Tag Archives: BtC4A

Blog the Change: Honey Bunnies

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Blog the ChangeEaster is right around the corner.  So, for this round of Blog the Change, Bella wanted to highlight a bunny-related cause.  After all, she did have a bunny cousin – who she tried to lick during their first encounter.  In any event…

Today, I (and Bella) want to talk about the Make Mine Chocolate campaign (organized by the Columbus House Rabbit Society).  This cause was recently featured on Be the Change for Animals, and it’s a great one.  Just as movies like 101 Dalmatians result in lots of children asking their parents for a Dalmatian, Easter has the tendency to result in requests for bunnies.  While I’m all for adoption, I’m not in favor of families acquiring the pet of the moment and realizing that perhaps pet ownership was not really for them.  If a family is prepared and knows what they are getting into – more power to them.  However, the sad reality is that many of these bunnies end up in animal shelters or worse.

The key here is education – before adopting a rabbit, it’s important to know if a rabbit really is the right pet for you.  (Sound advice before adopting any animal.  Check out the cool Interactive Bun feature at Make Mine Chocolate to see if you’re bunny material.  For those who get the Interactive Bun seal of approval, I recommend visiting All Things Dog Blog tomorrow to meet some wonderful bunnies from Petfinder – it’s an Easter Rabbit Adoptathon!  Go here for details on how to participate.)

So, this Easter season, spread the word about Make Mine Chocolate.  Commit to giving only chocolate (or cute plush) bunnies as gifts.  Visit MMC’s website or the Facebook page to learn more.  (After using that abbreviation, I momentarily drifted off to think about the Mickey Mouse Club.  Anyone else remember The Party?  Okay, back to the serious stuff… focus.) 

Also, I realize it’s not technically part of the Make Mine Chocolate campaign, but I’d also like to take a moment to discourage giving children chicks and ducklings as well.  First, they grow up.  Chicks become chickens, and ducklings become ducks.  Second, unless you’re Chandler and Joey, it’s just not a good idea.

Interested in participating in Blog the Change?  Learn more here.  You can find the list of other participating bloggers (and join the blog hop yourself) after the jump.

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Paws for Japan: How to Help

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Paws for JapanAs you know, the images and stories from Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami are haunting and heartbreaking.  The tragedy has had a devastating effect on both people and animals.  For that reason, I ask you to take a moment today and learn how you can help with animal relief efforts in Japan. 

Today has been dubbed Paws for Japan Day.

What can you do? Please visit Pawcurious and BlogPaws Be the Change for Pets for information how you can donate to World Vets to support its animal relief efforts in Japan.  Huffington Post also highlighted World Vets in this list of ways to help animals in Japan – there are 5 other organizations mentioned as well if you’d like to learn more.

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Blog the Change: Pets of the Homeless

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Blog the ChangeToday’s post is part of Blog the Change for Animals, an event in which bloggers blog (that noun-verb combo gave me pause for a moment – it’s awkward but accurate) about animal causes. At the end of this post, find out how you can participate in Blog the Change (sponsored by our friends at Be the Change for Animals).
You will also find links to all of the other blogs participating in
Blog the Change.  I encourage you to check out these blogs – many great
causes out there.  Finally, if you’re interested in reading my entries from past Blog the Change events, check them out here: Protecting People & Their Pets and Share the Love & Rescue a Pup.

I spent a great deal of time agonizing over what to write about for today’s Blog the Change event.  Should I revisit an earlier topic, like the Pets and Women’s Shelters (PAWS) Program, pet adoption, or the importance of buckling up your pup? Or should I focus on something new?  Lucky for you, dear reader, I recently read a post by CindyLu’s Muse that made my decision for me. As soon as I read that post, I knew that I had to write about this cause for Blog the Change.  It’s a natural sequel to my post on the PAWS program.

That cause? Pets of the Homeless, a nonprofit organization that provides pet food and veterinary care to the homeless and less fortunate in local communities across the United States and Canada. I imagine that you, like me, may have felt your heart break a little when you pass a homeless person with a pet.  Sometimes the love between the two can take your breath away.  Given that winter is a particularly dangerous time to have no shelter, I thought that Pets of the Homeless was the perfect cause to feature during the frigid month of January.

Learn more about this organization and how you can help, after the jump.

Before I go on, I want to quickly address an argument I encountered while doing research for this post.  Some argue that homeless people should not have pets – and that the best solution is to take these pets away.  I’m not going to engage in that debate here.  However, I do want to share the following quote I found on the Pets of the Homeless blog:

“There are those who will say that homeless people should not have
pets. But they will have pets. There are those who will say that people
should not be homeless. But there will be homeless people. This is the
real world.  And as someone who works in that real world, I have
seen abuse and neglect of the pets of wealthy and impoverished alike,
just as I’ve seen wonderfully loving and supportive relationships
between animals and people on every rung of the economic ladder. One
issue, of course, is that economics can and often do contribute to an
inability to provide what can be costly services.”

– Ken White (President, Peninsula Humane Society)

Pets of the Homeless cites a sobering statistic from the National Coalition for the Homeless. NCH estimates that 3.5 million people are homeless. Between 5-10% of these homeless people have pets. (In some areas of the country, this number may be as high as 24%.) For a variety of reasons, many are forced to choose between keeping their pets or having a roof over their heads.  (Many shelters are not equipped to house pets.  For a list of those that do and groups that will provide temporary foster care for pets of the homeless, please click here.)  As a result, the majority choose to stay on the streets with their pets rather than abandoning them.

Pets of the Homeless aims to help this population in a variety of ways.  It has established collection sites to accept donated pet food and distributes this food through partnerships with homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other entities.  The organization also makes two types of grants: one to veterinarians that go to where the homeless congregate and provide veterinary care such as vaccines, spay/neuter and other needed treatments; the other to homeless shelters looking for ways to allow pets sanctuary with their owners.

If you have tissues handy, I urge you to read some of the success stories and view the touching photos on the Pets of the Homeless website.

Want to know how you can help? If there is a collection site near you, donate pet food and supplies.  (If there’s no collection site near you, find out how to become one.)  Pets of the Homeless also provides a list of other ways that you can donate your time or money to this worthy cause.

I hope you’ll take the time to check out this organization and learn more.


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Blog the Change: Protecting people and their pets

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Blog the Change

The post below originally appeared on this blog on August 4, 2010.  While trying to choose a topic for today’s Blog the Change, I kept coming back to this issue.  Victims of domestic violence may delay leaving a dangerous situation for fear of leaving their pets behind.  The Pets and Women’s Shelters (PAWS) Program is an effort to create opportunities for victims of domestic violence and their pets to be safe and stay together.  I think it’s a really important cause, and it seemed worthy of posting again.  In addition, National PAWS Day was October 5, so it seemed like the perfect time to resurrect this post.

At the end of this post, find out how you can participate in Blog the Change (sponsored by our friends at Be the Change for Animals). You will also find links to all of the other blogs participating in Blog the Change.  I encourage you to check out these blogs – many great causes out there.  Finally, if you’re interested in reading my July entry for Blog the Change, check it out here: Share the Love & Rescue a Pup.

Your regularly scheduled No Frown Friday will return next week.

Update (1/16/11):  The PAWS Program is no longer at American Humane.  However, you can read up on its current status here.

Bella’s serious face

Every now and then, I get serious for a moment.  Today is one of those days.

When you give your heart to a dog, you get so much in return.  In addition to unconditional love, a furry friend (like my Bella) provides companionship, comic relief and so much more.  Seeing my pup after a long day always makes me smile, and snuggling with her while sharing my troubles helps melt away the stress of the day. 

We always talk about rescuing animals, but sometimes an animal rescues its person.  I read a moving story yesterday courtesy of the lovely folks over at FIDO Friendly Blog called “The Dog Who Saved Me From Abuse.”  The author tells the story of how adopting Baby (a Chiweenie – great breed name, right?) changed her life.   She was stuck in an abusive relationship with no way out – at first, Baby gave her an excuse to get out of the house, and then Baby’s unconditional love helped the author survive and find the strength to leave.  It’s an inspirational tale, and I hope you will take a moment to read it.  Grab some tissues.  In fact, you may want to have your pup handy – I know I needed a Bella hug when I finished reading.

The post also contains information about a great program that I want to share with you.  It’s called the Pets and Women’s Shelters Program (aka the PAWS Program).  American Humane developed this program to encourage domestic and family violence emergency housing shelters to allow residents to bring their pets with them.  (This post is getting a bit long, so you can find the remainder after the jump.  I have lots of info to share with you today.)

Allowing residents to bring their pets with them to these shelters recognizes both the comfort that pets provide and the importance of the human-animal bond.  Further, it removes one more obstacle that might discourage people from getting out of abusive relationships – if they can bring their pets to the shelter with them, then they don’t have to worry about leaving their furry friend behind.  (There is often a link between domestic violence and pet abuse – both human and furry family members may be in danger.)  Keeping domestic violence victims and their pets together is an important mission – I encourage you to learn more about the PAWS Program and what you can do to help.  

The United States Humane Society also has a program to help victims of domestic violence and their pets – it’s called Safe Havens for Animals.  This program aims to provide temporary housing for victims’ pets when a shelter cannot accommodate them.  The goal is the same – to give people and their pets a way out of abusive situations.  As noted above, animal cruelty and human violence often go hand in hand.  The more options out there, the better.

If you want to read more about this issue, I’ve rounded up a few other links:

This concludes today’s serious interlude.

To find out how you can participate in Blog the Change, go here.  You can also add your BtC post using the list below.  While you’re at it, visit some of the other blogs participating in Blog the Change:

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Share the love & rescue a pup

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Blog the ChangeI recently learned about Blog the Change, and decided to participate today.  On July 15 (and three other times throughout the year), pet bloggers write about animal issues that are near and dear to their hearts in an effort to inspire others to get involved.  (For more info, go check out Be the Change for Animals.)

When I was deciding what to write about (and there are some really touching and interesting posts out there today), I found myself coming back to the issue of pet adoption.  As you may have noticed, animal rescue is a topic that pops up on this blog fairly regularly.  I can’t help it – it’s genetic.  My family is full of animal lovers.  As I was growing up, adopting pets in need was a regular occurrence.  Our rescued pups came to us from many places – neighbors moving away who couldn’t take their pet with them, owners who no longer wanted their pets and were considering getting rid of them, or the odd stray who loped into our lives and became one of the family.  Each of these pooches was a blessing, and I am happy that so many of them turned around three times and curled up in my heart.

While thinking about this topic today, I immediately thought of one rescue in particular (aside from my Bella, of course, whose rescue past I’ve shared before).  When I was a teenager, a stray named Romeo appeared in my aunts’ neighborhood.   Poor Romeo was malnourished, and at one point had suffered some injuries.  He was scared to let anyone near him.  It was a slow process, but day by day he made his way closer to the front porch and the people waiting to love him.  I found it so inspiring to hear about his progress, as well as the time and effort my aunts and uncle devoted to convincing Romeo that he would be safe with them.  I remember sitting on the front porch and trying to feed him so that he would see he could trust me as well.  Each time he took a step closer, it was a little victory.  When you looked in his eyes, you could see that he wanted nothing more than to have a loving home.  He just needed to overcome his fear of people in order to let himself be loved.  Lucky for Romeo, my aunts and uncle were patient and kind – accordingly, Romeo became a member of the family long before he ever set foot on that porch.  He was in need, and they were there to help.

For a variety of reasons, many pups (and other animals) end up homeless.  If you have love to give, I urge you to consider rescuing a pup in need.  Your love is a wonderful gift to give to a homeless animal, and the love you receive in return is priceless.  To find more information about pets in your area that need homes, please visit Petfinder.  (It’s how I found Ms. Bella!)

Can’t bring a pup home right now?  Consider donating your time instead.  There are many wonderful rescue organizations out there (including HART, the group that saved my Bella), and many dogs who want nothing more than people to love them.  The individuals who devote their time to these rescue groups are my heroes.  I hope you consider volunteering – maybe you will be able to help a lucky pup meet his match and find his forever home.  Finally, even if you can’t give your time but would still like to help, there are many other ways you can make a difference.

For more inspiring rescue stories, I encourage you to check out Last Chance Highway on Animal Planet.  These inspiring stories of rescued pets will tug at your heartstrings and help you clear those tear ducts out on a weekly basis.  You can also find many other inspiring tales at the Petfinder.com Foundation site, and at countless other locations on the interwebs.

In closing, I have one final argument in favor of rescuing a pup:  Bella.  You know she’s awesome.

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