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Entry bubble Don’t Forget the Animals this Holiday

By: Ginger | December 19, 2008 | Category: General

Every Christmas I make myself crazy shopping for gifts. I want to make this Christmas different, more meaningful. Most of the money that we budgeted for all of that Christmas craziness this year was used to purchase pet supplies to be donated to a couple of local animal shelters.

Doc, Daisy, and Conroe dressed up for ChristmasWe also decided to rescue a dog. We wanted an older dog; one that has been in the system for a while and whose chances of getting adopted might be limited. We found Conroe. He is 8 and has been at the shelter for a year. He is just the sweetest fellow. Here he is with our 2 Bichons, Daisy and Doc.

Keeboo dressed up for Christmas Keeboo, the stray cat we adopted Christmas 2006, refused to pose with the dogs. She wanted the spotlight all to herself.

If you are looking to donate to a worthy cause, don’t forget the animals! More animals are abandoned and shelter donations decrease during tough economic times. If you are unable to adopt an animal, there are other ways you can contribute. The Humane Society, Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals, or your local animal shelters use cash donations to pay for medicine, spaying/neutering, and pet supplies. If you want to donate supplies, contact your local shelter to see what they need. You can also donate your time. It is a lot of work to run a shelter. The folks who run shelters would be more than happy to put you to work.

If you are considering rescuing an animal to give as a gift for the holidays, think about it very carefully. Pets are long-term commitments and can become a big expense. After the holidays, animal shelters often get abandoned “gift” animals dumped on their doorsteps. Even if you know the person wants a cat or dog, the person getting the pet should be the one to choose the animal.

On a final note, animal abuse generally increases during tough economic times. As people get more stressed they can begin taking their frustration and anger out on family pets or other animals. If you of know of animal abuse, please check out this reporting animal abuse page on USA.gov.

Please share your animal adoption stories or other ways that people can help!

| View Comments [4] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: donating_to_animal_shelters   ginger   pet_adoption   rescuing_a_cat   rescuing_a_dog  

Comments (4):

blue comment bubble Posted by Jules on December 19, 2008 at 01:05 PM EST

Thanks for this wonderful reminder, Ginger. And congratulations on your new family member, Conroe! My 2 shelter-adopted kitties have brought me 12 years of love and joy so far. Warm holiday wishes to everyone--and all their critters!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Unknown on December 22, 2008 at 01:57 AM EST

beautiful christmas dogs =)

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blue comment bubble Posted by Ginger on December 22, 2008 at 07:31 AM EST

Jules, thanks to you too for adopting 2 shelter kittens. It takes a a person with a big heart to adopt abandoned animals. Conroe is doing great. We took him to the vet and he has some issues we will have to follow up on. He is a senior dog, so we knew there would be some issues, but he is worth it. He is really a great dog. We discovered he loves to fetch and he even thinks he is a lap dog. He sits on my lap and puts his head on my chest and looks up at me with these big brown trusting eyes. He is gettting along with our other animals wonderfully.

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blue comment bubble Posted by ml on December 30, 2008 at 11:11 AM EST

The Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL, www.warl.org) is also an excellent organization to donate to. They are located in DC, but have rescued animals from all over the country and even Canada!

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