The unseen animal victims of the Gulf Oil Spill are the hundreds of pets that are streaming into Gulf-area animal shelters. Pet owners, left unemployed by ripple effect of the oil spill, have been forced to give up their pets, unable to afford caring for them. Tourism and fishing industries across the Gulf states have seen widespread losses due to the oil spill. Employees and owners of hotels, restaurants, shops, fishermen, are all feeling the economic hardships, and so are their pets.
The result? Surveys completed in August showed animal shelters and rescue groups in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas were reporting an increase in pets being surrendered since the oil spill first occurred on April 20, 2010.
After numerous requests came into Purina’s Pet Acquisition team, Purina decided to consider this as a disaster, as they would normally look at the aftermath of a flood or hurricane on the animal welfare community.
On August 27th, the 5th anniversary of Katrina, five trucks of Beneful Dry Dog Food, Tidy Cats litter and a variety of Purina Brand Dry Cat Food was sent to New Orleans for distribution. The appropriateness of the timing was not lost on Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), a large organizations of volunteers, which formed after Katrina. The pet food and litter were distributed in two locations in New Orleans. ARNO hosted the distribution to 10 area shelters and rescues and the Louisiana SPCA hosted the distribution to 6 shelters and rescues.
On September 1st, three more trucks of the same brands were sent to Florida where the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society hosted the distribution to 9 shelters and rescues.
The Purina Pet Acquisition team and Adopt-a-Pet.com appreciate the collective donations by the Beneful Brand, the Tidy Cats Bloomfield Plant and the Fairburn, GA Plant for providing this much needed pet food and litter. We also greatly appreciate the extra time and effort of Audra Kamp, ORM, who wrote all orders to ensure prompt deliveries.
In total, Purina PetCare Company helped 24 Gulf-area animal welfare organizations feed 3,747 homeless dogs and cats in their care.
Can we be totally frank with you? We are so impressed with the amazing things that those pet-loving people at Purina are able to do in the world. They’re constantly coming up with programs and initiatives that allow them to meet their business goals by making the world a better place for needy animals. They are truly an example of doing well by doing good. Take this piece of brilliance, for example: 
From February 10th through February 14th, Adopt-a-Pet.com is holding the “Great American Pooch Smooch & Kitty Kiss” kiss-a-pawlooza! Spread the love of your pets to homeless pets by sharing your purr-fect and paw-some pet-kissing photos on the 
Purina Veterinary Diet®s “Fighting Pet Obesity” Campaign: Help Shelters and Rescue Groups Pay For Veterinary Procedures With Just a Click! Because Purina is so committed to helping homeless pets, they’ve worked with Adopt-a-Pet.com to set up a special fund to help shelters and rescue groups keep homeless pets healthy while defraying veterinary costs. They’re donating $1.00 for each person who clicks “Like” on their Facebook campaign page, 
Thanks to all the pet lovers who entered the 
Aside from adorable pet videos, sometimes I think the internet was really invented for silly cat photos! Our friends over at Petcentric came up with the idea to post seven photos of cats sleeping and they are each cuter than the next, and that inspired us to go through the archives of our foster cat and kitten photos to find all the cute cat sleeping photos we’ve taken over the years too! Vallo, pictured at right, is one prime example. He would sleep like that with his belly up and a big kitty smile on his face all the time! There’s not much cuter than a happy sleeping kitten or cat, and they can get into some pretty silly positions when they sleep too! Petcentric adds, “On average, cats sleep 13–14 hours a day. Lucky for us, that gives us tons of time to observe their funny and unique sleeping habits. Here, we’ve uncovered seven sleepy cats. Look through quietly — we wouldn’t want to wake them!” Here’s the link to see 
The folks over at Purina® Pro Plan® and Tidy Cats® are gearing up to proudly sponsor another PetSmart Charities Adoption Weekend. From Friday through Sunday, September 13th-15th, you can make a love connection with an adoptable pet by stopping by a PetSmart location near you. Adoptable pets from shelters and rescues across North America will be ready to meet and greet with potential adopters all throughout this exciting three-day adoption weekend. (If you can’t make this event, there will be another one November 15th to 17th 2013 too!) For more information including the participation times of local animal-welfare agencies, contact your local PetSmart store and check out the 