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.

Pet-Centric Bloggers & Site Editors To Raise Voices In Unison To Shine Spotlight on Animal Shelter Adoption

“In an effort to heighten awareness about animal shelter adoption, Petside.com, the popular online destination for pet owners and pet enthusiasts from NBC Universal Digital Media, has organized a landmark consortium of some of the Web’s favorite pet-focused sites to launch the inaugural Pet ‘Net Adoption Event on Thursday, October 16.

Each participating site and blog will highlight content devoted to the topic of animal shelter adoption on this date, with Petside.com hosting a comprehensive one-page hub (http:///www.petside.com/petnetadoption) with links to all of the special coverage.

“Due to the current troubles in the economy, animal shelters are full to over-flowing and shelter adoption is mission critical for animal lovers across the country,” said Kim Jack Riley, editor-in-chief of Petside.com. “Through the power of these diverse and robust voices being raised at once online, we hope this experiment — The Pet ‘Net Adoption Event — will help focus some much-needed attention on the cause.”

Sites/blogs slated to join in the event include:

• About.com Cats
• About.com Exotic Pets
• About.com Veterinary Medicine
• The Daily Puppy
• The Days of Johann
• Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Pet Central
• The Pet Haven
• PetDoc
• PetLvr - The Blog
• Petopia
• PetPeoplesPlace
• Pets Channel
• PetSitUSA
• Polka Dot Pup
• Raise A Green Dog
• Rescue Me
• Thoughts Fur Paws
• YouPet
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This is going to be a really neat event with all these blogs bringing awareness of pet adoption to center stage. Be sure to go and visit some of these blogs on October 16th to see the unique perspective on pet adoption that each author will offer.

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.

I just found another great idea for a pet lover gift: a photo blanket! Now you can cuddle with your pet even when he/she isn’t there!

  The example picture obviously isn’t of a pet photo, but you get the idea.

Just upload a photo on Photoworks, and Voila! They send you your 54″ by 70″ woven blanket in the mail. (They use 8 miles of 100% cotton to make it!)

Click here to see this cool pet lover gift.

Four paws to the City of Los Angeles! It was announced yesterday that the Los Angeles City Council voted to require sterilization of cats and dogs 4 months of age and older.

The ordinance, passed 14-1, is meant to help reduce the number of stray animals the city’s shelters have to kill each year. It’s also hoped it will discourage illegal breeding, dogfighting and hoarders.

Los Angeles is the largest municipality in the entire country to adopt such a measure.

Bob Barker, the former “Price is Right” host and vehement animal welfare advocate (remember at the end of every show how he would ask the viewers to please spay and neuter their pets?), is one of the measure’s staunchest supporters.

According the Orange County Register, Barker has spent $35 million of his own personal fortune on U.S. programs that subsidize the spay/neuter surgeries. Imagine how many pets that has taken care of…

For more details, read the Orange County Register’s full story.

So I just found the funniest thing on the Dogs’ Aye View blog (one of my new faves). Opie and Gomer got it from their friends’ blog ( Chasing Squirrels with Rusty).

It’s a little quiz, originally from Blog Things, that tells you what percentage dog and cat you are.

 Sample questions:

• Are you more likely to: forgive someone’s mistakes, or remember someone’s mistakes for a long time?
• Do you tend to be more protective of: yourself, or friends and family?

I am 30% dog and 70% cat. The quiz also gives you a little text description with more details.

It’s pretty funny when you get your results. All of us hard-core pet cat and dog lovers might be surprised at the results; try it out!

It’s so ironic to me that the American Society for the Prevention of Cruetly to Animals (ASPCA) has a “Guardian” program.

I can’t help but to make the association between “guardian” and “angel.”

I have, since childhood, subscribed to the theory that animals are the ones who are angels. Seriously. In fact, I almost didn’t make my Confirmation in 8th grade because I got in a fight with the Pastor when he told me that animals didn’t go to Heaven. (Noah’s Ark, hello?)

You always hear about the ASPCA rescuing animals from all over the country. You hear about the Poison Control Center, about the Humane Education Program, about the lobbying efforts. Just this week, for example, the ASPCA rescued 200 animals from one woman living in a trailer in Texas. (see PetStrong blog for the whole story - he has a great perspective on the bigger problem).

My pets are my angels: they soothe, they comfort, they entertain, they love unconditionally. They would protect me if they were big enough (of course my dogs think they are protecting me when they bark at the drop of a leaf).

Now is our chance to be Guardian angels back to the country’s pets through this wonderful ASPCA program. I signed up (it’s $18 a month) after seeing the ASPCA commercial and they sent me two pictures (one of a cat and one of a dog) of animals that my money would be helping that month. (They send other swag, too but none of it is as good as the feeling I get just knowing that I am helping their cause).

My pets mean everything to me. The country’s weak, neglected, abused and abandoned animals mean a lot to a lot of us.

I hope that by committing to this program for a nominal fee I am returning the favor.

ThoughtsFurPaws.com is my way of discussing anything and everything pet-related. This blog serves many purposes. It is meant to encourage sharing of favorite pet stories; to detail random ramblings and musings about our beloved babies (so we can “paws fur” thought!); to offer my pets’ perspectives on life and their humans; and, last but not least, to educate readers with informative, domestic pet-related articles. I have owned and trained pets my whole life and am an avid volunteer for both local and national organizations. I hope to share my experiences and knowledge and make some purr-fectly pet-loving friends!