conscious living, health and happiness for cats and their humans
Sponsored guest post by Peter Kennedy*
Many of us are interested in supporting organizations and charities that do great work in certain interest areas, especially in the form of supporting one or more animal charities. But do you know how to narrow down your options to make a decision on an organization that is worthy of a donation? Below are a few helpful tips that will assist you when it comes to choosing the right animal charity.Continue Reading
Thanks to a new charity, you no longer have to feel guilty for watching cat videos online when you should perhaps be doing something a little more productive, like feeding your cats. Cats vs. Cancer is the brainchild of two Georgetown University graduates, Tom O’Connor and Eddie Peña. This innovative charity raises money through advertising; a portion of those dollars earned by Cats vs. Cancer, along with all direct donations, go to one of the non-profit’s cancer-fighting partners.Continue Reading
It’s always nice when companies give back to the community, and it’s especially nice when that giving is directed at pets. Banfield Charitable Trust, the charitable arm of Banfield Pet Hospitals, has been running its Season of Suppers™ program since 2006. Since its inception, the program has collected more than 50 tons of food to help feed hungry pets nationwide and helped start or sustain more than 150 pet food distribution programs.
The challenging economy is making it more difficult than ever for vulnerable pet owners to feed the pets they love so much. Banfield reports that they are experiencing a growing number of requests (pleas really) from struggling pet owners – especially seniors—who can’t afford pet food. This is forcing them to share their limited human food supply or consider the heartbreaking option of surrendering their pets.Continue Reading
There were a lot of vendors and rescue groups at the National Capital Cat Show last weekend, and there were a lot of beautiful cats, and cat things, to look at, but nothing caught my eye more than this gorgeous quilt.
Created by a volunteer for the Siamese Cat Rescue Center, the quilt is an oversized queen size quilt featuring Siamese cats. Continue Reading
Our cats are lucky. They get spoiled all year long, and especially this time of the year. They live in nice warm homes, sleep in soft beds, and get plenty of love, attention, and toys. Quite a contrast to the life cats in shelters lead. While more and more shelters are doing the best they can to enrich the environment for shelter cats, funds are low everywhere, and the cats in these shelters need your help.
Yesterday, Robin Olson posted a wonderful suggestion on how to help shelter cats on her blog, Covered in Cat Hair, titled A Christmas Wish for Shelter Cats, and I loved the idea so much that I decided to share it here with you.
Says Robin: “Life behind bars for any shelter cat is usually flat out miserable. The poor creatures just sit there and wait around, bored, angry, frustrated. Studies show that cats who are active in a cage are much more likely to be adopted than cats who sit there glumly passing time.
Enrichment for cats can also help de-stress the animal, keeping it healthy longer. This is a very important thing to keep in mind. If fewer cats get sick, fewer of them are euthanized. It doesn’t take much to make their lives better, but with budgets cut and donations dwindling, how can shelters afford the “luxury” of enrichment for the cats when they can’t afford food or litter?”
This is where Stretch and Scratch comes in. These cage-size scratchers keep cats exercised and entertained. They’re a simple and inexpensive way to bring a little holiday joy to shelter cats, and there’s still time to some to have some sent directly to your favorite shelter in time to bring some holiday joy to shelter cats.
The scratchers are $45 for a half case, and $75 for a full case. They’re good quality, sturdy scratchers. For more information and to order, click here.
To read Robin’s full post about the program, along with some wonderful photos of cats enjoying the scratchers Henry County Care & Control in McDonough, Georgia (and the adorable cats in the photos are all available for adoption!), click here.
Robin Olson is the creator of Covered in Cat Hair. She is a writer, art director, copywriter, and photographer. Robin is the founder of Kitten Associates, a Connecticut based cat rescue. You can learn more about Robin on her blog, and on Covered in Cat Hair’s Facebook page.
Guest post by Dorian Wagner
Our pets at home are lucky. They get showered with gifts, love and attention for the holidays. We wrap their gifts, unwrap them with them and watch how happy they are to play with a new toy. Yes, they have it good, and they know it.
But what about shelter animals? They deserve a little holiday joy, too! They deserve catnip mice and squeaky toys and tuna-flavored treats and pull toys! They deserve to know someone cares about them. And that’s where Santa Paws Drive comes in.
Santa Paws Drive started as just an idea by myself to create a program similar to the U.S. Marines’ “Toys for Tots” program, but for animals. They collect toys and distribute them to needy children – and I wanted to do the same, but for needy cats and dogs in shelters. But I didn’t want to just donate a few toys to my local shelter, I wanted to make a bigger difference for more animals… all over the world.And so I reached out to a few good friends who are well-known in the pet-blogging and Twitter world: Salina Gannon of NipandBones.com (her expertise helped create the “store” and donation process, Lynn Haigh of Pawpawty.com (her dog tweets as @frugaldougal and has raised thousands of dollars through Pawpawties!) and Kerri Schlack of TheKittenCrew.com (who raises foster kittens and, she and her husband are web design experts).
And somehow, what seemed like a crazy idea became a reality! We created SantaPawsDrive.com and the first-ever “virtual toy drive” was officially set into motion! Last year, we raised over $7,000 in cash and toy donations, and now, for our second year, our goal is to raise even more!
To pick our six Santa Paws Drive shelters, we took nominations and made our choices based on need, location and nomination note. All the shelters are no-kill, non-profit organizations. We also tried to choose smaller shelters who don’t have much opportunity for larger-scale funding. Three are located in the U.S., one is in Canada, one is in the UK and the other is on the island of Tenerife, off the coast of Africa.
We truly wish each of these shelter animals could find their forever homes for Christmas, but if they can’t, we at least want to make their holiday and merry as can be. If you can spare a few dollars to help put a smile on a dog or cat’s face, we’d truly appreciate your donation!
To help support Santa Paws Drive, you can simply visit SantaPawsDrive.com and choose to donate either money or toys and treats. Every single dollar helps! You can also place the widget or a badge on your blog to help spread the word (and please do!).
Help us make this Christmas as happy as can be for shelter animals!
Dorian Wagner is the creator of Your Daily Cute.
It’s always nice to see companies give back to their communities, and it’s especially nice when that giving is focused on cats. World’s Best Cat Litter™ launched its Give Litter™ Charity last month, and has already donated 5,255 pounds of World’s Best Cat Litter™ to its first city, Washington, DC, in August. This month, the company is donating to three Los Angeles, CA area organizations, Alley Cat Allies, Cat House on the Kings, and Kitten Rescue.
WBC is calling on “felinethropists” to join in their campaign, and it won’t cost you a cent, just a simple click of the mouse. “We invite animal lovers everywhere to become part of the GiveLitter™ charity and help these Los Angeles animal shelters as they work tirelessly to address community needs,” said Paul Zobel, Senior Director of Marketing, World’s Best Cat Litter™.
You can participate by clicking on the badge in the right sidebar, or by visiting WBC’s website or Facebook page.
World’s Best Cat Litter™ is a pet-, people- and planet-safe cat litter made with whole-kernel corn and other natural ingredients using a patented scientific process that delivers advanced odor control and clumping. Using no synthetic chemicals, clays or perfumes, World’s Best Cat Litter™ is biodegradable, flushable, septic-safe and all natural.
I really like the idea of this litter. I just wish Allegra would, too! Unfortunately, when I tried to switch from our current, clay-based litter, she refused to use the box with WBC in it.
