Dear Friends,

The hot days of summer are a time for special pet concerns. Be sure to keep plenty of water available for your pet and make sure he or she has shade if given access to a fenced yard. Bring him or her in during the hottest parts of the day. Restrict your walks to early morning or evening and, on your strolls, guard against hot pavements. If you can't put your hand on the hot surface, don't make your pet walk on it!

You also need to take precautions when you do your gardening. Pesticides and fertilizers can poison your pets, so read the directions on these products carefully. Most will have a warning about pets. Be sure to pay attention.

Finally, put a stop to the summer varmints that beset our dogs and cats with a good flea and tick program (we use Frontline®).

I hope you and your pets have a happy and safe summer. Thanks for helping us in our mission to make sure no pet is euthanized for lack of a good home.

Betsy Saul
Co-Founder, Petfinder.com

Happy Tail

"Brendan was posted on Petfinder by Second Time Around Rescue as a miniature horse that needed a home...I have a small farm and was looking for a miniature horse in need of a home. When I saw his picture, I just had to go see him. That was all I needed. I adopted him immediately, and he has been a joy since he arrived at my farm. He is now an Animal-Assisted Therapy Miniature Horse through the Red Cross. Nursing homes bring residents to my farm to pet and feed the animals, and Brendan brings joy to all of them."

Kathleen Laverty
Middletown, PA

Do You Have a Happy Tail?

Send us your Petfinder pet's happy ending story. It will be entered in our monthly Happy "Tail" drawing , and you may win a Man's Best Friend Fun Pack and a baseball cap from our friends at The Animal Rescue Site.

Be a Temporary Foster Parent

Do you want to impact as many lives as possible? Are you interested in helping animals but are afraid of a long-term commitment? Foster care may be for you! Whether it is bottle feeding a litter of kittens, caring for a dog recovering from an accident or giving some extra love to a senior pet needing a break, foster care makes a huge difference in the lives of the animals and people involved. Sign up to be a foster parent in the Petfinder Volunteer Database.

Fizzlebloom and Kittimanjaro Top the List

Looking at all the Luckies, Tiggers, Tigers, and Buddies in our database made us wonder what some of the more unusual names for cats might be. So we posed the question to you in last month's newsletter. We received dozens of responses from the funny to the serious to the downright weird and were soon confronted with the question: What constitutes unusual? It's highly personal, as it turns out, and our highly personal choice is Fizzlebloom. A 20-year-old gray tabby answers to this name.

Our runner-up choice came with this note: "My new kitten has huge attitude and thinks he is huge. He chases my Bernese mountain dog and my son's Lab around and then curls up with my Bernese to sleep. I named him Kittimanjaro. I suppose that's making a mountain out of a molehill as he only weighed 1.5 lbs when we named him."

Thanks so much for sharing your cats' names with us.

"Dog Days" Gets its Name From Astrology

We all know the phrase "the dog days of summer" and understand that it refers to the hot sultry days from mid-July to September. But why are they called that? The name came about because the dog star (Sirius) rises and sets with the sun during this period.

A "Beat the Heat" Treat

You can help your pet through these hot days by giving him or her a cool treat. Simply fill an ice cube try with bouillon-flavored water and freeze. Or lace the cubes with peanut butter or another favorite flavor. When frozen, pop out the cubes and serve.

How Does Your Pet Keep Cool?

Email us, and we'll share some of your answers next month.

Petfinder.com Foundation News

No Summer Vacation

While some folks may be enjoying their summer vacations and time off from school, work in animal welfare picks up. Summertime is the busiest time for your local animal shelter and rescue organizations; they experience an increase in surrendered and found animals (especially kittens) coming under their care. Visit the Petfinder Foundation to make a donation to help shelters.

Sponsor a Homeless Pet

Caring for homeless pets can be expensive if you take into account the housing, food, veterinary costs and staffing. We know you cannot adopt every pet on Petfinder.com that touches your heart, but you can help several through the Petfinder.com Foundation's Sponsor-a-Pet program. Over 60 animal organizations are participating in this program, and each one gives you a special opportunity to help.

Bed Time

Recently the Petfinder.com Foundation partnered with Kuranda dog beds and the Odie's Fund to donate 175 dog beds to 21 different shelters located in rural communities throughout the United States.

Tail Wags

Your gifts, no matter what size, will make a difference. Together, we can have a tremendous impact on increasing the number of homeless pets finding new homes.

We would like to acknowledge the following for their generous contributions to the Petfinder.com Foundation:

• GreaterGood Foundation
• Merial
• Nestlé Purina
• STAR 101.5 in Seattle (for our Pet of the Week segment on Wednesday mornings)

Treat Yourself to Free Shipping

A good sale is always a treat! Save on treats your pets will love at PETCO.com. Free shipping on orders of $50 or more.* Just enter promotion code "treat" at checkout. *Restrictions apply

We Mean Clean Pets

Put your pet on display! Share your favorite pet photo in the BISSELL We Mean Clean Pets Gallery today! Thanks to BISSELL's great products, you can spend less time cleaning up after your pets and more time enjoying them.

WAL-MART

Getting your pet to sit still for a photo isn’t always easy. But getting a great digital print is. At Wal-Mart, get the quality shots you like, online or in-store. And all at the Wal-Mart price. Get Started Now.

Save Up to 50% in the Animal Rescue Site Store

Shopping in The Animal Rescue Site store is a great way to help support homeless animals this summer! For each item purchased, at least 14 bowls of food will be fed to needy animals.

Enjoy super savings now! Find gifts, clothing, jewelry, yard art and more in this do-good store's huge Summer Sale. You'll save up to 50%, while benefiting orphaned animals.

New Flavors from PURINA

Say hello to the all-new Friskies® Dry lineup!
Get ready for a change in the pet food aisle. We're updating our current dry lineup with three new formulas that your cat will love even more, featuring new flavors, new textures, and new shapes! If your cat likes Friskies® Dry now, she’ll love the all-new lineup coming summer 2007:

Friskies® Seafood Sensations™
An ocean of flavors including ocean fish, albacore tuna, salmon, yellowfin tuna and crab, plus a touch of seaweed.

Friskies® Indoor Delights™
Help control hairballs and maintain a healthy weight with delicious chicken, beef, turkey and cheese flavors plus a touch of garden greens.

Friskies® Signature Blend™
For cats that want it all, seven tantalizing flavors including chicken, beef, tuna, turkey, salmon, cheese and egg.

Friskies® Feline Favorites®
Variety-loving cats will love the chicken, seafood and liver flavors with Real Carnation® Milk.

MERIAL

In 2007, Paws to Save Pets continues its commitment to helping pets affected by hurricanes and natural disasters through the Paws to Save Pets summer program. There are different ways you can help and contribute:

Donations: This summer, through the Paws to Save Pets program, Merial, the maker of FRONTLINE® and HEARTGARD® Brand Products, will donate up to $1 million divided equally between the Petfinder Foundation and the AVMF. For every FRONTLINE or HEARTGARD coupon you redeem at your vet's, a donation will be made to the Paws to Save Pets program.

Gift-with-Purchase Dog Collar Charms: When you go to your vet to buy FRONTLINE and/or HEARTGARD Brand Products this summer, ask for the free Paws to Save Pets dog collar charm. These charms have the added benefit of being imprinted with a GetMeHome unique ID number on the back.


You can log on to Paws to Save Pets to enter your address and pet identification number. If your pet is ever lost or displaced, this program can help assist in a happy reunion. For more ways to help pets in need, go to Paws to Save Pets