Pet Dish for July 20, 2010

In this issue:

Tigger's One Summer Day
Cats: The new dog
A champion for animals
Helping animals close to home
There's still time to show your Animal Humane Society pride
Pet Dish Pet Tips
More Treats
Scratching Posts

Tigger's One Summer Day - How you can help cats in need

Tigger On June 5, Tigger arrived on our Golden Valley doorstep. After living in the same home for seven years, she was brought to Animal Humane Society for a chance at a home where she would get the attention she needed and deserved. Not always sure about the children in the home, Tigger’s previous owners thought she would be happier with a new family. Now, she awaits that new home in our adoption center.

Although Tigger’s story is special, it is just one of 70 we received on that one summer day. Each May through September, we receive an average of 70 cats per day and for nearly 300 cats right now, Animal Humane Society is all they have to call home. Now is your chance to help just one.

Adopt a cat from any of our five adoption centers or consider making a donation to help us cover the costs of their care. You can choose to sponsor the full care of a cat or help cover the different expenses we incur during its stay with us. Thank you for your generous support.

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Cats: The new dog - Simmy the watchcat

“In April of 2004, my best friend Alisha and I went to Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley just for fun and to play with the kitties. It was the day before my 14th birthday. We were sweet-talking a little orange kitten when I heard a demanding meow from the cage below. I looked down, and there she was—a big eight-month-old gorgeous tabby. I opened her cage and she stood on her hind paws and placed the top half of her body on my thighs, asking politely to be picked up.

In the visitation room, she wouldn't stop purring—and wouldn't let me put her down! She hung on to me, as if begging me never to let her go. I never did.

Cats available for adoption

Everything about Simmy is amazing. She does tricks like sit and speak, she comes when I call her and even herds me to the bedroom at exactly 11 p.m.! Once, she even saved my little sister's life.

On that particular night, my sister went to bed and she wasn't feeling very well. What we didn't know was that her appendix was infected. At 2 a.m. in the morning, Simmy jumped on to my parents’ bed where she proceeded to wail and walk all over my dad. Since she never does this, he woke up and checked everything. My sister had pulled down her covers and was having a nightmare, and when he went to cover her up he noticed she had a high fever. Long story short, her appendix had burst. If Simmy hadn’t woken my father up she may have suffered from the fever and a severe infection.

To this day, Simmy is a warm-hearted watchcat.” ~ Rachel Johnson

Cats make amazing pets—some trick-wielding watchcats like Simmy, others playful cuddlers that leave you in stitches with their antics. Consider which cat best fits your family’s lifestyle by stopping by any Animal Humane Society location today.

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A champion for animals - Jon Magnussen’s Hanover Hootenany helps pets

Tarzan

On June 26, 2010, a yellow Lab wandered onto Jon Magnussen’s 12-acre property near Buffalo, Minn. He had missed the party by just one week.

The Lab had become fast friends with Jon’s two adopted dogs. Jon noticed the dog had a collar, but no tags, so he brought him to Animal Humane Society in Buffalo to have him scanned for a microchip. Unfortunately, the dog wasn’t microchipped and no one came forward to claim him. Now named Tarzan, he awaits a new home at our Buffalo adoption center.

Because of incredible people like Jon, Tarzan and so many other animals will be given a second chance. On June 19, just a week before finding Tarzan, Jon threw his annual Humane Hootenanny raising $1,400 for the care of animals at our Buffalo location—double what he raised in 2009!

A backyard music festival, the Humane Hootenanny takes place each summer and features up to 10 different bands, many of them Jon’s friends. Friends and family are invited to camp out and enjoy the festivities, all for a good cause.

“Animals will always be my cause,” Jon says. “But it takes all of us—me, the musicians, friends who volunteer—to make it work. We love doing it!”

In years past, a bag of litter or dog and cat food granted anyone admission to the hootenanny. Now tickets are sold for the event. In 2009, 130 attended and made donations. This year, attendance jumped to 200.

Jon quips, “Next year it might be too big for my backyard.”

If you’re interested in holding your own fundraiser to help us care for the more than 33,000 companion animals we take in each year, review our do-it yourself fundraising toolkit and get started today.

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Helping animals close to home
Do you know which humane society you’re donating to?

Helping Animals Close to Home

It can be confusing knowing who is who in animal welfare. The limited variety in humane society names can have anyone believing they’re all part of one big organization. But they’re not.

Animal Humane Society is completely independent and local to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. with locations in Buffalo, Coon Rapids, Golden Valley, St. Paul and Woodbury. We’re not affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States or any other national group.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a national animal welfare organization out of Washington D.C. focusing on education, advocacy and political action on behalf of animals. They do not operate shelters or provide services to the public in our local communities.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is an animal welfare organization based in New York City. Their direct work with animals is at the shelter they operate in NYC and through anti-cruelty missions across the country. They do provide limited funding and services that can aid local shelters, but they don’t provide shelter or direct care to animals in our communities.

When you donate to either HSUS or ASPCA your money goes toward helping animals in need, but it does not directly help local animals, including those at Animal Humane Society. If you want your donations to stay closer to home, donate locally by making a charitable donation to Animal Humane Society.

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There’s still time to show your Animal Humane Society pride

The new Animal Humane Society T-shirts are still available—in all sizes! If you haven’t ordered yours yet or would like to purchase more for friends and family, now is the time!

Click here to order your T-shirt(s) today. YOU HAD ME AT WOOF and PROUD TO BE CATTY are still available in S–3X each for $15 + shipping. Quantities are limited. Order today!

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Pet Dish Pet Tips with Paula Zukoff
In this edition, Animal Humane Society’s Paula Zukoff addresses the challenge of mealtime in mutli-pet households

Don’t forget to send us your training questions
Is your pet itching to add a few tricks to his repertoire? Do you have questions about your pet’s behavior and what you can do to help her be a better family pet? Let us know your training question by sending us an email - or better yet sending a video showing us the problems you're having with your pup! Send vidoes and emails to petdishideas@animalhumanesociety.org.

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