Did you make a New Year’s Resolution this year? Maybe more than one? We have quite a list going here in the Adopt-a-Pet.com home offices… see below for our New Year’s Eve resolution countdown! Topping my foster pets’ resolutions is to find a forever loving home! They are very excited about what’s on the 2014 calendar for Adopt-a-Pet.com to help them — and all the other hundreds of thousands of pets listed on Adopt-a-Pet.com — a fabulous adoption match. Second on the foster kittens’ list is not to jump on my keyboard to send half finished email messages, no matter how much fun it is! I admit, helped them write their list. Not all New Year’s resolutions are fun or easy to keep, but I am definitely going to enjoy helping them with both of those! Here at Adopt-a-Pet.com we work on our resolution all year long of helping shelters and rescues find great loving adopters for the homeless pets in their care. We’ve kept that resolution, along with others like keeping our nonprofit website totally free for adopters, shelters, and rescues to use; to make our site the best it can be so finding a pet to adopt is quick and easy, as is listing pets so we’re saving shelters and rescues time. We have some new resolutions in 2014 and we’re really looking forward to sharing them with you soon! As the countdown to a new year begins, we decided to countdown 5 resolutions we hope you’ll join us in making for the new year:

5. Help a homeless pet by sharing or tweeting their Adopt-a-Pet.com link to my friends and family. 

4. Volunteer at my local animal shelter or rescue.

3. Get my pets a yearly vet check-up to help them stay health and happy.

2. Spay or neuter my dogs, cats, and rabbits.

1. Adopt a pet (or help a friend or family adopt) and give them a life-long loving home.

Happy New Year! 

As veterinary care for pets continues to advance, one of the amazing ways dog owners can help their dogs heal or regain mobility is with the use of orthopedics. Sometimes it looks like the making of a bionic dog, especially when a pet in pain or without a limb can suddenly walk or even run again! There have been tremendous strides made (excuse the pun) in both surgery and prosthetics and orthopedics for pets in the past decade. One company at the forefront is Animal Orthocare. We had the chance to speak to Derrick Campana, who founded Animal Orthocare in June of 2005 and is the company’s current president, as well as being a certified Orthotist/Prosthetist. Here’s what he had to say!

What inspired you to starting helping other animals in addition to humans?

In 2004, A veterinarian came to the office I was working at (Hanger Orthopedic Group in Bethesda, MD) with her dog named Charles. He had a congenital deformity and was in need of a prosthesis. I built the device and the veterinarian said that there is a very high need for these services, but no one does this. At the time only one other company had been established about 6 months before I started Animal Orthocare in 2005.

Which is your most popular product?

Approximately 85% of our business is fabricating stifle braces (ACL knee braces for animals). CCL ruptures are the most common injury that we see and help via the use of our custom knee (stifle) braces. From there, we se a lot of prosthetics, then hock braces for Achilles injuries and carpal braces for carpal hyperextension.

Aside from the information you provide in your website’s FAQ, are there other questions or concerns from vets or pet owners that you are asked frequently?

Probably the biggest misconception is the price of our products. Most people think that only rich people can afford a brace or prosthesis, but in reality they are much less expensive than surgery and can save thousands in the long run. Braces can be worn and surgery can be avoided on a lot of cases I see.

Is there any advice you have for pet owners who are trying to decide between surgery and a brace?

Speak to your veterinarian about options other than surgery. There are more and more open minded vets that see good results from bracing, etc. but there are still a lot that are stuck in their ways and believe surgery is the only option. I would try a brace for certain diagnoses and see if the limb can heal. If not, surgery is always there as an option and the brace can be worn post-operatively instead of splints that can cause irritation and cost money every week during bandage changes. These weekly bandage changes can cost more than the brace itself and with the brace you can monitor wounds every day because you are able to take it on and off.

Are there cases where you would not (or did not) recommend trying a brace or prosthetic?

We can only make prosthetics for animals that have most of their limb remaining. We get calls everyday asking why we cannot make a prosthesis for shorter limbed patients and the reasons are 1) we cannot suspend a prosthesis from a short residual limb 2) The animal would not have control over a prosthesis and end up hurting themselves if the residual limb is too short).
I would not always recommend a brace for a completely ruptured CCL since the leg does not repair itself most of the time with this diagnosis , but we sometimes brace the contralateral limb as a preventative measure as a lot of the time the CCL on the other limb can tear.

Have you heard any stories where a rescue or shelter purchased one of your products, which helped the pet get adopted?

Rescue organizations contact us all the time and use our braces. We give very good discounts to rescue leagues.

Do you have any other inspiring success stories about individual pets who’ve benefitted from your products?

Google “Hudson the railroad puppy”. (We did and found this heart-wrenching story with a very happy ending on the Daily News here.)

 Anything else you’d like to share with our audience of potential adopters, pet owners, animal welfare advocates, shelter and rescue staff and volunteers?

I believe this is a great option for a lot of dogs/dog owners. Don’t let veterinarians corner you into surgery without researching options.

Thank you for your time! For more information about Animal Orthocare products, visit  www.animalorthocare.com

Cats love cardboard boxes! The official Boxing Day holiday doesn’t really have much to do with cardboard boxes, and even less to do with cats, but our foster cats thought it would be fun to recognize the name of this holiday with their own feline twist! Boxing Day is an actual national holiday in Great Britian, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, and a number of other countries too. It typically is the day after Christmas Day, and there are a few stories as to how this holiday got it’s start. The theme seems to be giving gifts to those that are needy. We’d like to suggest celebrating Boxing Day by helping our needy animal friends — dogs, cats, and other pets who are up for adoption in shelters and rescues. Fill up a cardboard box with goodies that will make their holiday season a little happier as they wait for their new home. The cats may enjoy the box you bring your gifts in most of all! Happy Boxing Day!

North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption search engine reports 25% growth in holiday search traffic.  Good News for Pets in America’s Shelters: More of you are getting homes for the holidays! It looks like shelter pets are high on many families’ Christmas lists this year.  Adopt-a-Pet.com, North America’s largest non-profit pet-adoption search engine, is reporting a 25% increase in traffic over the past 30 days compared to the same period last year.  That’s an extra 700,000 people who have come to the website, searching for a pet to adopt from their local animal shelter or pet rescue group.

According to Adopt-a-Pet.com’s executive director, Abbie Moore, the upward trend might be attributable to factors like an improved economy, or it could be something even more heartwarming.  “Our hope is that a higher percentage of families have decided to adopt a wonderful pet from a shelter rather than purchasing from a pet store this year,” says Moore, “and that’s a gift for the pet whose life is saved, and for the family, who will be the recipient of that pet’s love and gratitude for many years to come.”

Adopt-a-Pet.com would like to remind people that the whole family should be involved in the process of choosing the right pet to adopt. “If you want to surprise your kids with a pet on Christmas morning, that’s great!” says Moore, “But instead of a living being, why not create a large gift certificate, redeemable for one shelter pet the whole family will choose together? Browsing Adopt-a-Pet.com and going to the local shelter will just extend the fun of the gift.”

To assist those new adopters who opt for a puppy instead of an older pet or that of another species, Adopt-a-Pet.com has just launched their first comprehensive ebook, The Puppy Manual, chock full of great tips and advice to help navigate those early months. You can download your free copy for your e-reader or tablet here or get the PDF version. The Puppy Manual is also be available on Amazon for Kindle.

Adopt-a-Pet.com is North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption website.  We help over 13,500 animal shelters, humane societies, SPCAs, pet rescue groups, and pet adoption agencies advertise their purebred and mixed breed pets for free to millions of adopters each month.  Sponsored by the pet lovers at Purina and Bayer AnimalHealth LLC, we help homeless dogs, cats, and even rabbits and other animals go from alone to adopted.  But we don’t stop there.  Adopt-a-Pet.com also provides valuable information on the human/companion animal relationship to help keep pets healthy and successfully living in their loving homes.  Visit our Facebook page and blog for supportive content and articles, and our YouTube channel for entertaining and informative pet training videos, all produced by our staff of experts in animal training and behavior, as well as human psychology.

Here’s a happy adoption story just in time for the holidays… times two! These adorable puppies were given this chance at their happy beginning to the rest of their lives thanks to the humane society who, seeing past their wild ways and recognizing their potential took them in and began their socialization, and of course too the compassionate person that adopted them. We heard about this doubly happy adoption story thank to the Adopt-a-Pet.com Happy Beginnings Fund grant program for shelters and rescues. The grants provide funding to shelters and rescues for their adoption programs, to make more Happy Beginnings like these two possible. If Adopt-a-Pet.com helped you find a pet to adopt, and you have a happy adoption story and photo that you’d like to share to help inspire others to adopt a pet, we’d love to hear from you! Please send an email with a photo or two of you and your adopted pet (or just your pet, but we love seeing your smiling faces too) attached to us here at  info@cms.adoptapet.com, and let us know how Adopt-a-Pet.com helped you find your pet! Now on to the wonderful story of Sam & Bertie, and the photo with their new person below…

Their humane society writes, “One of our favorite Happy Beginnings is about Sam & Bertie the two Miniature Dachshunds that were surrendered to our shelter as “mean and wild”. To the contrary, these two little minis’ were so frightened and scared that they were hunkered down in the pet carrier not wanting to come out. With lots of love and patience we won over these two cuties. They went to an outdoor festival in Lexington, KY where they were the two featured dogs for “Smooch the Pooch” and helped to raise $1,316.00 for our shelter. Not only did they raise monies to SOS – Save Our Shelter – they were ADOPTED! Belinda adopted the two of them together as bonded pair. She changed their names to Priscilla and Elvis! ROCK ON! – Mark and all the Critters here waiting at No Kill Central KY Regional Humane Society”

To bring or not to bring your pet along on a vacation trip with you, that is the question! Of course if your trip is to make a permanent move, you’ll be taking your pet with you. But holiday or vacation travel, especially if it is for extended periods to pet-friendly locales like when you’re staying with friends, family, or in pet-friendly hotels or camp grounds, can be a lot of fun, especially for adventure-loving dogs. We do know one cats that actually like to take road trips, but for the most part, cats are creatures of routine and may be happier hanging out at home with a pet sitter, than accompanying you on your journey. If you are brining Fido or Mittens along, what can you do to make the experience as enjoyable and safe as possible for everyone involved? The pet travel tips in the infographic below from the travel experts at the Marriot will help keep you (and your pets) calm and stress-free; allowing you both to enjoy the ride.

A Visual Guide to Pet Travel 101 – An infographic by the team at Marriott Hotels

You may not know that giving a pet as a gift is a hot topic of debate in the animal sheltering and rescue community! Some folks feel very strongly that pets should never be given as gifts in any circumstance, while others think giving pets as gifts is great no matter what… and then there a lot of us who fall somewhere in between.  If you are thinking about giving someone a pet as a gift this holiday season or any time, there are three questions you can ask yourself  and the gift recipient to make your gift giving a great experience for everyone involved – including the gifted pet!

1. Is the recipient ready for a life-long commitment to that pet?

Dogs live anywhere from 10 to 18 years (smaller breeds generally live longer, cats live 20 years or more, rabbits live up to 12 years, and horses can live to be 40 years old sometimes! That is many, many years of providing food, vet care, exercise, and love. It’s a huge responsibility, both emotionally and financially. If your recipient’s future situation is uncertain, they may prefer an older adult or senior pet, who still has lots of love to give, but won’t require such a long commitment. Older adult and senior pets also often come fully trained, and require less exercise! They may require more vet care, so you might want to include pet health insurance with the gift of an older pet too.

2. Surprise gifts?

Giving a pet as a surprise gift may sound like fun – but getting to be involved with picking out a pet is equally if not more fun, and the match has a better chance of being a happier one! You can give a “surprise” gift by wrapping a stuffed animal or pet adoption gift certificate in a huge box, and then making part of the gift going to the shelter or a rescue to meet with potential adoptees, to pick one out together. Pets that are adopted, then returned, are more likely to become depressed and then sick (especially if they are returned to a kennel shelter), or may develop separation anxiety, or withdraw. Pets are not meant to be returned or exchanged like an ill-fitting sweater.

3. Do they really want a pet right now?

Your mom or boyfriend may love pets, and say things like they wish they could have a dog/cat/rabbit/horse/etc, but the gap between a wish and reality can be a big one. Before you decide on gifting a pet, you can ask questions like, “Why haven’t you gotten a dog yet?” and listen to see if the answers include reasons like not enough time, not enough extra money, not enough space, landlord rules, etc.

Of course, getting a new pet has many more considerations than just those three! Here are some more tips for giving gift pets to children and timing your gift right. We hope you’ll use that article and these three tips above as a starting point for you and your gift recipient, so together you’ll make the best choice for everyone.

Happy holidays and gifting!

#GivingTuesday is a national day of giving to kick off the giving season and encourage charitable activities! We’ll be celebrating the day by giving to our local shelters and rescue organizations, and encourage all pet lovers to do the same and start a new philanthropic tradition that you can enjoy every year. While giving monetary support in the form of donations is always appreciated, your generosity can take many forms! You can give your talents, your time, items on a shelter’s wish list which often include older items you may have been about to throw away anyway, like older sheets, blankets, towels, newspapers, and more. Sometimes organizations will have auctions or tag sales, and will accept your higher value or lightly used items as a donation too.

If your local shelter or rescue doesn’t have a wish list posted on their website or Facebook page already, we suggest asking before filling up your car and making a delivery! Some shelters have limited space as well as funds, so may only be able to accept specific items. You can find shelters and rescues near you by doing a Shelter/Rescue Search using your zip code here.

If you’re not already volunteering with an animal welfare organization, you can also register with our Adopt-a-Pet.com volunteer database. Once you sign up, you can search through any volunteer opportunities that shelters and rescues have posted, as well as wait to see if shelters and rescues contact you directly.

Have a happy #GivingThursday and rest of the holiday season this year!