page or following them on Twitter. 

Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays

Everyone deserves a home for the holidays. That's why for the third year in a row, Petfinder.com is launching its annual Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program along with hundreds of shelters and rescue groups with a goal to empty out animal shelters from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day.

"Many people do not realize just how important fostering is among the animal welfare community," said Betsy Banks Saul, the co-founder of Petfinder.com. "Animal shelters across North America have to euthanize adoptable pets simply because they are overcrowded. However, by fostering, people can give pets a place to stay while they wait for their forever home."

The goal of the program is to spread awareness about fostering and to find temporary homes for adoptable pets while giving shelter workers and volunteers a much-needed break. A list of participating shelters and rescue groups can be found at www.petfinder.com/fosteralonelypet. Staff and volunteers at each organization will be available to answer questions about the fostering process and help select a pet who will be a good match for the foster family's lifestyle.

Created in 2009, the Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program was inspired by Greg Kincaid's book and movie, "A Dog Named Christmas," about a young man who sets out to convince his community to participate in a local animal shelter's inaugural "Adopt a Dog for Christmas Program."

Petfinder.com is the largest online, searchable database of animals that need permanent homes. With more than 360,000 adoptable pets from over 13,600 animal shelters and rescue groups throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico, Petfinder.com has facilitated more than 17 million adoptions since it was launched in 1996. 

Image via morguefile.com

Where Do Fluffy and Fido Come From?

Via USAToday.com - Where do people get their pets? A new AP-Petside.com poll found that the most common way people acquire a pet is as a gift, followed by taking in a stray.

About four in 10 pet owners say at least one of their current pets was given to them by friends or family, while a third say they have a pet that showed up on their doorstep as a stray.

Shelters and breeders are next on the list as sources for pets. Thirty percent of those polled say they adopted through a shelter, 31 percent got a pet from a breeder and 14 percent bought an animal at a pet store.

Karen Hulsey, 63, adopted a cat from a Texas shelter. Greyson is about a year old now and "he's cuddly and clean," she says.

She calls her shelter experience very upbeat because the cat "has turned into a wonderful pet with a good attitude and I felt like I was doing something positive."

Another quarter obtained a pet in some other way, including 3 percent who say they went to an animal rescue group and 2 percent who purchased them using an online or print classified ad.

More than half of the pet owners polled say they've taken in a shelter animal at some point, and two-thirds of them say their experiences have been extremely positive.

Read more:  http://usat.ly/sTqSa8
Image via MorgueFile.com

Calgary Offers Reprieve to Canmore Bunnies

Via CalgarySun.com - A convoy of rabbits to stop rabbits from doing what rabbits do best.

That’s the multiple-snip strategy being touted as a last-minute rescue plan for some 2,000 feral rabbits currently sitting on death row in Canmore.

It’s simple: Round them up, convoy the bunnies down the highway to Calgary for neutering, and then set the sterilized carrot-munchers free at sanctuaries across Canada.

Some would call it a hare-brained scheme to save the doomed Canmore rabbits, but the plan is apparently very real — and the hero of this strange rescue strategy is the City of Calgary.

The Canmore cull was set to start Monday, but on the eve of rabbit destruction, the group fighting to rescue the garden-devouring pests say Calgary has stepped forward as a last-second savior.

“I’m going to be able to move a lot of rabbits — hopefully all of them,” said Susan Vickery, spokeswoman for Save Canmore Bunnies, and founder of a rabbit sanctuary in B.C.

“We’ve found someone who’s willing to help spay and neuter between 800 and 1,000 rabbits.

“So that’s the cure, and I believe that’s the entire population.”

On top of $10,000 raised in recent days through donations, Vickery says the offer from Calgary’s Bylaw and Animal Services department is the miracle these unwanted rabbits needed.

Vickery says the offer is for the rabbits to be neutered at Calgary’s Animal Services Centre Clinic, free of cost.

Calgary Bylaw and Animal Services director Bill Bruce confirms that Calgary will lend a hand.

Read more: http://bit.ly/sSQvo1

Written by Michael Platt

Image via CanmoreBunnies.blogspot.com

Petland USA Says It Will Continue Selling Pets

In October, Mary Haight of Dancing Dog Blog called for Petland USA to stop selling puppies and kittens in their stores after Petland Canada announced that they would discontinue selling animals.

BtC4Animals.com called for pet bloggers to focus on this issue on Blog the Change Day, and over 45,000 people signed the petition on Change.org asking Petland to stop selling animals. Still Petland Inc. has refused to take action on this issue.

Here is Mary's latest call to action via Change.org:

Stocking more than 150 stores across the US with puppies of all breeds is a model responsible for causing pain, suffering and death. Breeding females are locked in cages until they can no longer breed and are then killed. Even if a change from the top in a franchise-structured company affects only corporate stores, the intent to do no harm is a clarion call that every company should want to take up, especially one that deals directly with living things.

Sadly, Petland is not interested. 

After more than 45,000 people joined the campaign on Change.org calling on Petland USA to stop supporting puppy mills, I sent questions to the company’s headquarters, and the answers received do not recognize the pain and suffering factory farming of family pets inflicts. 

Sometimes pictures can be more effective than words. Since they have the power to help stop this, remind Petland USA what breeder puppy mill dogs look like. 

Mary then asked readers to download pictures from the Change.org website and post them to the Facebook walls of eight major Petland stores. However, Petland has blocked access to these walls, so now she is asking all concerned pet bloggers to post the pictures to their blogs and share them via Facebook and Twitter.

As Mary states in her post on Change.org -

"Petland Corporate boasts that it’s been 'a leader in the pet industry' for 45 years. So why not lead?"

Please join us in this social media campaign to show Petland that we are completely for and about the welfare of animals, and they should be too!

Help Create Jack the Cat's Law

The story of Jack the Cat is known by animal lovers all around the world. Here is a summary of Jack’s saga via Petside.com:

Jack’s story began last August, as his owner Karen Pascoe was preparing to board a flight to California. Pascoe had dropped Jack and her other cat at the baggage area in two carriers for shipment on her flight.

According to a Department of Transportation Pet Incident Report, a clerk stacked Pascoe's two carriers one on top of each other. When the top carrier fell, Jack escaped.

On October 25, it was reported that Jack had miraculously been found 61 days after he went missing. According to the report, Jack fell through the ceiling of the customs area in Terminal 8 at JFK International Airport.

Jack was taken immediately to a veterinary hospital in Queens, run by Blue Pearl Veterinary Services, and then transferred the next day by pet ambulance to the Blue Pearl hospital in Manhattan for intensive veterinary treatment.

After being found, Jack was diagnosed with fatty liver disease, a disease that cripples the feline liver and devastates the rest of the feline body. Due to his severe malnutrition and dehydration, Jack's skin tore easily, putting him at great risk of infection and organ failure.

Jack was suffering and any more procedures would have prolonged that suffering. Sadly, the decision was made to have him euthanized.

Animal lover Kathleen Lietz has started a petition at Change.org to create "Jack the Cat's" Law, a law forcing airlines to put GPS (or similar technology) tracking devices on family pets traveling in cargo holds. In her petition, Lietz states the following:

Every year, family pets go missing from airline baggage areas and cargo holds, never to be located again. Jack the cat was lost in the NYC JFK airport in the American Airlines baggage center on Aug. 25, 2011. American Airlines mishandled his crate during the check-in process, which resulted in the breaking of the carrier. Jack was found 61 days later when he fell through a ceiling tile in the Customs office, in the same terminal in which he was lost. He was severely injured and malnourished. Sadly, Jack was euthanized due to the extensive nature of his injuries on Nov. 6th.

American Airlines was slow to respond and provide support in searching for the cat. In fact, it took the airline 60 hours before calling Ms. Pascoe back with an initial update on rescue efforts. It was only once the situation hit the media and went viral that they began to react in a responsible (but limited) manner. We must force the airlines to have a quick retrieval method in place.

Please sign and share this petition to change the way companion animals are handled by airlines and help prevent another needless tragedy.

I'll Be Seeing You

I rarely post about my own pets, but I wanted to share this lastest video of the kittens with you because I think it's adorable and I hope you do too!



The two kittens in the last frame have moved on to their new homes with people I know very well - so yes, I will be seeing them!

Why TellingDad.com Is My New Favorite Blog

I started my Sunday morning doing the usual - cruising around the web and checking Facebook, Twitter and Google +. I love the feature on Google + that allows you to pick your favorite topics. My favorite topics are dogs, cats, rabbits, pets and animals.

Under cats, I saw Cats 101 with the following blurb:

For those unfamiliar with cats, they're the only mammals on earth that are superior to humans in both intellect and regurgitation. While they stand only 10 inches tall, they still look down on us with great disdain, refusing to acknowledge our presence unless we're holding a can opener...

Bingo - off I went to visit TellingDad.com!

Now this is the first time I've been to this blog, so while I was there I decided to look around. In the sidebar, I saw an interesting button that read "F-bomb Free! What the F@&% Does This mean?" Hmmm...click!

And here Telling Dad tells us why he does not use the F-bomb in his blog:

I’m of the belief that you don’t need to litter posts with F-bombs and juvenile scat jokes to make a point or to make people laugh. There are many writers out there who use curse words with great precision and they actually do a solid job of boosting the quality of their post (see The Bloggess). But for the most part, and I say this knowing I’m just begging for F-laced comments, I see bloggers using vulgarity with reckless abandon and with no real respect for their message.

If I want to offend you, I won’t need curse words to do it, and I feel that using profanity just to close out a thought is akin to a short-cut. My grandfather used to say that people swear when they can’t think of anything intelligent to say. I tend to agree. Granted, this is the same man who told me that Scotch is God’s nectar, but I do echo his thoughts on cursing.

Yay Telling Dad - I couldn't have said it better myself! I cringe when I hear the word spoken. When I was growing up (yes - I am showing my age here), it just wasn't used so I tend to use words like "freaking" when I'm really upset. And no, you will never see me use the F-Bomb in a post.

I agree with Telling Dad when he says,

If I feel that a sentence or thought could REALLY use an F-bomb to drive home the message then you’ll see me drop such words as “freaking”, F&@%, or my favorite replacement, “Fuzzle”.

So I proudly proclaim that Bunny Blog's is F-Bomb Free! Thanks Telling Dad for saying (or not saying) what I've been thinking all along.

Image via TellingDad.com

People Saving Pets Introduces Volunteer Action Day

Are you passionate about pets and searching for a way to help local animal welfare organizations? Well look no further - next Tuesday, November 8 is Volunteer Action Day!

People Saving Pets introduces Volunteer Action Day to bring awareness about the volunteer needs of animal welfare organizations and to encourage the public to help pets by volunteering in their communities.

On November 8, People Saving Pets will encourage volunteers from all over the United States to visit their website to learn about and sign up for volunteer opportunities at their local animal welfare organizations.

According to a recent PetSmart Charities survey, 97% of animal welfare organizations utilize volunteers. These volunteers help keep administrative costs down, allowing the organizations to use their funds to care for adoptable pets, which includes providing spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, food and more.

Specialized infographics developed for Volunteer Action Day show how volunteers help animal welfare organizations and help people understand what to expect when volunteering to help pets. Download the infographics and learn more at PeopleSavingPets.org.

People Saving Pets, empowered by PetSmart Charities, is a social movement dedicated to saving the lives of adoptable pets and solving the homeless pet problem by uniting pet lovers and inspiring local action.

There are many ways to get involved with the People Saving Pets Movement. PetSmart Charities encourages animal-lovers to volunteer, opt to adopt a pet, donate, spay or neuter their pets, or simply spread the word about the People Saving Pets movement.  

Santa Paws Drive Helps Spread Christmas Joy

The third annual Santa Paws Drive kicked off last night with a virtual party on Twitter!

The mission of the Santa Paws Drive is to bring holiday cheer to shelter animals around the world. Pets with homes are often showered with gifts and treats for Christmas, and the Santa Paws’ elves believe that shelter animals deserve a little holiday love, too!

The Santa Paws Drive was founded by Dorian Wagner of Your DailyCute, Lynn Haigh of Pawpawty.com  and Salina Gannon of Nip and Bones, LLC. Santa Paw’s elves also include Diane Silver of To Dog With Love and Kerri Schlack of The Kitten Crew.

Their ultimate hope is that all dogs and cats find forever homes, but if that doesn't happen, they want our furry friends to wake up on Christmas morning to toys and treats – as well as a little extra cash for their shelters.  So they created the Santa Paws Drive, and set out to make it as simple as possible for everyone to be able to make a difference for shelter animals all around the world.

This year, six organizations have been selected as recipients:  Belleglen Sanctuary, BlindcatRescue and Sanctuary, Greenfields Greyhound Rescue, K9 Kastle, Sheba’s Haven Rescue and Black Dog Rescue.

The goal is to raise $900 per shelter ($5,400 total) and oodles of toys and treats for the dogs and cats. You can help by spreading the word – write a post about the Santa Paws Drive and add the widget to your blog or website.

The Santa Paws Drive runs through the entire month of November and ends in mid-December. The last day for toy/treat donations is December 12, and the last day for cash donations is December 20.

There will be lots of online events so watch the Santa Paws Drive website for announcements, join in the fun and help spread the joy this Christmas!

Image via SantaPawsDrive.com