Busy Pets Are Happy Pets: Fun Ways to Keep Your Pet Active

It seems like the most natural thing in the world—our pets need food, water, medical care and lots of love. But dogs and cats have other needs, too. Our furry friends need ample physical exercise and mental stimulation to lead truly full and happy lives.

“They need jobs,” says Kristen Collins, CPDT, ASPCA Animal Trainer. Dogs and cats need to stay busy and engaged, but unfortunately most pets are unemployed—they sit at home, chronically bored, waiting for their humans to return from work. And as we all know, an idle pet can quickly turn into a naughty pet when restlessness becomes overwhelming.

“With nothing to do, dogs and cats are forced to find ways to entertain themselves,” explains Kristen. “Their activities of choice often include behaviors we find problematic, like excessive barking or meowing, gnawing on shoes, raiding the garbage, eating houseplants and scratching furniture.”

To prevent behavior and health problems, Kristen recommends the following physical and mental workouts—both when you’re there to join the fun and when your pet is home alone.

• Move it! Healthy adult dogs need at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise twice a day. Jogging, swimming and playing at the dog park are all great ways to burn excess energy.
• Get Their Games On: Engage in structured games, like fetch and tug-of-war—they’re not only great exercise but also teach your pet impulse control and strengthen the bond between you.
• Engage in the Hunt: Keep your dog occupied when he’s home alone by giving him a food-stuffed puzzle toy, like the Kong, or some tasty chew toys.
• Let’s Get Physical: Like their canine counterparts, cats also need plenty of aerobic exercise. Get kitty fit with rousing play sessions, such as chase and fetch with furry toys, small balls or toy mice.
• Feline Pastimes: Encourage your cat’s favorite home alone activities, including bird watching, exploring paper bags or boxes, watching cat videos or spending time in secure outdoor enclosures.
• Teach Your Cat New Tricks! Felines are quick studies and can learn practical skills like coming when called, sitting up, rolling over and even using the toilet!

Kristen adds: “The bottom line is that you’re responsible for enriching your pet’s life. Providing opportunities to exercise your cat or dog’s mind and body will keep her healthy and happy—and enhance your relationship, too.”

For more information about enriching your pet’s life, please check out expert advice from our Virtual Pet Behaviorist.

Source:  ASPCA

Posted: Just One More Pet

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Rescues and Runways Fashion Shows To Promote Pet Adoptions and Support the ASPCA by ‘maurices’

Rescues & Runways kicks off on August 26 with a major fashion show and entertainment at the maurices home office in Duluth, MN.  Rescues & Runways is an exciting new nationwide effort by maurices to support local shelters and the animals they help.  During the month of September, more than 700 maurices stores in 44 states will host pet-themed fashion shows in partnership with their local animal shelter and sell a special charm to benefit the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals^® (ASPCA^®).
Each Rescues & Runways fashion show will feature models from each community walking the runway with the latest fall looks from maurices, plus a pet who is available for adoption.  Also throughout September, people are encouraged to support their local shelters by bringing the supplies they need to their local maurices store. Customers who bring in a donation for the shelter will receive a coupon for 20 percent off one regular-priced item. The campaign goal is to collect 500,000 pounds of supplies across the nation.

In addition, maurices is introducing a limited edition Friends for Life Charm, a celebration of the special bond people share with their furry friends. The Friends for Life Charm is just $5.00 and will be sold in all maurices stores beginning in mid-September through October 31. For every charm purchased, $2.50 will go to support the ASPCA and its national shelter outreach program. The ASPCA will receive a minimum donation of $50,000 from maurices, with an ultimate goal of raising more than $100,000.

Source:  ASPCA

Posted:  Just One More Pet

Pfizer’s New Cancer Drug for Dogs Is Mixed News for Rover

Pfizer will launch a new cancer treatment for dogs. The oral drug, Palladia, will help fight mast cell tumors, often seen as skin lumps. This is a good news/bad news situation for dogs.

First, older dogs often get fat lumps on their skin that are harmless. With Pfizer’s publicity for Palladia, many owners will drag their dog to the vet to see if those lumps are cancer or not. Dogs are just going to love that.

Second, Palladia does not cure dog cancer. It merely treats it. Pfizer says:

… 60% of dogs had their tumors disappear, shrink or stop growing…

Meaning Palladia can shrink tumors, but only until they start growing again. In fact, dogs with systemic tumors were excluded from the study. Read the details in the PI. This may extend your dog’s life, but check out the side effects seen in dogs on Palladia:

• Diarrhea 46.0%
• Anorexia 39.1%
• Lethargy 35.6%
• Vomiting 32.2%
• Lameness 17.2%
• Weight loss 14.9%

All these effects were higher than in dogs on placebo (except for vomiting) — so they’re not a result of the cancer.

It raises a question that Americans frequently get wrong when it comes to their pets: When my dog gets sick, what is the best thing to do? Most people answer

a) “Everything humanly possible.” But the correct answer should frequently be

b) “Everything you can, but only until the dog becomes so unhappy that putting him to sleep is better.”

So this drug could, potentially, put a lot of dogs through some unnecessary pain.

I would advise trying some natural alternatives as well…

Posted:  Just One More Pet

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Doomed Dogs Get On The Rescue Wagon to Other Shelters

Thousands of death-row dogs are getting reprieves every week, plucked from crowded, high-kill shelters and transported — often hundreds of miles — to places where there are open cages in shelters and open hearts in the community.

Shelter-animal relocations, known as “transfers,” have been quietly going on for years on a fairly small scale. But the numbers are escalating as growing legions of devoted rescuers organize ever-larger convoys; high-kill shelters initiate partnerships with faraway shelters that have space to accept out-of-luck animals; and large pet-advocacy groups develop strategies to increase the number of pets that are moved and saved every month.

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“It’s a growing and increasingly important area in the animal protection field,” says Cory Smith of the Humane Society of the United States, which has developed guidelines to help transporters.

Road to a second chance

PetSmart Charities’ Rescue Waggin’ is the volume leader in moving pets from shelters where there’s no chance they’ll be adopted to shelters where they’re almost certain to get new homes quickly.

Its four transport trucks carry dogs and puppies from shelters mostly in the Midwest and South (92,000 animals are euthanized annually in Louisiana shelters alone, Smith says) to shelters primarily in the North and Northeast, where pet owners have long sterilized their pets and overpopulation has largely been brought under control.

In four years, Rescue Waggin’ has transported more than 25,000 dogs for placement in new homes; officials expect to cover 400,000 miles this year and move 8,000 to 10,000 dogs and puppies. “They’re generally adopted within three days of reaching the receiving shelter,” says Kimberly Noetzel of PetSmart Charities.

In Los Angeles, Pup My Ride has, in less than two years, saved more than 1,000 small dogs that were “red-tagged,” or scheduled to be put down. Animal lovers looked across state lines and took advantage of a supply-and-demand reality.

“There is a big surplus of small dogs in L.A.,” says Elizabeth Oreck of Best Friends Animal Society, which runs the volunteer transport program. “They’re killing them by the thousands. But not very far away, there are communities where shelters have waiting lists for small dogs of every age, color, breed and mix.”

So every 10 to 14 days, 20 to 40 lucky dogs that weigh 30 pounds or less are driven to shelters in Arizona or Utah that have a demand for small dogs. “They are adopted in a matter of days,” Oreck says.

On the opposite coast, Mitchell County Animal Rescue in North Carolina and the Potter League for Animals in Middletown, R.I., formed a partnership in 2004 similar to many that are now cropping up.

The Rhode Island shelter, which often has a waiting list of up to 75 for puppies and small dogs, has received 502 dogs and puppies from the overcrowded shelter nearly 900 miles away. Because of the program, says Potter League’s Christie Smith, the community can “get great puppies here” rather than “fueling puppy mills” by buying them at pet stores.

Still, though transfers are saving some of the estimated 4 million animals euthanized in shelters every year, they’re not without controversy. Some people worry that high-kill communities have less motivation to consider spay/neuter programs if pets are exported and the specter of an 85% kill rate no longer hovers. They also worry that the receiving shelters, in their zeal to help, may lessen adoption chances for pets from their own communities.

Strict parameters necessary

“Transfers aren’t a be-all-end-all,” Smith acknowledges. They’re a reasonable adjunct to other programs such as sterilization, she says, adding that many experts believe such initiatives aren’t undermined by exporting unwanted pets if the “messaging to the community” is done properly. Also, she says, officials at both ends must establish strict parameters.

Transfer proponents say it’s unfair to make animals suffer simply because some areas haven’t fully addressed overpopulation. “If someone is drowning, you don’t just stand there and criticize their inability to swim,” says JoAnne Yohannan of North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, N.Y., a pet-transfer pioneer that began receiving animals in the 1990s through partnerships with high-kill groups, most of them in the South. “There are animals that are dying, and there are families here who want them.”

North Shore will receive about 7,500 dogs and puppies this year from other states.

By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY

The North Shore Animal League America van sits at the Indianapolis Animal Care & Control during a Tour For Life (TFL) adoption event.

North Shore, the no-kill shelter in Port Washington, N.Y., helps hundreds of pets get new homes every spring with its one-month TFL.

Two mobile units have visited 23 cities from Redding, Calif., to Parma, Ohio, in the past four weeks during a 25-stop, long-haul tour that wraps up Saturday.

No animals are transported from one state to another. Instead, huge, festive local pet adoption events are organized around the arrival of the hard-to-miss units that “carry the message of adoption,” says North Shore’s Joanne Yohannan.

The TFL program was launched in 2001 with four shelters and 50 adoptions. It has evolved to two vehicles that ply two different routes during March and April, attracting thousands at some stops.

In San Antonio this month, 21 rescue groups converged for TFL day and 70 pets were adopted, most of them with special needs, Yohannan says. In Nashville, six groups found homes for 145 animals, and organizers there so cherish TFL’s annual visits that they presented the unit driver a guitar autographed by country star George Strait.

When the two $200,000 units that allow pets to be showcased in a walk-though environment return to New York, they will have covered more than 11,000 miles and incurred more than $16,000 in expenses (covered by sponsor Purina). About 800 shelter pets will have gone to new homes.

Related Articles:  Where there is a will…

Shelters all over the country, but especially in states with high foreclosures and high unemployment, are bursting at the seams.  So if you have the room in your home and the love in your heart… adopt just one more pet and save a life.

Do I Go Home Today?
by Sandi Thompson

My family brought me home
cradled in their arms.
They cuddled me and smiled at me,
and said I was full of charm.

They played with me and laughed with me.
They showered me with toys.
I sure do love my family,
especially the girls and boys.

The children loved to feed me,
they gave me special treats.
They even let me sleep with them – 
all snuggled in the sheets.

I used to go for walks,
often several times a day.
They even fought to hold the leash, 
I’m very proud to say.

They used to laugh and praise me,
when I played with that old shoe.
But I didn’t know the difference
between the old ones and the new.

The kids and I would grab a rag,
for hours we would tug.
So I thought I did the right thing
when I chewed the bedroom rug.

They said that I was out of control,
and would have to live outside.
This I did not understand,
although I tried and tried.

The walks stopped, one by one;
they said they hadn’t time.
I wish that I could change things,
I wish I knew my crime.

My life became so lonely,
in the backyard on a chain.
I barked and barked all day long,
to keep from going insane.

So they brought me to the shelter,
but were embarrassed to say why.
They said I caused an allergy,
and then kissed me goodbye.

If I’d only had some classes,
as a little pup.
I wouldn’t have been so hard to handle
when I was all grown up.

“You only have one day left,”
I heard the worker say.
Does this mean a second chance?
Do I go home today?

Honda Dog Friendly Element reveal from the Ny Auto Show – Gets Humane Society Approval

Honda’s recent release of its “Dog Friendly” Element concept introduced built-in facilities to aid canine transport. A finalized version of the model is scheduled to debut this fall. But do the added components represent anything more than gimmicks?

 View Accompanying Video

Major components of the new concept include a a cushioned pet bed in the cargo area with an elevated platform; second row and cargo area pet restraint systems and an extendable cargo area load-in ramp. Other components include a 12V DC rear ventilation fan, seat covers, rubber floor mats and a spill-resistant water bowl.

The equipment has been engineered specifically for the Element and the restraint was designed by one of the world’s leading automotive safety systems suppliers. Honda says that the restraint concepts are intended to complement the potential of the vehicle’s existing restraint systems by helping to protect the dog and helping to prevent injuries to other vehicle occupants due to an unrestrained dog impacting them in a collision.

“In-vehicle pet restraints should be part of every dog owner’s safe travel practices,” said Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. “The expanded availability of manufacturer-based restraints and features can help elevate pet comfort and convenience for owners. Good ventilation and access to water on longer trips should also be primary concerns.”

While many of the components of the “Dog Friendly&trade” Element could be added to any SUV – for example a non-spill bowl – Honda is probably setting the pace for American car manufacturers by fitting restraints specifically designed for dogs.

By Daphne Reid – Pet People’s Place

Related Resources:

• Honda’s Dog Friendly Element
• Maryland Rejects Banning of Dogs in Pickups

Posted:  Just One More Pet

Where there is a will…

One of the greatest tragedies of the failed housing market is the cost to pets and animals.  And although highlighted now and again after some tragic event where a pet has been left behind to starve without food or water in an abandoned house or chained to a tree when their family moved, it has been under reported. 

Losing your home, often after having also lost your job in today’s uncertain financial environment, can be both scary and overwhelming.  People become panicked and often make rash and unsound decisions under the pressure or go into a state of denial.  But leaving your pet or any animal behind without making arrangements for them to be taken care of could end up haunting both you and your family forever.  A pet is a family member and abandoning them, besides being illegal, could leave permanent scars, especially on children. 

Often lack of planning is the greatest culprit.  Friends or family members will usually take your pets, either permanently or until you or an adoptive family can take them, if you really cannot or do not know where you are going or cannot take them along.  Running an ad in the local paper, online, or in the neighborhood ad sheet is usually free for pet ads, but people tend to want to believe that things will get better so often wait until the last minute when they are out of time and therefore often also out of options.  I have seen people walk their pets or sit outside a market with them wearing a sign:  ‘I need a home’ or ‘Will you take me home?’ with relative success.  Networking with friends, neighbors and co-workers, or putting up signs at markets, at your veterinarian’s office, church, and on community boards and mailboxes are also great sources, as well as contacting local rescues and no kill shelters.  Many pet sites also have message boards where you might find an adoptive parent or  a foster family for your pet, giving you more time to find another solution. 

I have also seen people negotiate with new landlords or network to find a place that will allow their pets to move with them, even though the listings originally said no.  Getting a written reference from either a former landlord or neighbors is helpful and working through a realtor or leasing agent also usually ups your chances.  Remember if you are going to rent, the owner pays their fee, not you. 

Be creative!  I recently came across someone who traded their car for an old camper by running an ad in the newspaper.  It gave the family and the pets a crowded but temporary place to live and stay together.  We are surrounded by community, sometimes our greatest failing is the fear or hesitance to ask for help. 

Where there is a will… there is a way, and it starts with planning.

By:  Marion Algier/Ask Marion 

 

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Dry Pet Food Storage

Warm weather and humidity can wreak havoc on a good bag of pet food! 

 Dry dog and cat foods usually have a one-year “shelf life.” That means the food is “good” for up to one year after the manufacturing date. Many dry foods stamp a “best if used by” date on the package. This applies only to unopened bags.   High-quality dog food companies use bags that provide protection from oxygen and moisture. If the bag is intact, not enough oxygen and moisture can migrate into the food in one year to cause significant oxidation or microbial growth problems. Though problems can occur between the manufacture of food and the customer opening the bag, it’s what happens after the bag is opened that we are most concerned with in this article.  

What happens after you open the bag of dog food?  As soon as you open a bag of food, oxygen, moisture, light, mold spores, storage mites, and other potential spoilers enter the bag.  

Oxidation of fats

Oxidized fats may cause cancer and contribute to many chronic health problems in humans. The same is true for dogs.
 
Dog food companies use antioxidants (sometimes vitamin E and other natural sources) to forestall oxidation. Every time the bag is opened, oxygen enters. Eventually the antioxidants are all oxidized (used up) and some of the fats are damaged, starting with the more fragile omega -3 fatty acids.
 
Degradation of all micronutrients

Vitamins particularly susceptible to oxidation and damage due to long term room temperature storage include vitamin A, thiamin, most forms of folate, some forms of vitamin B6 (pyridoxal),vitamin C, and pantothenic acid. The nutrition in the food at the bottom of a bag left open 39 days will be considerably less than the nutrition in the top of the bag. Fresh is best.

Molds and mycotoxins

Storing open bags of dry dog food for 39 days in warm, humid areas (most kitchens) promotes the growth of molds. Some of the waste products of these molds (mycotoxins) are increasingly being implicated as long-term causes of cancer and other health problems in humans, poultry, pigs and other animals. Dogs are particularly susceptible to these toxins.
 
When dry dog foods absorb moisture from the surrounding air, the antimicrobials used by most manufacturers to delay mold growth can be overwhelmed, and mold can grow. The molds that consume dry pet foods include the Aspergillus flavus mold, which produces Aflatoxin B1, the most potent naturally occurring carcinogenic substance known.
 
You can’t see low levels of mold, and most dogs can’t taste it.  While many dogs have died shortly after eating mycotoxin-contaminated foods, mycotoxins kill most dogs slowly by suppressing the immune system and creating long-term health problems in all organs of the body.
 
Infestation

Bugs, storage mites, mice, and other unpleasant invaders thrive on dry dog food.  Recent research has shown that allergic dogs are frequently allergic to the carcasses of storage mites, which may infest grains, especially those grains used in low cost dry dog foods. So, daily, allergic dogs ingest a substance to which their immune system reacts negatively.
 
Keep food fresh!
 
1. Keep food in its original bag, even if you use a container. Plastics can leach vitamin C out of the food. The components of the plastics themselves may leach into the food. Rancid fat, which lodges in the pores of plastics that are not food-grade, will contaminate new batches of food.
2. Buy small, fresh bags of food; only enough to last 7 days. Look for manufacturing or “best if used by” dates on the bag. If you don’t see one, or can’t understand the code, write the manufacturer and ask where it is or how to interpret their codes.
3. Keep food dry. If the food looks moist, throw it away.
4. Keep larger bags in the freezer. This is the only way we think large quantities of food may be kept safely.
5. If the food has off color, throw it away.
6. If the food smells rancid or like paint, throw the food away.
7. If your dog says no, do not force her to eat.
8. Don’t buy bags that are torn.  

Consider the value vs the risk of buying bags of food that are too large for your pet(s) to finish before the expiration date.  Sometime paying a little more to buy smaller bags as you need them can save you a lot of money and heartache in the long run!
 
Follow these simple recommendations to radically reduce the deadly toxins your dog or cat encounters. 



 For those of you that are relocating with your pet; ship some of your pet’s food ahead so you have it when you get there.  Not all brands are available everywhere.  This will save on an upset stomach in a new country or town.  

One of my favorite books on the right way to feed pets is “See Spot Live Longer” by Steve Brown and Beth Taylor.  Below is an excerpt from Ms. Taylor’s website that I thought was important to share with companion pet owners.

 

2000+ Dog Books And All Things Dog 

Dogwise, All Things Dog!

Monthly Feature: BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN DOGS

Sago Palm Plant Kills Puppy

It’s hard to believe a houseplant could harm a tough cookie like the Woytek family’s Lab mix, Amber. A survivor of Hurricane Ike, the young pup was diagnosed with distemper in the months after her adoption from the Houston SPCA in September 2008. But according to Laurie Woytek, Amber defeated the often fatal virus—and went on to form a tight bond with her canine “sister” and partner-in-crime, Scout, a one-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback mix.

Early last month, Laurie discovered that Amber had eaten parts of a sago palm plant. Sago palm—with its dark green leaves and hairy trunk—has become a popular houseplant in recent years, but unbeknownst to many green-thumbed pet parents, it’s also highly toxic to cats and dogs.

Immediately ill, Amber was hospitalized at a nearby emergency clinic. Says Laurie, “I was very scared, but thought, ‘She’s tough—she’ll make it through.’” After several days in the hospital, the emergency veterinarian delivered the heartbreaking news to the Woyteks—Amber had developed jaundice and life-threatening liver failure.

“We took Amber to our regular veterinarian to discuss our options with him,” explains Laurie. “She suffered seizures in the car on the way, and we ultimately made the very difficult, yet humane decision to let her go.”  

Sadly, Amber’s story is all too common. Since 2003, the ASPCA has seen an increase by more than 200 percent of sago palm and cycad poisonings, and 50 to 75 percent of those ingestions resulted in fatalities. According to Dr. Sharon Gwaltney-Brant, veterinary toxicologist and vice president of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, all parts of the plant are toxic, not just the seeds or nuts, and common signs of ingestion include vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, depression, seizures and liver failure.

Before the Woytek family said their final goodbyes to Amber, they took her home to see her best buddy, Scout. “As Amber lay still on the floor, Scout kept nudging her as if to say, ‘C’mon, get up,’” Laurie says. “They weren’t just ’sissies’—as we referred to them—they were best friends.”  

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” reflects Laurie. “Amber is truly missed and will forever be in our hearts. She was our little princess.”

In memory of Amber, and to mark the end of National Poison Prevention Week, March 15-21, the ASPCA reminds all pet parents to stay informed about protecting pets from accidental poisonings. Please read our poison prevention tips online.  

Additional Common Names for the Sago Palm are: Coontie Palm, Cardboard Palm, cycads and zamias

Source:  ASPCA

Animal Poison Control Center

If you can’t reach your vet or don’t have a 24-hour local facility to call, they are your best resource for any animal poison-related emergency, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you think that your pet may have ingested a potentially poisonous substance, call (888) 426-4435.  However, a $60 consultation fee “may”  be applied to your credit card.  Have all your emergency numbers listed and handy.

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Warning Signs That Your Child’s Behavior Is Dangerous To Pets

Children are naturally interested in interacting with—and getting a reaction from—the family pet. It’s not uncommon for them to hide food, play a little too rough, play dress up with the pet or put makeup and hair products on her. In these situations, parental guidance is needed, as a pet may feel uncomfortable or suffer harm if dangerous substances are ingested.

More serious, however, is when a child intends to hurt an animal. Whether the cause is peer pressure or a cry for help, true malicious animal cruelty is not a behavior that children outgrow by themselves. Professional intervention may be needed to prevent behavior problems that can stay with a child into adulthood, and even be acted out on other human beings.

The following behaviors may indicate that intervention is needed to guide your child away from cruel behaviors toward animals:

• Chasing a fleeing pet
• Locking a pet in a closet
• Leaving a pet outdoors
• Knowingly or unknowingly feeding a pet harmful human foods.
• Feeding human medications that are dangerous to pets to see what effect the pills will have
• Placing a tight rubber band around a paw
• Painting a pet’s body
• Putting a small animal in a washing machine, microwave or other appliance
• Staging fights between dogs or letting one animal chase another
• Deriving pleasure from seeing a frightened or suffering pet
• Responding to adult reprimands by engaging in secretive, hostile acts toward the pet
• Burning an animal
• Teasing an animal with firecrackers
• Repeatedly showing off the inhumane handling of a pet to others
• Putting an animal in dangerous situations, such as dangling her outside a window or bringing her into the road

Taking Action

If you discover your child repeatedly putting an animal into dangerous situations, act swiftly to teach him that these behaviors are not acceptable. The following guidelines may help:

• Do not ignore or dismiss pet-unfriendly actions. Most children, when dealt with as though they’ve committed a serious offense, will think twice before repeating the behavior.
• Use the same serious tone of voice that you would use if you saw your child running across the street without stopping to look for oncoming traffic.
• A simple, clear statement such as, “We don’t hurt animals” is far more effective than lecturing.
• If your child persists in hitting, kicking, pinching or teasing your pet in spite of your repeated corrections, consult with your pediatrician or an expert in child development.
• You set the example. Never hit, shake, jerk or yell at your family pet—your child may imitate you and go too far.
• If you overreact in anger toward your pet, show your child that it’s all right to apologize to the pet, just as you would apologize to a person.
• If your teenager involves the family dog in high-risk activities such as dog fighting, not only should you intervene, but check in to see if your child is being influenced by alcohol, drugs, gambling or other unhealthy behaviors that involve peer pressure.
• Remember that for most children, learning empathy and respect toward animals is part of the normal socialization process. These values are instilled the same way as learning not to hit friends or tease mercilessly.

Dogwise, All Things Dog! 

GETTING TO ZERO

Ending Euthanasia of Healthy & Treatable Animals –  A New National Initiative of the American Humane Association In Cooperation with Visionary Corporations and Foundations  

The American Humane Association’s Getting to Zero®

Initiative is a critical, new national undertaking based on realistic assumptions and the profound belief that, within our lifetime, American society can reduce to zero the number of healthy or treatable dogs, cats and other companion animals that are euthanized in animal care and control facilities. This will not be easily accomplished, but we believe that with the replication of identified best practices to shelters and animal-welfare groups across the country — utilizing seed and operational funding provided by visionary companies and organizations as well as advice and consultation from the best in the field — the immediate impact can be substantial and sustaining, thus leading to zero euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals within 25 years.

Funding will be used to take the best practices available and replicate them, initially, to 12 shelters in geographically diverse areas of the country and, subsequently, to encourage and sustain further replication of these best practices to most, if not all, animal care and control facilities in the country.

Working in partnership with the animal-welfare community and corporate and foundation donors, American Humane launched this three-year initiative in 2006.

American Humane has made the reduction and eventual elimination of shelter euthanasia of healthy dogs and cats one of its highest priorities. Although many Americans maintain a deep love and affection for animals, and pets are cherished members of millions of families, the millions of healthy, adoptable dogs and cats euthanized each year remains a source of shame for our country. It is a situation that most view as socially and morally unacceptable.

There is growing public support for assuring that no adoptable animal is put to sleep at a shelter or abandoned in the street. It is a goal that deserves the efforts and commitment of every group and individual with concern and compassion for animals. American Humane recognizes that animal overpopulation is the result of human decision-making and all of us have a responsibility and role in its reduction.

Every year, at least 3.7 million dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters in the United States. Indeed, it has been noted that in many areas of the country, a majority of animals entering the shelter system “are euthanized rather than adopted or reclaimed by their owners.” This problem is not limited to a single area of the country or a single segment of our population — animal care and control facilities from coast to coast are flooded with healthy animals looking for a good home. It has been this way for decades although over the past 20 years, we have seen a sharp reduction in the numbers of animals euthanized.

American Humane is committed to helping identify, support and obtain funding for the replication of community-based interventions that have demonstrated success in reducing the euthanasia of healthy or treatable animals. We are convinced that by working together and adopting practices that have been shown to be effective, we will hasten the day when euthanasia is no longer viewed by the public as an unfortunate but inevitable consequence of animal control.

Source:  American Humane