We have all heard of the famous Banfield, The Pet Hospital, right? Well I bet you haven’t heard about Banfield’s Season Of Suppers®,. “A Pet Food Drive For Pets In Need,” it aims to help more seniors and their pets fight hunger.

For a third year, Banfield hospitals across the nation have teamed up with the Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) for a national pet food drive. They are collecting pet food at their locations and donating it to their local MOWAA program to feed pets of senior citizens who receive meals.

Banfield, The Pet Hospital is a private veterinary practice with hospitals located in many communities across the country. Central to their mission is a commitment to providing quality, loving and wise care to pets and their owners.

From a Banfield press release, “We know that many seniors in our community are compromising their own nutrition by sharing their meals with their pets,” says Phil Shippers, director of the Visiting Nurse Meals On Wheels program of Rochester, N.Y.

“Awareness and action are key to preventing this from happening” says Shippers, who began a pet feeding program in September through partial funding from a $1,000 grant from the Season of Suppers campaign. “In the short period of time since we started a pet feeding program, we have seen great interest and support from not only our meal recipients but the greater community as well; we strongly believe this support will continue to grow and help us enhance the lives of seniors.”

Last year, Banfield’s Season of Suppers campaign raised more than $51,000 to help 50 senior meal programs start or augment pet feeding programs across the country, according to the press release.

“Since the first Season of Suppers campaign over 100 Meals On Wheels programs have started pet feeding programs, “says Enid Borden, President and CEO of MOWAA. “While companion pets are the direct beneficiaries of this campaign, homebound seniors are helped as well – and that’s MOWAA’s primary concern. Before the Season of Suppers campaign, many of these seniors lacked access to pet food and were sharing their own meals with their pets. Now, both seniors and their pets are getting proper nutrition. It’s a win-win.”

With Thanksgiving and Christmas rapidly approaching, this is the perfect time to get into the holiday spirit of giving, and help out some needy pets and people. Go to your local Banfield from now until December 31 to make your monetary or pet food donation to Season of Suppers. You can find your local Banfield here: http://www.banfield.net/hospital-locator.

I just found this very interesting post from Lisa Wogan over at the Bark Blog.

“If the obstacle to pet overpopulation is money–consider that challenge handled. Orthopedic surgeon, inventor, and 346th richest American Gary Michelson will give $25 million to the brainy someone who conjures a safe, one-time non-surgical means to sterilize male and female cats and dogs. And that’s not all.

Michelson’s non-profit Found Animals Foundation will provide an additional $50 million to support the research into plausible approaches. Michelson and others, including the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs, believe an inexpensive, convenient alternative to traditional spay and neuter is the essential missing line of attack in the battle to save millions of dogs and cats from euthanasia every year.

My favorite line in the USA Today story on the program is when Michelson says, “No one will stop what they’re doing and turn their attention to this problem for $10 million. That’s not enough.”"

I think this is such an important news story, don’t you? Please cross-post as you see fit.

This is just in from CNN.
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“An animal rescue group on Sunday picked up a U.S. soldier’s adopted dog from Iraq, ending the soldier’s weeks-long struggle to send the animal to her Minnesota home.

Sgt. Gwen Beberg adopted Ratchet after soldiers rescued him from a burning pile of trash in May.

Operation Baghdad Pups (OBP), which said the U.S. military prevented its first attempt to take Ratchet the dog on October 1, picked up the animal in Baghdad with military clearance and flew it to Kuwait on Sunday.

The dog is expected to be flown to Washington on Monday, and if a veterinarian determines it is healthy, sent to Sgt. Gwen Beberg’s home state on Wednesday, Baghdad Pups publicist Larry Garrison said.

Beberg, who adopted the dog after soldiers rescued it from a burning trash pile in May, tried to have the group fly Ratchet to the United States on October 1 as her deployment neared an end.

But the military, which prohibits soldiers from adopting pets abroad and bringing them to the United States, confiscated the animal after Beberg put it on a convoy bound for Baghdad Airport, according to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which runs OBP.

Ratchet and Beberg, 28, drew the attention of thousands of people who signed two online petitions — linked through the SPCA’s Web site — urging the military to let Ratchet go to the United States.

The military cleared OBP to take Ratchet on Wednesday, but not in time for the group’s flight from Baghdad that day, the SPCA said.

On Sunday, private security contractors took Ratchet from a base to the airport, where OBP — which works with soldiers to help them bring adopted animals home — put Ratchet on the charter flight to Kuwait, Garrison said.

Northwest Airlines will donate the flights from Kuwait to Minnesota, Garrison said.

The SPCA said Ratchet helped Beberg deal with her Iraq deployment, which started in September 2007 and is scheduled to end in November.

“She was absolutely miserable in the war and was really struggling to keep going every day. Ratchet turned it around for her,” SPCA spokeswoman Stephanie Scroggs said last week.

Beberg’s mother, Patricia Beberg, in a statement released by the SPCA, said Ratchet “was the savior of her [daughter's] sanity” in Iraq.

SPCA representatives said the military euthanizes some animals that it confiscates, and that Gwen Beberg worried that Ratchet would be killed.

Beberg was thrilled to hear last week that the military would let OBP take Ratchet, the SPCA said.

“Your persistence and amazing work has astonished me throughout this whole thing,” Gwen Beberg said in an e-mail to the SPCA, according to the society.

Scroggs said one of Beberg’s friends helped spread the news about Ratchet through blogs. One of the petitions, which had more than 65,000 signatures as of Sunday night, was started by a blogger, Scroggs said.

The SPCA says although active-duty soldiers aren’t allowed to adopt animals in the Middle East, many soldiers befriend animals in the course of their service there.

Garrison said the program relies on donations, saying it generally costs $3,000 to $4,000 to bring a servicemember’s animal to the United States.

“This isn’t a one-time story This is a program making a difference for our soldiers,” Garrison said.”
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Just goes to show that bloggers can make a difference! Bloggers unite!

From a press release I received:

The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is helping to care for more than 800 pets belonging to evacuees of Hurricane Gustov, with ASPCA teams working in tandem with other humane organizations in 12-hour shifts to conduct intake and escort pet owners to the dog and cat areas at the Louisiana Mega Shelter in Shreveport, La.

“We’ve seen everything from puppies, kittens, dogs and cats to rabbits, hamsters, birds, snakes and other reptiles,” said Sandy Monterose, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Community Outreach who is on site in Shreveport. “Our team is working 24/7 with other agencies to assure the pets belonging to evacuees are cared for.”

The ASPCA deployed a team of 10 disaster response experts on Friday, August 29 at the request of the Louisiana State Animal Response Team (LSART), which serves as the volunteer animal emergency response partner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry under ESF-11. The ASPCA’s Disaster Response Team of ten includes a veterinarian, veterinary technicians, disaster responders and sheltering professionals.

This picture is from the ASPCA website. It says, “ASPCA Forensic Veterinarian Dr. Melinda Merck checks a puppy who was born at the Louisiana Mega Shelter in Shreveport. The puppy is the runt of a litter born just this morning! The litter of four was born to a dog whose owner lives in New Orleans.”

Other agencies besides the ASPCA that are assisting LSART’s efforts include United Animal Nations, Code 3, American Humane Association, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), International Fund for Animal Welfare, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (they have some great information and updates on their website), Noah’s Wish and numerous other humane and disaster response groups.

This picture is courtesy Kathy Milani at HSUS. It says, “New Orleans Evacuation Center: Puppies are cooled down with water as they’re waiting to be loaded on refrigerated trucks to safety.”

You can check ASPCA Hurricane Gustav updates on the group’s website. Or if you were involved in the evacuation or got separated from a pet, click here for a list of pet-friendly shelters for evacuees. In addition, all of the rescue organzations mentioned above have updates and/or diaries on their websites.

I send a HUGE thank you to all the groups involved in saving these helpless animals, especially the ones who get left behind by their owners.

Jaime

It’s time for the Pet Blog of the Week! This week, it’s a dog blog called BAD RAP: Bay Area Dog-lovers Responsible About Pit Bulls.

The BAD RAP blog is one of my favorites. As it says on the group’s website, BAD RAP is “a diverse and growing group of owners, rescuers, and supporters of the American Pit Bull Terrier.” They are one of the most highly respected pit bull rescue pet groups out there. Their animal shelters for pit bulls are highly functional, well-run, successful, and warm and caring.

The BAD RAP blog chronicles the lives of the rescue pets the group has, and is mostly concerned with educating people about pit bulls. There are posts about dogfighting and the following the Michael Vick dogs, about dog breed information, about training the dogs, and more.

Whether you are a pit bull lover or if you don’t really like pit bulls, I would encourage you to visit the BAD RAP blog. You will definitely learn something about the dog breed of pit bulls and it just might change your mind about the breed.

On September 20th, animal welfare advocates, volunteers, animal-lovers and pet charities alike are supporting organizers from the state of Ohio who are partaking in a very important national event: Puppy Mill Awareness Day.

Puppy Mill Awareness Day makes it easy and fun to help raise awareness with downloadable flyers, lawn signs, sample letters to newspaper editors, t-shirts, buttons and more! On PMAD, you can meet up with event organizers and volunteers to hand out flyers and information to people who need to know the truth about puppy mills and the pet trade. You’ll give out information about pet adoption options (so people don’t go to the pet store!) and basic information about puppy mills. (All the materials are positive and educational.)

The PMAD website also recommends the following activities leading up to Puppy Mill Awareness Day:

- Join a meetup group in your area (or start one). Meet and join others who want to educate the community about puppy mills by handing out flyers, tabling at PetSmart, PetCo and other animal-friendly businesses that don’t sell puppies. If you live in Ohio and want to join the campaign, click here. Visit the PMAD website for a list of currently participating cities.

- Send a Letter to the Editor at your local newspaper about Puppy Mill Awareness Day. You can download a guide and sample letter, as I said above, on the PMAD website.

- Hang a flyer at work, the grocery store, the dog park, veterinarian’s office, groomer etc. There are flyers available for download on the PMAD website.

- Organize a pet store protest in your area. Click here to learn how.

For all kinds of other information and more details, visit the Puppy Mill Awareness Day website.

Did you know that this month is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal’s Adopt a Shelter Cat Month?

The group has all sorts of cool activities on its website and they’re all about kitties. All month. There is a photo contest, a fun cat quiz (well it’s actually a survey but it’s still fun), a Cat Care Guide, and all kinds of other neat stuff.

Do you know someone who is interested in getting a little furball for themselves? Send them to an ASPCA shelter in their area for a rescue pet! Whatever you do, DON’T let them go to a breeder!

This week, May 4-10 is the American Humane Association’s Be Kind to Animals Week! The group created this celebratory week in 1915 to celebrate the unique bond between humans and animals.

Though we all love our fur-babies, there are some special things we can do this week to work towards a better future for all animals, everywhere.

So how can you be kind to animals this week? The AHA recommends the following:

Speak out for animals. Get active in local animal welfare policies and legislation.

Report animal abuse. While acts of violence against animals are tragic in their own right, they are also a red flag for other violent behavior, including domestic abuse and violent crime.

Appreciate wildlife. Create an inviting space in your yard or garden for butterflies and birds. Feed the local birds, ducks, bunnies, deer, etc. (Some people might disagree with this one, but oh well. This is my feeling on the subject of starving wild animals).

Make a donation to a local animal shelter. A donation can be monetary, but you can also volunteer or offer up some other service in-kind like contributing to the shelter’s marketing efforts, etc.

Adopt a pet from a shelter or a breed-specific rescue. Approximately 8 to 12 million animals enter our nation’s shelters every year, and more than half of these pets will have to be euthanized because of a lack of homes. Local shelters are the best place to find companion animals, even purebreds — 1 of every 4 dogs in a shelter is a purebred.

Educate others. Share information about animal welfare issues with friends, family and co-workers. Research an issue close to heart, i.e. puppy mills, factory farming, breed-specific legislation, and do something about it! Write letters, call legislators, and get involved with animal welfare advocacy groups!

Spay and neuter. Help solve the problem of euthanasia of adoptable animals by not contributing to it. Make sure your cats and dogs are spayed and neutered.

Did you know that April is designated Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)? The month is designated to increasing awareness and prevention of cruelty to all types of animals.

Last week we celebrated ASPCA Day (April 10) by wearing orange. This week, I’m announcing some ideas of things you can do all year round in support of the prevention of animal cruelty.

Make a donation

Donations to the ASPCA will help to alleviate the needless fear, pain and suffering in animals’ lives. There are a variety of giving options available on the ASPCA website. If you don’t donate to the organization, why not donate to a local shelter? You don’t even need to offer financial assistance. Most shelters welcome donations of pet food, cat litter, dog toys, towels and other supplies.

Volunteer at a shelter

Volunteer at any shelter, in any town across the country. Whether it be a local no-kill shelter or a county Humane Society, give in-kind by offering your time or any other assistance the shelter may need.

Foster animals

If you have the space and the time, fostering animals is a great way to help out. Contact your local animal shelter or a local chapter of a specific breed rescue to see if you can help.

Contact Your Legislators

Write letters to your Congressman and local officials to urge them to vote for harsher penalties for animal abusers. Research your state’s laws in the House and/or Senate at this time. Laws range from regulations to punishments for issues like puppy mills, horse slaughter, breed-specific legislation and dog fighting.

PLEASE CROSS POST!

This is perhaps one of the most important petitions we can all sign. It calls for a boycott of all Amish products until they stop their inhumane and disturbing practices of running puppy mills.

Thanks so much to Dogster’s For the Love of Dog Blog for this information.

Here’s more information from the Boycott Amish products until puppy mills are discontinued petition.

“To: Amish & Mennonite puppy mills
I will boycott all Amish products until puppy mills are stopped. This is greed in its worst form and this is how consumers make their demands known. I simply will not buy Amish products while this practice continues.”

And before you start saying that boycotting Amish products will affect people who aren’t participating in puppy mills, think again. Amish communities are very closed to and extremely disinterested in what they call the “English.” That’s all of us, btw. Unless their leadership declares puppy mills are off limits, the Amish puppy millers will keep up their dirty work. The only way to convince these puppy millers to quit is to make the whole practice very expensive to the WHOLE community.