The perfect present for a pet lover? The Gift of Hope for homeless pets

This winter, thousands of pets will spend the holidays waiting for a permanent home. You can help them, and give a meaningful gift to your favorite animal lover, by donating to the Petfinder.com Foundation.

Give a Gift of Hope in your loved one's honor and we will send them a special letter notifying them of your donation. Donate $50 and we will send you or your loved one Second Chances: Inspiring Stories of Dog Adoption by Petfinder.com Happy Tails editor Joan Banks.

(Donations must be made by Dec. 17 to ensure delivery of the book or letter by Dec. 24.)

The Petfinder.com Foundation provides help to pets in the care of a Petfinder member shelter or rescue group. Here are a few examples of ways we've helped this year:

• We awarded more than $300,000 in Hide, Perch & Go boxes to help reduce stress and illness in shelter cats, making them more adoptable.
• We distributed more than $200,000 in grants to vaccinate 16,000 dogs and 71,250 cats against bordetella and feline distemper and upper respiratory infections, respectively.
• We awarded more than $75,000 to 30 shelters affected by disaster, including the Humane League of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania and Indiana's Newton County Animal Control, both of which had suffered devastating fires.
• We granted more than $24,000 to spay and neuter 800 dogs and cats.