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Does your dog have selective hearing?

RedandHowling: Musings on Dogs, Cats & Other Bundles of Love.

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What better way to celebrate Howl-o-ween than a gigantic dog costume contest in a dog park? New York City has taken the concept to a whole new level with their Halloween Howl, an annual event in Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Thousands of spectators cheer on as hundreds of dogs strut their stuff vying for prizes in the various cat-egories, plus there are booths you and your family (canines included!) can visit to learn all about healthy food, treats and more for your dog’s wellness. We love the 3 minute video that our friends at Petcentric posted from one of the past year’s events. Even if you can’t make it to NYC for this year’s festivities, you can get into the spirit of Halloween by watching the video online right here! Event details below…

The 2011 event is on Sunday, October 23, 2011 (Rain date October 30) from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. — check out the park’s website event page http://www.carlschurzparknyc.org/events.html for more info!

A little kindness goes a long way.

RedandHowling: Musings on Dogs, Cats & Other Bundles of Love.

Meet four-legged heroes who help soldiers cope behind enemy lines! Meet Bougie, Victory and Jasmine. Even though they look like normal dogs, they are anything but! Theses dogs all come from the war zone of Iraq. They now enjoy a better life in the US, thanks to the love of the military personnel that found them and Operation Baghdad Pups, the organization that brought them to their new home in the US. You can see these dogs in action in this video feature on PetCentric TV which includes an interview with the organization’s founder, and the soldiers who benefitted from the pet both while they were serving in Iraq, and now back home.

The Operation Baghdad Pups website says: “U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan befriend local animals as a way to help cope with the emotional hardships they endure every day while deployed in a war zone.  The Operation Baghdad Pups program provides veterinary care and coordinates complicated logistics and transportation requirements in order to reunite these beloved pets with their service men and women back in the U.S. These important animals not only help our heroes in the war zone, but they also help them readjust to life back home after combat.”

What a wonderful organization, and what a way to show gratitude to the men and women of the military!

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Helping sick or injured shelter pets has never been easier, thanks to a special campaign that helps animal shelters and rescue groups with veterinary costs for the pets in their care. Here’s how you can help: For each new “Like” we receive on our Facebook page between now and May 31st, we’re now adding $.25 (up to $20,000) to the Purina Veterinary Diets® Adopt-a-Pet.com Veterinary Care Fund, which gives grants to animal shelters and rescue organizations to offset the veterinary costs of pets in their care.  It’s that simple!

The Purina Veterinary Diets® Adopt-a-Pet.com Veterinary Care Fund was established  in 2011 with an initial donation of $50,000  from Purina Veterinary Diets® . Be sure to check out the recipients of the Purina Veterinary Diets® Adopt-a-Pet.com Veterinary Care Fund 2011 program.

This is just one of the many reasons why Adopt-a-Pet.com is so extremely proud to work with Purina. They are doing amazing things for the pets affected by Hurricane Sandy. Today they posted a photo of destroyed homes on their Purina ONE Facebook page along with this caption:  “Hurricane Sandy has taken a huge toll on the East Coast. Reports of deaths, extensive power outages and widespread damage are very distressing to hear. Many pets were also displaced as a result of the devastation. At Nestlé Purina, where pets are our passion, we want to do our part to help the four-legged victims of this disaster. As part of this effort, we’ve coordinated several donations of pet food, litter, and Purina Veterinary Diets FortiFlora® to animal welfare organizations, veterinary clinics, and hospitals in the affected areas. Our company is also making a donation of $20,000 to North Shore Animal League America, whose Emergency Response Team was on round-the-clock call throughout the storm with their Mobile Rescue Units to safely evacuate and care for animals in distress. They have organized an Emergency Pet Shelter in New York and are currently caring for more than 150 pets whose owners were directly affected by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. We will also be making a contribution of $15,000 to PetSmart Charities, which has set up a temporary distribution center to hand out food, litter and supplies to animal welfare organizations across the entire northeastern United States. Many have been voicing their support and sympathy for the victims of this disaster. We appreciate your compassion and caring, and we will keep you posted on all Nestlé Purina PetCare efforts.”

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 Adopt-a-Pet.com Facebook page here. For each pooch smooch or kitty kiss photo posted from February 10th through February 14th, 25¢ will be donated to Adopt-a-Pet.com’s Veterinary Care Fund grant program, originally funded with a donation from Purina Veterinary Diets®. The maximum donation is $5,000! Despite the name of the event, photos of all kinds of pets are welcome! Don’t have a pet of your own, or just want to give some extra kisses this Valentine’s Day? Consider visiting your an animal shelter or rescue (find your local shelters and rescues here) to give a smooch or two to some adoptable pets waiting for permanent homes. Or, better yet, make the relationship permanent and adopt!

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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 Petcentric’s seven sleepy cats, and click the “more” link at the end of this paragraph to see the photos we picked to share with you here too. If you have a cute photo of your adopted cat or kitten sleeping, you can share it on our Facebook page here! You can share our photos with your friends easily too by clicking one of the icons below.

Amelia’s adopters sent me this photo of her sleeping snuggled up with their dog.

Maggie Mae would sleep with her paw stretched across me in a kitty hug.

Valentino loved to sleep in sinks!

George was sleeping so soundly, he couldn’t be bothered to move when Alfred sat on him!

A shelter kitty curled up sleeping in a donut bed.

Kate’s adopters sent me this adorable photo of her sleeping!

Silly foster kitten sleeping in my camera bag!

Huckleberry another of my belly-up foster sleepers!

Victoria would sleep snuggled up with as many people or other kitties as possible.

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 event on Facebook.

Aww, surely she doesn’t mean it, right? Jokes aside, aren’t your pets ALWAYS in your prayers?

RedandHowling: Musings on Dogs, Cats & Other Bundles of Love.