Recently in Adoptable Pets Category

KRISTA SPARKMAN PHOTO OF "ARCHER" -- ADOPTABLE CAT AT THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF TAMPA BAY

As pet owners we often find ourselves in conversations with friends and acquaintances who are thinking of adopting or who have just adopted, and most of us are eager to offer our advice and pass on tips that would have been helpful, instructive and reassuring to us back when we were newbie pet parents.

This is fine, as far as it goes, but the problem is that such info is incomplete, not organized, won't all be remembered, and not everyone will face exactly the same challenges. We're usually only a phone call or email away if anyone needs on-the-spot help, but why not help them help themselves with a new rescue owner guide? Here are some excellent PDFs that you can you can download and save and share with anyone who needs a helping hand.

A Commonsense Guide to Selecting a Dog or Cat gives helpful advice on choosing what sort of pet to look for, and where.

Adopting a Cat is a simple one-pager from the Nova Scotia SPCA that covers the points potential owners should review before deciding to adopt a cat, including projected costs (Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar are roughly equal, so this should be fine).

CARE Cat Manual is a very good, extremely thorough guide from an Illinois animal rescue that discusses most every aspect of successful cat ownership. The first two pages can be disregarded since they are about adopting from the agency.

Adopting a Rescue Dog: The First Seven Days covers the pre-adoption period, beginning at a month before adoption, and continues through the first seven days of having a new rescue dog at home.

Adopting a Rescue Dog is another helpful manual for new rescue ownership, from a canine psychologist.

So! That's a good beginning, and enough to give any hopeful but inexperienced new owner some reassurance, and help them to plan for their new family member.

I'm beginning to wonder if we need a new category for Clever Adoption Promotions? Much Love Animal Rescue and LA Animal Services sponsored a Cat Guy Week this month with discounted adoptions, and a series of promotions assuring the manly men that, hey -- it's Okay To Be A Cat Guy! =(^-^)= "At first thought you might think these men to be on the softer side, but truth is they are anything but. They are some of the most manliest, most rugged, most testosterone-filled individuals on the planet. This week we celebrate Cat Guys and hope to add to their ranks."



You can view all the Cat Guy promo videos here, and check out the Cat Guys ongoing Twitter feed here. The Huffington Post also invited readers to send in their own Cat Guy photos with adorable (but highly masculine!) results. (Of course, never one to be behind the kitteh curve, ICanHazCheezburger.com published the essential Cat Guy image way back in 2008. Totally Dudely!)

I was delighted to see this documentary from PBS on the progress of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick's notorious Bad Newz Kennels. I've been following the updates on badrap.org which has the whole timeline of the operation, and also on the Vick Dog Blog, that has updates from the various adoptive owners of the dogs, so I was happy to see this covered by PBS. The video below is 14 minutes long; here is the direct link on PBS, and here it is directly on YouTube.

I noticed a sweet and amusing little story involving Tampa politicians (surprise!) and a homeless dog. For a going-away get-together for several county commissioners, someone thought it might be a nice gesture to include a visit from an Animal Services rescued dog, since Rose Ferlita (who is retiring as commissioner to run for mayor) is an animal lover who supports local humane and rescue efforts. But what dog? The Hillsborough County Animal Services spokeswoman chose a "small tan and white one marked NKO, no known owner, a stray found near the interstate. Basenji mix. Wagged her tail in circles. Social. Sweet-faced." The pup was a major star at the gathering . . . and somebody fell in love. He saw the dog from the dais, came over to play with her and, he says, pretty much fell in love right there. She is not a panter nor a jumper, not an I-can't-do-enough-to-please-you sort of dog. A couple of days later, County Administrator Mike Merrill visited the shelter to take home the adorable Basenji mix he's named "Suni." Read the article for more details, and you can see a photo of Merrill and Suni on the Tampa Bay Buzz blog. They look like a lovely and happy match, don't they?!

You can learn more about the Hillsborough County Department of Animal Services here. Though it's not connected to Suni's history, I also found this odd and interesting story about the "Wimauma Pack" of abandoned, nearly feral Basenjis rescued by Hillsborough Animal Services and being trained and rehabilitated for homing by the national Basenji Rescue and Transport group (BRAT). This short bit of video of some of the rescued pack (apparently preoccupied by a fascinating squirrel) shows what beautiful dogs they are:



Another video shows a evening ritual -- a quick peek at some of the training in action.

Are you on Facebook? Quick, go click the Hotel Indigo "like" button, and help to support homeless animals! This pet-friendly hotel chain will donate $1 to Adopt-a-Pet.com for every "Like" on the Hotel Indigo Facebook home page at http://www.facebook.com/HotelIndigo up to $10,000; if the Facebook site gets 15,000 "Likes" or more before October 15th, Hotel Indigo will donate $20,000 to Adopt-a-Pet. To get to the $20,000 mark, Hotel Indigo is asking everyone to tell friends, tell pet lovers and tell your local animal shelters about this campaign.

Yay! Which means it's a great time to post something I've been meaning to bring up: the top, big shelter/rescue myths that far too many people believe: Dispelling the Myths About Shelter Pets; Common Misconceptions About Rescue.

One of the biggest myths out there is that the animals wouldn't have been abandoned if there wasn't "something wrong" with them, which is rarely the case, as you'll see if you follow the first link above. Another big one is something I'd like to address because it's the one that we encounter most frequently: When people meet our dog they rave about her and say how lucky we were to find such a great rescue pet that fits our life so well, and I always say that it wasn't exactly luck, because the rescue organization did a really good job of describing our dog's needs and personality before we adopted her.

Yes, I have to admit that I did fall in love with her online photos, but it was only the description of (and later phone conversations about) her temperament and special considerations that really sealed the love connection, because she sounded completely perfect for us. And she is. Amazingly so. But I so frequently hear the opinion that these organizations are just trying to get the pet adopted, and will misrepresent the facts in order to encourage people to take them in. And I am tireless in telling them that this is absolutely not true.

The last thing that shelter/rescue groups want is to promote the adoption of a pet that is unsuited to the specific home, and thus put the animal (and their adoptive family!) through the trauma of yet another surrendering and re-homing, and, depending on their resources, they will go to great lengths to make sure this never happens. Shelters do deal with greater numbers and less manpower than many rescue groups, but they all do their best to match prospective pets and owners and no one is going to lie about the traits or challenges of the adoptable pet.

To celebrate Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog  Month, we offer the following incredibly cool OK Go "White Knuckles" video, in which the entire video was filmed non-stop in one continuous shot, and most of the amazing dog actors were originally rescues!



At the end of the video OK Go says, "These dogs were lucky to find homes, but many others are still waiting. Help us support animal rescue efforts at the ASPCA," and refer viewers to their special page, www.okgo.net/dogs, where they elaborate: "When you buy the White Knuckles video on this page, net proceeds go to the ASPCA, specifically earmarked to support rural, volunteer-run animal shelters in America. You can buy the video at whichever price you like, and you can buy it as many times as you like. Just keep in mind, the profits are going to save animals. Be generous." (Or you can donate the ASPCA directly, here.) Gizmodo has a look at the behind the scenes production of the video: New OK Go Awesome Video Is Full of Awesome Dogs.

The ASPCA has a list of adoptable dogs in your local shelter here, but even if you cannot adopt, please help to fight the misconceptions related to shelter and rescue pets!

Photo of adoptable Pit Bull mix, "Aurora" by Emilee Fuss

Young Emilee Fuss is an uncommonly talented, award-winning photographer with a huge heart who began her own professional photography business a couple of years ago at only age 16, and who also donates her time and considerable skill as a Florida animal welfare volunteer for adoptable pets by providing photographs to help them find forever-homes. You can read a short interview with her at the "I Heart Faces" site, and check out her blog to see what she's been up to lately.

When I asked Emilee about the idea of other photographers volunteering in this way, she said, "I'd just stress how important it is. So many animals sit in shelters for months, or are put down, and having great photos really increases their chances of finding loving homes quickly. It only takes a few hours out of your week or month, and it is a tremendous help to the homeless animals!"

I think that the idea of contributing photos that are expressive of the adoptable pet's beauty and personality is such a wonderful and loving act, and such an excellent way for animal lovers with photographic talent to help rescue pets locally. If you are interested in developing your pet photography skills, you might want to have a look at Emilee's five helpful tips for photographing pets at the web site Totally Rad (plus, you can see a Totally Rad interview with Emilee here).

But you don't need to be a photographer to make a big difference! Anyone can help, and all sorts of skills can be used to help save homeless animals in so many different ways...

Photos of Billy Holiday and her dog Mister Downbeat; New York City, 1947, by William Gottlieb

Did you know that the immortal Billie Holiday, AKA Lady Day, was a passionate animal lover who adored her dogs, the most famous of which was her Boxer constant companion, Mister Downbeat? In his book "Kinky's Celebrity Pet Files" Kinky Friedman quotes an old article about Holiday and Mister from JazzTimes: "She loves dogs. She always had a pet. One time we were working on 125th Street, at a place called the Apollo Bar, which was near to the Apollo theater. she came in there one night, I'll never forget it, because she came in with her boxer, Mister, and it was just a beautiful dog. They let her come in with the dog and everything. She came in  the back and she sat at a table and she had her dog sitting right next to her. It was great because I'm sure they wouldn't have allowed anyone else to bring a dog in there but they allowed her because she was Billie." And another quote:  "'Mister was the best hang-out dog on earth,' band member Big Stump informed her biographer Donald Clarke. 'Mister would sit backstage near where he could hear Lady's voice. As long as he heard her voice, he's happy."'

It's not surprising that Lady Day loved her Mister so; Boxers are known to be bright, lively, loyal, affectionate and devoted companions who respond best to assured leadership, consistency, and positive training methods. If you own or are considering owning a boxer, there are many internet communities with a focus on this lovable breed, but one of the best, with an active, helpful forum, is boxerworld.com. Almost every area of the country has at least one Boxer rescue group; in Florida, you can find out more about whether you are a good match for this breed and check out adoptable Boxers at Florida Boxer Rescue.

Bring your pets and go all natural!

Oh, sure, anyone can say that this kitten or that kitten is the cutest ever -- but only kittenwar.com makes it a science. And you can help! Vote in cute-kitten face-offs and see who wins each little-bitty-pretty-kitty brawl, and who comes in at the tail-end; compare your votes to the rest of the cute-kitty voting public, view the winningest and losingest gladiator fluffballs, check out the new meat, and submit your own cute battle kitten. Nobody doesn't like a good old-fashioned cat fight with teenyweeny fluffy contestants!

In case you're wondering, both Sushi and Smoke Monster, above, have clawed their way to the top of the heap, but for ultimate fighting champion, there can be only one -- and Gir is the current kittenwar king, with over 300 wins under his belt. (And just in case you are inspired to get a couple of battle kittens of your own, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay is currently offering an Adoption Special: Adopt one cat, get another for half the adoption fee. Instant cuteness war!)