National Cat Day

Today is National Cat Day, an annual celebration which was founded by Colleen Paige of the Animal Miracle Foundation in 2005. The day is intended to raise awareness of the huge number of cats in rescues and shelters and also simply to celebrate the joy cats bring to our lives. Paige's goal for this year's event is to help facilitate the adoption of 10,000 shelter cats across the country. It would be amazing if this goal is met!

Nate can't really see the point of this day because every day is cat day as far as he is concerned. But he will never quibble with a feline celebration and, since he came from a shelter himself, he's agreed to help me share information on cat rescue and adoption today, as long as he doesn't have to get up from the couch.

According to the National Cat Day website, an estimated four million cats enter shelters in the United States every year. Unfortunately, between one and two million of these cats will end up euthanized. Statistics show that cats are far more likely to be relinquished to shelters than dogs and, once there, fewer than three in ten will end up adopted into a new home.

Black cats have an even more difficult time finding homes because of the superstitions associated with them. The Foundation specifically chose Halloween week for Cat Day in order to help shed light on this stigma.

If you're interested in adding a cat to your family, visit Petfinder.com and enter your city or zip code, then choose cat under "type." Sadly, I found more than 175,000 homeless cats when I searched my area.

In addition, the Cat Day site features an adoption portal to help match homeless cats with interested adopters and to link visitors with animal welfare and rescue organizations.

For more information on National Cat Day, including ways to help if you're not able to adopt, visit the Purina Petcentric site here. And check out the adorable video the people at Petcentric made to help spread the word about the day.



Happy National Cat Day to all the kitties and kitty lovers out there!

Adopt A Shelter Dog Month

October is Adopt A Shelter Dog month and I couldn't let the month pass without giving a shout-out to my favorite former shelter dog in the world, Clancy, of course. Here he is making himself comfortable on the couch and watching football with Nate and me.

Yes, they are spoiled. :D

An estimated 8 to 10 million animals enter shelters in the United States every year so there are obviously tons of dogs waiting for homes at shelters all over the country. If you're interested in adding a dog to your family, consider adopting a shelter dog and giving one of these millions of homeless animals a safe and happy forever home.

You can find a dog in your area by visiting Petfinder, entering your city or zip code, and limiting your search to dogs. When I did this search, there were more than 190,000 homeless dogs listed near my area. I can't imagine how many would come up if I lived in a really big city.

If you'd like to help out but are unable to adopt, Petfinder has a great list here of simple ways to help spread the word and make a difference. The list includes things like adding a Petfinder widget to your site or posting on Twitter about the month. Here's an example of a tweet from the list: “October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. Save a life: Adopt a dog! http://www.petfinder.com #savedogs”

Here's hoping lots of shelter dogs find new homes during this special month.

Homeless Animals Day and Writers4Writers

Saturday was International Homeless Animals Day, a day set aside each year to raise awareness of pet overpopulation and to promote spay/neuter practices that reduce the number of unwanted animals and cut down on the overpopulation epidemic.

In that spirit I wanted to share a few pictures of homeless dogs in Cincinnati who are available for adoption through one of my favorite rescues, Sheltered Paws.

Sheltered Paws works in collaboration with the Cincinnati SPCA to bring shelter dogs into foster homes until they can be adopted. They focus on dogs who, for various reasons, have difficulty adjusting to the shelter environment. The Sheltered Paws volunteers provide loving homes where the dogs can feel more secure, thereby increasing their chances at adoption.

These are just a few of the Sheltered Paws dogs currently waiting for their forever homes. Just click on each dog's name to learn more. (Photos courtesy of Sheltered Paws)

Benny

Hersey

Leaper

Aren't they sweet? To see all of the Sheltered Paws dogs currently available for adoption visit their website here.

If you're interested in adding a pet to your family, consider finding a rescue pet through Petfinder. You will have the satisfaction of saving a life while also finding a new best friend!

On a totally different note, today is the day for the August edition of Writers4Writers, the monthly event hosted by Christine Rains, M. Pax, Stephen Tremp, and C.M. Brown. The mission of the group is to raise awareness of spotlighted authors and their books, with the hope of bringing them new fans and increased sales.

This month's authors are Carrie Butler and C. Lee McKenzie. Visit their sites to find tweets and status updates that you can share on Twitter and Facebook. And if you'd like to join in the event each month, sign up here.

Congratulations to Carrie and C. Lee!

Last but not least, today is release day for Yolanda Renee. Murder, Madness, & Love is now available on Kindle. Huge congratulations to Yolanda! My Kindle will have a new book on it this evening. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good week ahead.

Adopt the Internet Day

In honor of their 15th birthday, Petfinder.com is asking bloggers to celebrate Adopt the Internet Day on March 15th, and spread the word about adoptable pets on the internet.

There are several easy ways to participate, including tweeting about an adoptable pet and adding the #adopttheinternet hashtag to your tweets. I have found the animal community on twitter to be amazing, and love sharing the Circle Tail dogs there, so I'm looking forward to tweeting about more next week with this hashtag.

I know that Petfinder has helped to facilitate thousands of pet adoptions across the country, and last summer I was fortunate enough to write about a special needs cat named Penny who found a forever home through Twitter. I'm sure there are countless other Pennys out there who were adopted through the magic of social networking, so I'm excited to be able to participate in Petfinder's birthday celebration and help spread the word about all the wonderful adoptable pets online. 

You can find a list of ways to help, and see a gallery of adorable adoptables, here on Petfinder.com.