Author: David

One of the keys to a community’s success rate in helping their homeless animals is for local rescue groups to work together and support one another’s efforts. Los Angeles-based Molly’s Mutts & Meows was actually founded on this principle, so much so that it is inked into their mission statement.

Molly Wootton, founder of Molly’s Mutts & Meows, goes to great lengths to offer support and guidance to anyone in the community who wishes to help animals. Like many rescue groups, Molly’s Mutts & Meows does not have a physical facility, but instead relies on those willing to provide foster homes for animals until permanent homes are found. Molly attributes her tremendous success rate to her innovative methods of engaging volunteers; she allows foster home providers to go with her to the city shelters to pick out the animal they wish to care for.

Molly believes that including the volunteer in this manner fosters dedication, loyalty and a real commitment to the animal in their care. Molly’s dedication and can-do attitude are truly infectious, “We can save lives. People need to make adoption the first option,” says Molly, “We all need to get out there and educate our peer group. Those who have an adopted pet need to make it known and spread the message.” Check out all of Molly’s adoptable pets, or to find out how you can help, visit http://www.mollysmuttsandmeows.org/.

While begging for hot dogs, and picnic scraps might seem like the perfect dog day, what comes after on the 4th isn’t so K9 friendly. At night the bangs, cracks, and screeching of fireworks elevate your dogs drive and can cause them to panic, run, become highly distressed, wet the floor, tear up things, pant out of control hide as well as other behaviors. Some dogs like police dogs are trained to deal with the stress, but more pedestrian dogs can’t handle the excitement. Here are 5 tips to help your dog stay cool this day of independence.

1. Keep your dog inside! Turn on the TV or loud music to minimize outside sounds.
2. If you stay with your dog, don’t coddle them when they are scared. Be strong, talk with a normal voice and be indifferent to the sounds.
3. Give your dog a special toy to play with, a bone or something to keep their mind off of what’s going on outside.
4. Keep doors closed. This is one of the busiest times at shelters for runaways. Even if your dog has never shown a proclivity to run, this may be the time. Be Aware!
5. If at all possible, do not leave your dog alone, especially outside during these events. If you must leave them alone, leave them inside with a TV or radio playing.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

If you like drinking root beer and supporting pet adoption, have we got a combo for you! Margo’s Bark is an all-natural root beer from a family-owned company who donates 100% of their profits to help shelter dogs. In the Spring of 2008, it occurred to Tim and Jessica Youd while helping his son with a school science fair project, that it might be fun to buy a root beer kit to study carbonation and the process yeast undergoes when it interacts with sugar and heat.

Oscar (the son) soon developed a knack for tasting and perfecting the process of brewing root beer. After rave reviews, and a science fair award, Oscar and his family wanted to expand their new found talent and share not only the taste of the new root beer, but also the proceeds. Fittingly they named the beverage after their black lab-pit bull rescue dog named Margo.

Margo is proud that her legacy as the official spokesdog for Margo’s Bark Root Beer will be that of benefiting her four legged friends who need help finding homes.

Made from all-natural cane sugar, molasses and a hint of vanilla, Margo’s Bark is a full bodied and earthly tribute to an American classic. This root beer recipe has undertones of clove, cassia, nutmeg and wintergreen to give it a spicy kick and yucca extract finishes off the recipe to give it a thick and foamy head. Replacing corn syrup with cane sugar in Margo’s recipe allows Oscar and his pals a cleaner and healthier rendition of what is usually a very sweet and sticky carbonated beverage. Margo’s Bark is currently available in Los Angeles at Tender Greens, Larchmont Larder, Potato Chips, The Urban Pet and LA Dogworks. This summer, Margo’s Bark will be available in all Whole Foods locations throughout Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and all Southern California Bristol Farms locations. For updates on additional availability, please visit www.margosbark.com.

Petsummary.com is a website where you can keep all your pet records handy. This makes it much easier for vets to access pet information whether its a routine checkup, or emergency.

Just like Google’s new online health record service for people, PetSummary makes it easy for pet owners, vets and caregivers to access your dog’s important health data, anytime, anywhere. So it’s perfect for unexpected vet visits while your traveling or away from your pup. Even better, PetSummary makes you less dependent on your busy vet’s office to keep you up to date on vaccines, sparing you the cost of redundant tests or shots. Read more at woofreport.com

Wish you could take home every pet in every shelter, but just don’t have the space? There are lots of other ways you can help. Pet over population is a big problem, and while not everyone can adopt, you can make just as big as impact by finding other ways to help out homeless animals. Here are five ways you can help.

For more information check out our complete Ways to Help Homeless Pets Guide.

5 Ways to Help Homeless Pets Without Adopting

• Donate supplies to your local shelter or rescue group
• Use your special skills- The shelter may need help with computers, book keeping, or building a better shelter. Get creative about the ways which you can help
• The shelter can be an extremely stressful atmosphere for a dog or cat, go and keep a furry friend company for a day
• It may sound simple, but the greatest gift you can give homeless pets and those who take care of them is simply to keep your own pets for life. Don’t give up on a pet, they inevitably will end up in a shelter.
• Take responsibility for your own pet and have them spayed or neutered

Earlier this week Pia Salk was invited to show off some local pets on Mike and Juliet. Pia also discussed a new feature on our website we are calling Social Petworking. Find out what happened on the show, and what Social Petworking is all about.

Social Petworking is all about sharing the idea of adopting pets with your current friends on Twitter, Facebook and other social applications. Now once you find a pet in need on AdoptaPet.com simply hover over the button on the top right of the page description labeled “SHARE.” There you can send the pet page to any of your friends. This is an awesome, and kind way of creating awareness of pets in need with your family an friends.

Pia discusses more about the Social Petworking on the show.

Welcome back for another week’s addition of Good News In Pet Adoption. This week lots of positive stories have emerged. Highlights included, two college students raising money with twitter to save a Dog’s life, Vets teaming up with shelters to offer pets care, and how an adopted pet named Boo helped his owner get help after a icy fall.

Stories from 5/23 – 5/29

– Two Texas college students raise money through twitter to pay for a dog’s surgery.
http://mashable.com/2009/05/24/twitter-dog/

– The Dog Valor Awards – Several stories profiling of dogs helping their owners in tough situations.
http://www.beloblog.com/KHOU_Animal_Attraction/2009/05/the-dogs-of-val.html

– A local police department rescues a dog from his death bed and makes him one of the squad.
http://www.coloradoconnection.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=305363

– San Francisco Vet reaches out to help shelters care for pets.
http://www.pr-inside.com/teaming-up-to-help-shelter-pets-r1277190.htm

Having trouble deciding if it’s a smart idea to purchase pet insurance? Not sure which plan or provider is best for you? Choosing pet insurance should be evaluated much like choosing insurance for yourself. Here are a few questions to consider…

• How does each policy handle pre-existing conditions?
• How many repeat vet visits for similar treatments are covered?
• What about inherent diseases and anticipated conditions?
• What are the policy coverage options and claim processing turn around times?

For more on this topic, check out our blog article on how to Prepare for You Pet’s Vet Costs.

Hello from Adopt-a-Pet.com! We are proud to bring our readers a brand new post series today titled “Good News In Pet Adoption.” What is the purpose of this new post series? It is to provide uplifting news from around the country about pet adoption.

Whether you’re looking to adopt, or a volunteer in a shelter the problems of pet overpopulation can seem overwhelming, and no one can do it all. We want to help keep morale strong and inform everyone of good things are happening in the name of helping some of our furry friends.

Stories will come from around the country discussing topics such as people reaching out to help shelters, and entertaining stories about the pets that are being adopted everyday.

Here are a few positive stories from the past two weeks.

– 200 dogs rescued from puppy mill arrive at LI shelter

– Zach Wilson, 9, and his mom created the Central Florida Animal Pantry

– Youngster helps Shelter with bake sale

– Some animal rights advocates working to strengthen new puppy mill bill

– Students bring in Pennies for Pets

Moving can be an incredibly stressful event for you and your family. Often, we’re so wrapped up in the stress we’re feeling that we forget that this is a difficult time for our pets, too!

Pets are truly creatures of habit, and change can be very scary and unsettling for them. In addition, pets are extremely sensitive to our moods and emotions, and they are affected by all the upheaval going on inside us before a move worry about getting everything done in time, concerns about finances, fears about adjusting to a new job or a new city, sadness at saying goodbye to your old home or your friends and family… all of these things we feel are picked up by our pets, too. Then, when we pack, all they know is that not only are we upset or excited, but everything familiar to them is disappearing, too.

There are ways to ease the transition, though. First, try to maintain your pets’ normal routine as much as possible. Make sure your pets are getting enough exercise during this period remember, a tired pet is a well-adjusted, happy pet. A good, long walk or hike can do wonders for your pets’ stress levels (and yours, too!). Here are some other tips for a safe and = successful move with your pets:

Before you move:

• Find out your new city or county’s pet licensing requirements and apply for a license
• Before you pack, make a set of photocopies of your pets’ license, microchip documentation, and proof of spay/neuter and vaccines. Keep them in an envelope in your glove compartment, or in your carry-on luggage, if you’re traveling by airplane. Also keep a recent photo of your pets, in case they get lost.
• Have a new tag made for each of your pets, and attach them to their collars. Even if you don’t have a new home phone number yet, put your cell phone number or the number of a close family member on the tag. If your pet should get lost during the move, it is crucial that whoever finds him can reach somebody right away.
• Take a few minutes to locate the closest 24-hour emergency vet clinic to your new home. Any veterinary office in your new town should be able to give you this information. Print out a map and directions from your new home to the emergency vet and keep a copy in the glove compartment of all family cars. Tuck a copy into your wallet, too. Make sure you do this before you move, since you may not have phone or internet access when you first arrive—trust us, emergencies can and do occur any time. The last thing you want to do if your pet needs help is to scramble to figure out where to take him or her!
• If your pet has a microchip, call the microchip company and update your contact information.
• Pack pets’ food, dishes, and other important belongings in boxes that will be easily accessible right away, and label them clearly!