Petfinder Blog

The Petfinder Foundation has partnered with luxury dog-bed retailer P.L.A.Y. (Pet Lifestyle and You) to give homeless pets warm places to sleep. Through its Warm Bellies Initiative, P.L.A.Y. will donate a Special Edition Chill Pad to a dog in need for every Artist or Original Collection pet bed purchased on PetPlay.com or at participating retailers.

To celebrate, on April 3 from 7-8:30 p.m. ET, P.L.A.Y. is hosting its very first #WarmBellies Twitter party, and the Petfinder Foundation will be on hand to answer adoption questions!

Also joining the party are dog trainer and Animal Planet personality Andrea Arden and pet fashion stylist Dara Foster of PupStyle.com. And prizes including Petfinder Foundation shirts and P.L.A.Y. pet beds will be given to participants every 5-10 minutes!

Find out how to participate in the #WarmBellies Twitter party (April 3, 7-8:30 p.m. ET).

After the jump: Do shelter pets like their P.L.A.Y. beds? Hear from a Warm Bellies grant recipient!

Over 17 million people were affected by the recent severe tornado outbreaks in the South and Midwest. Petfinder.com and the Petfinder.com Foundation are working together to reach out to shelters and rescue groups in the impacted areas and provide assistance.

One Petfinder.com member shelter, Taney County Animal Control in Hollister, MO, received a Petfinder.com Foundation disaster relief grant totaling $10,000. While the tornado that hit Taney County missed the shelter, the group is now operating as an emergency shelter, taking on higher numbers of stray and displaced pets while the community recovers from the disaster. Sherry Simpson, animal control supervisor for Taney County Animal Control reports that the shelter, which usually takes in about 50 pets a month is taking in anywhere from 20 to 25 a day.

Do you have a pet lover in your life? Give him or her a special Gift of Love this year by donating to the Petfinder.com Foundation. Best of all, throughout 2012, all donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Orvis (up to $30,000 in matching funds)!

Your donation will benefit homeless pets nationwide like Bryn, a 6-week-old Boxer mix who found her forever home thanks to a transport grant from the Petfinder.com Foundation and our partner, Bissell.

The grant, awarded to the Humane Society of Jefferson County in Tennessee, allowed the shelter to transport 72 dogs to less-crowded shelters in three months, giving those dogs a better opportunity to be adopted.

Humane Society of Jefferson County shelter manager Melissa Enck wrote us: "I wanted to say how much this has helped us out. More rescues are working with us, the vets are cutting us great deals on the animals going out and the public once again is supporting us! Our euthanasia rate is the lowest it's ever been. For the first time we have a functional transport fund! Thank you so much; this has really saved a lot of pets and will continue to do so."

The Petfinder.com Foundation recently partnered with the Thundershirt company to award 5,000 Thundershirts to Petfinder.com members across the country. Thundershirts' constant, gentle pressure has a dramatic calming effect on most dogs when they are anxious, fearful or overexcited. Thundershirts have already helped hundreds of shelter dogs find forever homes. Hertford County Animal Shelter in Winton, NC, received a Thundershirt grant from the Petfinder.com Foundation. Here is how a Thundershirt helped one of the shelter's dogs, Flo.

Flo was found abandoned in an empty house and has been with Hertford County for about six months. During her first few months at the shelter, staff could barely tell that she had legs -- she always laid with her legs curled under her body, hidden from sight.

She was fearful of people and would cower and hide when the shelter staff went near her to show her affection. Then the Thundershirt grant arrived.

A shirt was placed on Flo right away and, slowly, she warmed up to other dogs at the shelter. Flo began to play in the puppy room and venture outside for some fresh air. But she was still fearful of human interaction.

The dedicated staff and volunteers at Hertford worked patiently with Flo to gain her trust. They kept the Thundershirt on during training sessions and when Flo was in her kennel, hoping it would help her gain some trust. And indeed, her trust in humans grew stronger. She started allowing the shelter staff to come closer.

Our friends at KONG have quietly donated hundreds of toys to dogs in the Petfinder.com Foundation's Train to Adopt program. The other day, we got an amazing photo and email from Train to Adopt shelter Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control in Charlotte, NC:

"Last night, after giving out the Kongs, I watched our shelter dogs, quiet and happy for a time," wrote volunteer Elizabeth Richardson.

"I thought of the words from 'Silent Night': All is calm/All is bright. Every dog was happy for a little while -- and that is a huge blessing. I used to bring in special treats to the dogs on Christmas Day. Now, thanks to the Petfinder.com Foundation and the KONG Company, I get to deliver special treats every week!"

After the jump: The full photo, plus: Learn more about how Train to Adopt saves lives.

There are many ways you can help homeless pets this holiday season -- some of which require only your time. Read on for easy ways you can help shelters and rescue groups through the Petfinder.com Foundation, which exists solely to support the 13,500+ organizations that post their adoptable pets on Petfinder.

• Give a Gift of Hope. When you make a donation to the Petfinder.com Foundation in the name of a loved one, he or she will receive a holiday card with an acknowledgment of your gift. And if you give a gift of $30 or more, your loved one will be acknowledged as a Supporting Member of the Petfinder.com Foundation for 2012! 


• Fill out surveys. Sign up to take surveys at SurveyMonkey.com and the Petfinder.com Foundation will receive $0.50 for every survey you complete.
  


• Buy a t-shirt. Purchase a We Add Up "Rescue" shirt for yourself -- and one for your dog! Every "Rescue" shirt purchased will trigger a $3 donation to the Petfinder.com Foundation. Every We Add Up shirt is hand-printed with a unique number -- your position in the global count of people adding up to make a better world. We Add Up is already up to 22,000 people!

Founded in 2003, the Petfinder.com Foundation has grown significantly over the past eight years. Our first year, we awarded $43,000 in grants to shelters and rescue groups across the U.S. At the end of 2011 we will have awarded more than $10 million in grants to Petfinder.com member shelters and rescue groups.

To say that we are thrilled about this growth is an understatement. As we move forward to the end of the year, we're reviewing some of our success stories and new partnerships and relationships. Here are just a few highlights:

Rescue U
Our Rescue U program grew greatly in 2011. In it, we send student volunteers to shelters in rural areas in need of assistance. The students work with shelter volunteers and members of the community to fix up and build new kennels, cat houses and play areas, bathing areas and more. (Read stories
from past trips here.)

We're now working with universities and shelters to establish Rescue U chapters nationwide. These chapters will focus on their own communities, getting together to help their local shelters. Several times a year, the Petfinder.com Foundation will do larger trips to places that need it most, ensuring that efforts bring a positive change to shelters and homeless pets.

The second round of The Animal Rescue Site $300K Shelter+ Challenge of 2011 is officially over, with two more rounds to go this year.

In the first two rounds, the Petfinder.com Foundation and The Animal Rescue Site awarded a total of $150,000 in grants to 67 shelters and rescue groups across the country.

In the most recent round, Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary, Inc. of St. Pauls, NC, won the $5,000 Grand Prize. Sixty-six other shelters and rescue groups received grants ranging from $1,000-2,000.

Many winners had never won a Shelter+ Challenge grant before. Among the first-time winners was Jackson County Humane Society in Newport, AR, which won  the Spring Romp Photo Contest category. Supporter Stacy Chambliss submitted the adorable photo of her bulldog Mack kissing a kitten, which won over voters nationwide and earned the shelter a $2,000 grant.

Your favorite adoption group can still win a grant! The next round of voting begins July 4 at The Animal Rescue Site. Until then, you can still help homeless pets by visiting the site every day and clicking the purple button to donate money to animal shelters.

Learn more about The Animal Rescue Site $300K Shelter+ Challenge of 2011 and the next round (which starts July 4!) here.

To learn more about the Petfinder.com Foundation's programs and how to donate, visit: www.petfinderfoundation.com.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare animal-rescue truck, funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation, is in the South helping pets left homeless by storms and flooding. This update, written in Memphis, TN, by IFAW emergency relief officer Shannon Walajtys, first appeared on the IFAW blog. Used with permission.

Donate to the Petfinder.com Foundation disaster relief fund.

I am the mother of seven four-legged children and it was hard to be away from them on Mother's Day. As I walked into the shelter Sunday morning, the cat room manager cried out that kittens had been born overnight!

One of the cats brought into the disaster emergency animal shelter gave birth on Mother's Day to four healthy kittens! What a wonderful surprise and perhaps the best Mother's Day gift to us all.

A remarkable reminder that even in times of trouble like this flooding disaster, life goes on and miracles do happen; you just have to keep your eyes open for them!

The International Fund for Animal Welfare animal-rescue truck, funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation, is in Tennessee assisting pets left homeless by the Southern storms. Later this week the truck will head to Jackson, MS, to help with recovery efforts in Mississippi. This blog post, by IFAW emergency relief officer Shannon Walajtys, was originally published on the IFAW Blog. Used with permission.

Donate to the Petfinder.com Foundation disaster relief fund.

In a disaster emergency animal shelter we always have a lot of work to do making sure that the pets in our care are as comfortable as possible during their stay with us.

Think of it as a hotel just for pets except that they get pampered with regular walks, food delivered to them, and of course lots of snuggles from us! The pets in this shelter are here because their pet-moms and pet-dads want them to be safe during the flooding and severe weather in this area.

Two days ago we received a frantic call from someone who needed assistance getting their beloved dogs and cats out of their yard. The whole neighborhood was flooded; children's toys and debris floated along together as if it were commonplace.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare team was dispatched along with our partner agencies, ASPCA and American Humane Association, to recover the pets. Our highly skilled team members helped reach the three German Shepherd mixes without trouble and placed them in crates to be transported to the shelter.

Now, the cats were not as excited about their trip to the lovely pet hotel I described earlier! One of the cats ran away from the rescuers and up a tree! Danielle (pictured), one of our search-and-rescue experts, rose to the occasion (literally) and climbed the tree to save the cat! The cat was covered in a grease-like substance and was hence named Diesel by the sheltering staff!

Four cats in all were taken back to the shelter and have adjusted very well to being pampered. Diesel had a bath and now feels and smells much better! He is super snuggly and Danielle makes sure to check in on him regularly.

As for the German Shephard mixes, they are spoiled by us, especially the folks who rescued them. In this picture (left), Electra is getting some special attention from Gail A'Brunzo.

We have a lot of dirty work that must be done for the pets in our care, but we receive payment tenfold in the form of unconditional love each and every day we serve them in this or any disaster-emergency animal shelter.

Tomorrow: Check back for more about the storm recovery efforts.

How you can help:
Donate to the Petfinder.com Foundation to help treat sick and injured animals, care for newly homeless pets, and rebuild storm-damaged property.

Text 4PETS and your e-mail address to 20222 to donate $10.00 to the Petfinder.com Foundation.

About the author: Shannon Walajtys joined the IFAW staff as an emergency relief officer in December 2010. Shannon has a master of science degree in forensic science and brings more than 16 years of experience that includes crime-scene processing, fingerprint identification, mass disaster morgue and operations support, as well as biometrics. Her lifelong commitment to animal welfare includes experience in animal cruelty investigations, disaster response, volunteer management, technical rescue to include certifications, and most importantly, foster mom!