A daily click of the mouse, now through May 3, could help a staunch foe of animal abuse win a prestigious honor.

Sheriff John Montgomery of Baxter County, AR, is one of eight finalists for America's Most Wanted's All-Star Award. He's nominated because he guided the creation of a state-of-the-art website to help fight crime (learn more about it here), but we admire him for an additional reason.

Sheriff Montgomery relentlessly pursues justice in cases of animal abuse, and had a pivotal role in bringing a felony animal cruelty statute to Arkansas, Desiree Bender, Arkansas Director of the Humane Society of the United States, tells us.

Dr. Arnold Plotnick is the founder of Manhattan Cat Specialists, a cats-only veterinary hospital in New York City; he also writes a pet blog, Cat Man Do.

It's spring -- peak shedding season -- and during this time of year many cat parents see an increase in hairballs. Contrary to popular belief, coughing up a hairball isn't a harmless, natural process for cats. In fact, hairballs actually cause cats to choke, posing hazards to their health. Therefore, it's a very fitting time to build awareness around the issue and observe the hairiest of all holidays: April 30, National Hairball Awareness Day.

Elvis has his own stamp, and now adoptable pets do too! On April 30 the U.S. Postal Service will begin selling Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps.

The 44-cent stamps each feature a portrait of a rescue pet (read the pets' bios here). The stamps, and the campaign behind them, Stamps to the Rescue, are designed to raise awareness of pet adoption -- but that's not all.

As part of the launch, pet-food maker Halo is hoping to donate a million meals to shelter pets. You can help by taking a variety of steps to trigger donations, such as following @halopets on Twitter (see all the ways to help here).

Petfinder is a partner in Stamps to the Rescue -- our co-founder, Betsy Saul, is even traveling to L.A. on Friday to introduce the stamps with Ellen DeGeneres, and our pet search is featured on the campaign's website!

The site has some other cool features as well, including rescue-themed merchandise and a Do You Have What It Takes? widget to help you determine if you should be adopting a pet.

Thanks to everyone who guessed Haley's heritage last week. Most of you agreed that Haley must be some mix of Husky or German Shepherd, Yellow Lab and American Staffordshire Terrier.

The Canine Heritage Breed Test is back and the verdict is quite a surprise.

Find out Haley's results after the jump!

Dr. Lauren Brickman writes a pet health and care column for Petside.com. Read all the Q&As she's shared with Petfinder here.

Q: Our 10-year-old cat has developed severe arthritis in the top joint of his right leg. The vet gave him a liquid glucosamine, which didn't help much. Are there other options?

A: Arthritis is a very painful disease that affects cats just like it affects dogs. Unfortunately, there aren't as many options out there in terms of medications for arthritic cats.

A hero dog in Alaska is being honored for leading authorities to a burning building. Buddy the German Shepherd, who guided state troopers to a fire at his family's property, received a silver-plated dog bowl today in Anchorage.

According to the Associated Press:

Troopers say Buddy and his owner, 23-year-old Ben Heinrichs, were in the family workshop when a heater ignited chemicals. Heinrichs told Buddy: "We need to get help."

The dog eventually found a trooper responding to a call about the fire.

Dr. Lauren Brickman writes a pet health and care column for Petside.com. Read all the Q&As she's shared with Petfinder here.

Q: I just got a kitten but I'm confused about the cat litter. Is there one type that is better than the rest? I would like something that doesn't smell and is good for the environment. Can you recommend anything?

A: Cat litter comes in many different forms. An ideal cat litter is highly absorbent, has a pleasant odor, and easy to clean. It is important that not only you like your cat litter but that your cat likes it too.

The new iPhone ad begins with the words we at Petfinder love to hear: "We've been wanting a dog for a while -- so we searched local shelters ..." Even better, the ad features our new iPhone app (learn more about our app or download it for free on iTunes)!

And because Apple has the marketing muscle to run the ad during hit shows such as 24 and American Idol, the result has been overwhelming: Nearly 16,000 downloads in one day, and the Petfinder iPhone app is now #1 in the free lifestyle apps category and #49 among all free apps (considering there are hundreds of thousands of free iPhone apps, this is huge!).

Of course, most important that all these downloads mean more people are looking at more adoptable pets, and that means more pets will be adopted. So thanks to Apple for promoting our app (and pet adoption) and to everyone who downloaded it!

For National Volunteer Week, we are saluting just a handful of the many thousands of volunteers who dedicate themselves to homeless animals.

Organizations that embrace volunteers benefit from the creativity and energy of new minds. Volunteers can think big -- in some cases REALLY big!

Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society (SOAPS) in Vidalia, GA, sent us photographic evidence of a truly big idea their volunteer Marla Jernigan brought to their local landscape -- a billboard!

The Animal Rescue Site's parent organization, the GreaterGood Network, has a new iPhone app that makes it easy to help homeless pets!

With the "Touch To Give" app, just select The Animal Rescue Site, then tap the Touch To Give button to help the Petfinder.com Foundation provide food and care to shelter pets.

"Touch To Give" each day and watch your contribution grow, and tap the Results tab to see the app's total impact. As with theanimalrescuesite.com's "Click to Give" button, donations are paid for by sponsors' ads and 100% is given to charity.

Download the Touch To Give app for free from the iTunes Store today!