Petfinder Blog

California taxpayers pay about $300 million every year to impound 1 million dogs and cats, house them and euthanize half of them, according to the Cities and Counties Annual Reports submitted to the state controller. Thirteen percent of lost pets entering shelters in California are reunited
with owners, Lieu said, but studies show that number could grow to 75 percent with chips.

Dr. Linda K. Lord, associate dean for student affairs at Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, studied 53 shelters in 23 states between August 2007 and March 2008. Co-authors included another veterinarian, a humane society representative and a consultant to a Canadian pharmaceutical company, which was also parent to a microchip manufacturer.

They found shelters located owners of microchipped pets in three out of four cases.

When owners couldn't be found, it was because of incorrect or outdated contact information in the chipmaker's registration database, Lord said.

• Adopt a cat! Read our article, Adopting the Right Cat for You, or watch the video.
  
• Foster a cat or kittens for your local shelter or rescue group. If you foster a nursing cat with kittens, you'll be helping a whole family in need, and will get to enjoy nonstop cuteness until the kittens are old enough to be adopted. (Read eight reasons you can foster a cat, even if you think you can't.)
• Help spread the word: Here are 10 simple ways you can promote Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month -- most of which you can do without leaving your computer.

• Adoptable-pet photo galleries: Oprah.com (yes, that's the Oprah) and PeoplePets.com will treat their millions of visitors to galleries of Petfinder pets.


• LOL adoptable pets: We hope you've been captioning Petfinder photos at ICanHasCheezburger.com! On March 15, the site will be spotlighting the photos with the funniest captions.


• Homepage takeovers: Our friends at Dogster and Catster will be dedicating their entire homepages to pet adoption!


• Today's top story: Pet-news sites PetSugar and AOL's PawNation will be blogging about pet adoption throughout the day.


• Prizes for pledgers: BISSELL is giving away 10 Pet Hair Eraser Vacuums to people who take our pledge to tell at least one person about pet adoption on March 15.


• Adoptable pets on Facebook: You can already search Petfinder pets on IAMS's Facebook page. IAMS has also been posting pet-adoption Happy Tails on Facebook, and will change its profile photo to an Adopt the Internet Day graphic on March 15.


• Wall of Fame: Each day next week, AnimalPlanet.com will post an adorable Petfinder pet on its Wall of Fame.

• 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.
  

1. When senior pets are adopted, they seem to understand that they've been rescued, and are all the more thankful for it.


2. A senior pet's personality has already developed, so you'll know if he or she is a good fit for your family.

1. You WILL make a difference. If the problem of pets dying in shelters seems overwhelming, think about this: If just one in three people opted to adopt rather than buy a dog, no adoptable dogs would need to be euthanized for lack of a home.
   
2. You will find your perfect match. With more than 174,600 adoptable dogs posted on Petfinder (an estimated 25% of them purebreds), you're certain to find your perfect match.
3. You'll save time and money. Sure, shelters and rescue groups charge adoption fees, but you can easily find a pet who has been vaccinated, spayed or neutered and, quite often, trained. If you were to pay for those services yourself, you'd spend much more.
4. You will receive unconditional love. Ask anyone who's adopted: Rescued dogs just seem to know you saved them (especially older dogs), and they repay that act of kindness a thousandfold. How many times have we heard someone say their shelter pet in fact rescued them?
5. You will not be supporting cruelty. Each dog adopted rather than purchased means less of a market for unhealthy, inbred puppies produced under cruel conditions in puppymill operations throughout the country.

1. Don't use a flash. The flash on your camera is what's causing your dogs' eyes to glow blue or white. Instead, photograph your dog outside or in a room with a large window and lots of natural light. Make sure the source of the light (the sun or a window) is behind you and is shining on your subject.


2. Be aware of the background. You want the viewer to focus on the dog, so before you photograph him, look around. Is the background full of clutter (chairs, desks, boxes, cars in the parking lot)? If it is, move your dog to a location where the background is less busy, such as in the grass in front of green bushes, or in front of a solid-colored wall. Brightly colored doors or walls make nice backdrops since they can add great color to your image.

"This morning, female staff was lying on her back. Crawled up her stomach and stood on her chest. Meowedmeowedmeowed. Then, put paw in her right eye socket. And, OH HULLO, BREAKFAST!"

1. First, download the Humane Society of the United States's requirements for National Disaster Animal Response Team (NDART) volunteers. This lists the courses and training required to become an NDART volunteer responder.

• Volunteer. You can register online in Louisiana or Florida or sign up on Oil Spill Volunteers to be matched with a group that needs volunteers. Any and all help is needed, including wildlife cleanup.

• Dogs help us relax. They lower our blood pressure, decrease our anxiety, and distract us from trauma. In the story "Dog Medicine," members of The Good Dog Foundation were allowed on site to comfort survivors of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. The level of comfort and calm that these therapy dogs provided was amazing to witness.

1. Get to know your shelter. "Check out the policies, fees and attitude of the place you're going to before you make a commitment -- because sometimes, it's almost like you're adopting the shelter, too," Betsy says.
   
   
2. Consider an older pet. "They've seen a lot, and when you spring them from a shelter, they love you because you're the person who got them out of there. And they're often already house-trained," says Betsy.

I have five stray cats that I have fed for over a year. I can't bring them in since I have two dogs and a cat
of my own. The smallest cat ate this evening and proceeded to give birth
to at least three kittens (that I see). She went inside the house I have on my small back porch with little dog beds and blankets inside for the cats.

I never knew she was pregnant. I cannot afford to feed any more cats. I know mommy will feed them for a few months, but how do I protect them being outside? I know shelters are overcrowded and I cannot imagine them being put to sleep. These cats have been a part of my so-called family for a while now and I don't know what would be best for them. Any advice?

[T]hat somehow a shelter animal (even a purebred rescue) is somehow less healthy or less valuable.  ... People feel [that] spending $800 or $1,000 on a purebred dog or cat is a symbol of how high-class they are as individuals.

• Adopt a Pit Bull. I am a proud rescued-Pit parent, as are my mother, several coworkers and many of my neighbors. They are devoted, affectionate and joy-inducing pets with as great a range in personality as any other breed. As with dogs of any breed, not every Pit is perfect for every family. Read more about things to think about if you're thinking of adopting a Pit Bull after the jump.
• Volunteer with Pit Bulls. At many city shelters, Pits and Pit mixes make up the overwhelming majority of the canine residents, and because Pits have been bred to bond closely with humans, the isolation of shelter life is particularly hard for them. You can visit the shelter to help exercise and socialize the dogs; open your home to a foster dog; photograph and write bios for local adoptable dogs' Petfinder profiles; start a bedding drive at your office to collect old blankets and towels to donate ... the possibilities are endless. For more ideas, read our article on volunteering or visit BAD RAP's How You Can Help page.
• Educate others about Pit Bulls. Once you've fallen in love with a Pit (and to know one is to love one), you'll start to notice how many offhand Pit-Bull stereotypes people throw around in everyday conversation (and I'm not just talking about Sarah Palin). Learn the facts about Pits and you'll be able to shoot down the myths (no, they do not have locking jaws). Some great resources include Petfinder's book The Adopted Dog Bible (you'll find an excerpt, Pit Bulls: The Myths, the Legends, the Reality, after the jump), as well as BAD RAP's Monster Myths page, Pit Bull Rescue Central's breed info page and Animal Farm Foundation's Fear vs. Fact document. (All three sites are excellent, and I'd encourage you to click around on them.)

• 47 percent of shelters and rescue groups said the No. 1 economy-related reason pets are being surrendered is because of general financial difficulty.
• 18 percent said the driving factor was people having to relocate
• 16 percent said the No. 1 reason was foreclosures