FOR FUN: Simon's Cat

Simon's Cat 'Snow Business' (Part 1)



Check out his Web site at Simon's Cat.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Hartz Shelter Donation Program

Free Is A Very Good Price

Many charities are facing difficult times as they experience a significant decrease in the donations upon which they depend as people cut back their donations or eliminate them all together.
But there is a way to help, even for those who are unable to make financial donations, and it’s free.
 Hartz has “launched the Hartz Shelter Donation Program this year and pledged to distribute $3,000,000 worth of pet supplies to help shelters feed and care for abandoned animals and help food banks cater to at-risk families struggling to keep their pets at home.”
Help Hartz brighten the holidays for homeless pets by nominating your local shelter and/or food bank to receive a shipment of 2,000 pieces, or more, of Hartz pet supply products.
According to the Hartz Web site: “You can help, by contacting shelters and food banks where you live and telling them about the Hartz Shelter Donation Program. Once you have successfully connected with your local shelter/s and confirmed their desire to receive a donation, before Jan. 31, 2010, email HartzShelterHeroes@Hartz.com, with your name, address & telephone number and that of the shelter/s, as well as the name of a contact at the shelter. Hartz will contact you both about next steps for the donation.”
The Web site also says, "On the Shelter Donation Tracker you can see that Hartz has already shipped 451,063 products, valued at $1,442,835. That’s almost half the total pledged amount. From now through the holidays, donations will be sent out on a first come, first served basis, until the remaining $1,500,000 of supplies are shipped. So hurry and contact your local shelter – make sure your shelter is one of the first requests hartz receives!"
So now, regardless of how hard the economic situation has impacted you, you can help your favorite charity and you can make a difference - for less than A Dime A Day. Don't delay, the money could run out fast.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Fetch A Cure

Having lost Bonehead to cancer, I am really impressed with Fetch A Cure and decided I wanted to feature it In The Spotlight.
According to the Web site, Fetch A Cure is "a from-the-heart, 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization determined to improve the quality of life for pets. Founded and run by those who have been faced with cancer and inevitable aging in their own pets, FETCH focuses on issues of pet health, most specifically cancer and aging and provides owners with the resources to recognize symptoms of early cancer detection and the issues regarding senior pet care."
On the issue of cancer, Fetch A Cure offers information on About Cancer, Warning Signs, Treatment Options, Clinical Trials, Resource Library, Stories of Hope, Cancer Glossary, Kids and Pets, Grief Support, Ask The Vet, FAQ, and the Companions in Crisis program which is working to provide financial aid to families unable to bear the high costs of cancer treatment, medication and rehabilitation.
I really appreciate the importance of the Companions in Crisis program from personal experience. Bonehead's treatment cost the equivelant of half-a-year of my takehome pay. Fortunately I had a small savings account, a Simple IRA and was able to obtain several credit cards to finance his treatment. But for many, the cost of treatment is out of reach. It's great that a program like Fetch A Cure's Companions in Crisis is now available to help.
The Fetch A Cure Web site also offers information about Senior Health, Get Involved and, News and Events.
For those who wnat to help, go to the Fetch A Cure Web site and click on the I'm Here To Make A Difference button.

FOR FUN: The Wagging in a Winter Wonderland Contest

Petcentric.com is sponsoring The Wagging in a Winter Wonderland Contest which will also benefit Adopt-a-Pet.com with a donation of up to $50,000.

According to Petcentric's Web site:
If your pet took over the season, how would the holidays be different? Would ugly holiday sweaters be buried in the snow? Would carolers sound like whirring can openers? In 100 words or less, describe the perfect holiday season from your pet's point of view. Photos of your naughty or nice pet are optional, but appreciated. Enter now and select a prize from one of five prize packages valued from $4,375 to $28,000.
Adopt-a-Pet Wins Too!
Purina will donate $2 to Adopt-a-Pet.com for every submission, up to $50,000. Adopt-a-Pet.com is North America's largest non-profit homeless pet adoption website, assisting over 8,200 animal shelters find homes for over 140,000 homeless pets.

Enter today. No purchase necessary. Contest ends January 15th.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Gabby needs your help

The charity IMOM.org is raising money to help Gabby receive desperately needed surgery.
IMOM.org (In Memory of Magic) is an all volunteer 501(c)3 charity founded in 1998 descibed on its Web site as: "Helping people help pets". To better the lives of sick, injured and abused companion animals. We are dedicated to insure that no companion animal has to be euthanized simply because their caretaker is financially challenged.

IMOM.org is currently working to help raise funds to help pay for surgery for Gabby - a dog with a suspected splenic tumor.

Can you help get Gabby into surgery as soon as possible? Please help if you can. Please go to IMOM.org, and mark your gift "GF - Gabby Townsend."

FOR FUN: Mambo Sprouts and Wellness Pet Photo Contest Raises Money For Charities

Mambo Sprouts and Wellness Natural Food and Treats for Pets are sponsoring a Pet Photo Contest that is raising money for charities.

According to the Web site:
"Tis the season to be jolly and giving. In the spirit of the season, Mambo Sprouts is teaming up with Wellness® Natural Food for Pets to help our fellow critters and we need your help! So get out all those crazy, cute pictures of your pet (or pets!) during the Holiday season and enter to win some great Wellness products! For every entry received Wellness will donate $1.00 (up to $1,000)! And the best part is that the Grand Prize winner will get to choose which animal related charity the money will go to! Now that's giving."
"How to Enter: We want to hear about how you take care of your pet's wellness -- naturally. Enter your favorite photo(s) of your pet (or pets!) along with a pet wellness tip. Click here to enter.

How can a dime a day make a difference?

I was talking to a friend about this Web site and they said they didn't believe that donating just a dime a day would make a difference - it only adds up to $3 per month and what could a charity do with just $3 a month. I explained that the important figure wasn't the size of the donation but, rather, the number of donations. If he donated a dime a day, and I added that to the dime a day donated by 100 other people, that would be more than $300 per month. If I added his dime a day to that of 1,000 other people, that's $3,003. I believe that charities need, and are grateful for, donations of any size. So make a difference and committ to donating A Dime A Day to your favorite charity.

FOR FUN: Simon's Cat

Simon's Cat "Cat Man Do"






Check out his Web site at Simon's Cat.

Turn Up The Heat

For the past few days a cold spell has had temperatures dropping in the Puget Sound region with the mercury falling below freezing this morning. This is my first winter in this house so I’ve been keeping the thermostat turned down as I’m concerned about how high the heating bill will go. I don’t mind it too much, I just throw on a sweatshirt and a sweater and I’m fine. It appears, however, that O’Malley is not a big fan of being cold. A couple of days ago I found him nosed up to a space heater, staring at it as if he could simply will it to heat up. I felt bad for him, so I turned it up and he curled up next to it where he stayed for hours.

Another way O’Malley has found to warm up is by jumping up on the dryer when it’s on. Due to a slightly uneven floor, the dryer tends to have a minor rock to it when it’s on, but O’Malley doesn’t seem to care. If it’s warm, he’s happy.

With winter weather upon us, we shouldn’t forget our pets. The ASPCA Web site offers a very informative list of Cold Weather Tips for pets. Check it out.

And while you’re at the ASPCA Web site, check out their Cute Pet Photo of the Day.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Whisker City

One of the things I want to do is to Spotlight a variety of the rescue organizations which are doing so much good work. If there is one that you would like to see In The Spotlight, send me some basic info and a link to their Web site. If I can't Spotlight them, I will put them in the links box in the right column.

After I had decided to do this blog,  I needed to choose an organization  for which I would try to raise funds, as well as highlight other rescue organizations. There are dozens of worthwhile organizations in the Puget Sound area, all of them doing great work. So I wrote down the names of about 10 of them, threw the pieces of paper into a bowl and pulled one out. Whisker City was the winner. I will, however, try to ensure that all the others are featured In The Spotlight.

So, the first organization that is In The Spotlight is Whisker City, a Shoreline,Wash.-based non-profit founded in 1995 by April Brown, which focuses on helping abused and neglected animals.

According to Whisker City's Web site, "The majority of placements are made from the “Whiskers on Wheels” adoption bus. Thanks to a grant from Maddies’s Fund, a shuttle bus was purchased in 2008 to replace the old school bus that acted as our adoption vehicle for four years. The WOW bus now goes out five days per week, and parks in front of pet stores where the public can climb aboard and view the cats available for adoption."  The schedule for the WOW adoption bus is here.

Whisker City has a Facebook Page. You can also follow Whisker City on Twitter.

Whisker City  is participating in The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter Challenge. According to Whisker City's Web site, "Here's an easy way to help out Whisker City with a couple clicks on your computer! Petfinder.com and the Animal Rescue Site have teamed up to offer $100,000 in grants to participating shelters like Whisker City. Help us win grant money by voting for Whisker City each day during the campaign, which runs through December 20th. Grants will be given to the three shelters with the most votes, along with weekly awards and a grant for the shelter with the highest number of votes in each state!"

If you would like to donate, you can go to Bonehead's Firstgiving page or you can go directly to the Whisker City Web site's Contact Page.

You can make a difference for just A Dime A Day. Donate today.

The Girls

As I've introduced The Boys, I should also introduce The Girls - Freaky Bob, Miss Shanti and Maddie.
The Girls live with my ex-girlfriend Anglea and although we're no longer together, we've remained good friends so we have "visition rights." I get to go over and see The Girls and she comes to my house to visit The Boys.

Freaky Bob

Freaky Bob is the bus stop kitty who joined us about eight years ago. Angela used to make the one-and-a-half hour commute to work by riding the bus. One day while waiting at the bus stop, she noticed a small kitten with a short, bent tail, seven toes on each of its front paws and large pointed ears. She  was concerned but thought it probably beloned to someone in the neighborhood. The next morning the tiny kitten was again at the bus stop, this time it tried to get on the bus when the driver opened the door. On the third morning, with temperatures falling, Angela decided that if the kitten was still there when she returned in the evening she would bring it home. "Look what I found at the bus stop," she announced with a tiny head protruding out of her jacket. "I think it's lost." Over the next days and weeks we posted flyers in the vicinity of the bus stop, ran an ad in the local papers and contacted the local animal shelter to see if anyone had called. We recevied no responses from any of our efforts. So we took her to the vet for a check up and welcomed her to our growing family.


Miss Shanti

While Miss Shanti is the newest addition to the clan, she is also our elder stateswoman - coming in at a graceful 13 years old. She belonged to Angela's aunt, but when the aunt moved she was unable to keep Miss Shanti. So we volunteered. She has some health issues mostly related to her age but she is still a loving cat.



Maddie

Madaline is our Puerto Rican rescue dog. She spent the first year of her life tied to a tree with little food or water. She was rescued and adopted by an elderly couple. That couple had her for about a year until health issues made it so they couldn't care for her, so she was returned to the rescue group. The Bumblebee outfit was for a halloween party at the local doggie day care. You'd never see one of The Boys or the feline members of The Girls in that outfit.

The Boys

Smokey

We were at the local pet store picking up a few things for my aquarium when we dediced to go look at the kittens (the pet store had graciouly offered to provide the local animal resuce with space to display some of the cats available for adoption). We hadn't intended to pick one up, we just liked to look.
One of the kittens there was a gray short-hair, with a white bib and white socks. He was a talker and pawing the glass on the front of the enclsoure as if saying, "Look at me. Look at me." The attendant asked if we wanted to hold him. "Sure," we said. When she brought him out she handed him to Angela and he crawled up on her shoulder and there he stayed. As we hadn't intended to pick up a kitten, we played with him for a few minutes and then, with some hesitation, handed him back to the attendant. We finished our shopping and left the store. At home, we started to talk about the little gray kitten. After a short discussion, it was decided that we'd go back the next day an pick him up. That was about six years ago. He's still a talker who loves to curl up on your shoulder.


O'Malley

We got O'Malley about a year after we picked up Smokey. We were at the same pet store, getting more fish supplies when we made the same decision to go look at the cute kittens, which lead to the same result. In one of the enclosures there were two orange and white kittens, one long hair and one short hair. As we were standing there, another couple picked out and decided to purchase the long-hair. That left the short-hair orange and white tabby kitten all alone - a sight my girlfriend could not stand to bear. "He's going to be all alone," she said. "They just took his sister." Clearly I had already lost this arguement so I simply repllied. "Okay." After we got O'Malley home, Smokey started to take care of him and they became good friends. For years Smokey was always the leader of the two but, recently, O'Malley has figured out that he is bigger than Smokey. He doesn't do anything agressive or mean-spirited, he just uses his girth to move Smokey out of the way to get to the food first, or to get the best spot on the bed or couch, or to get some laptime.

The Posts

As I tend to be a bit long-winded, I thought I would break up Bonehead's story into a number of posts. So watch for upcoming posts such as "Getting To Know You," "Bonehead's Big (Caribbean) Adventure," "You Brought A Dog Home?" and others.

Between the posts of Bonehead's story, I will post a variety of other information. Some of it will be about animal rescue charities or some of the animals rescued, stories and photos of my current cats - Smokey and O'Malley - whom I refer to as The Boys. I'll also post about The Girls - Freaky Bob, Miss Shanti and Maddie - who are now residing with my ex-girlfriend (although we do share visitation rights).
In other words, for each day your willing to donate a dime, I'm willing to take the time to post something that I hope you will find amusing and/or informative.

Bonehead: The Beginning

What's worse?

Although it was more than 15 years ago, I can remember the day it happened like it was yesterday.

It started rather simply with a phone call from my mom telling me that she and my stepfather, Les, had something for me. This was usually a good thing. They didn’t need a lot of things to be happy, but what they did have was of very high quality. So anything that I could get as a hand-me-down from them was always better than what I could afford to buy new on my own. So it was with some anticipation that I drove the three miles to their home.

As I arrived and walked into the house, I quickly glanced around the living room to see if I could spot anything new which might indicate what I would be taking home with me. Same couch. Same coffee table. Same entertainment center. Same, same, same. Maybe it was something from the den or one of the bedrooms.

About the time I finished my visual sweep of the living room, my parents came walking down the hallway to greet me.

After quick hugs, my mother announced, “We have something for you.”

“I know, that’s why I’m here - hand it over,” was what I thought to myself. “Great,” is what I said to them.

With that, they both turned and started looking around the living room - their heads moving back and forth as if searching for something small.

“I don’t see it,” my mom said to Les. “Do you?”

“No. I can’t see it,” was his response. “Why don’t you and Scott look in the den and I'll look in the spare bedroom.”

I was a bit concerned that neither one could remember where they had put it but I dutifully followed my mother to the end of the hall to the den while Les turned into the first doorway.

“Uh, I’m not going to be of much help if I don’t know what I’m looking for,” I said, trying to get some hint from my mother.

“It’s a surprise,” she said.

“Yeah, well it will be a surprise if you’re able to find it,” I thought, impatient to inspect my new possession. I didn‘t see anything new or out of the ordinary, but then again I had no clue as to what I was looking for.

“I found it. It’s in here,” Les boasted from the spare bedroom.

Walking into that room, I made another quick visual sweep but, again, nothing.

“Well. Where is it,” said my mom.

“Under the bed.”

“Under the bed?” I thought to myself. “Who would put something under a bed and then forget that’s where they put it?”

“Aren’t you going to look?” asked my mom.

“Sure,” I said, getting down on my hands and knees to get a better view. I lifted to bed skirt but I didn’t see anything. Wait. In the back corner. The glare of two eyes, the white flash of teeth, a low growl and then the hiss. A very long, very menacing hiss.

“I didn’t know you guys got a cat,” I said to my parents, looking up over my shoulder.

'We didn’t. It’s for you,” my mom said, smiling broadly, all proud of herself.

As I stood up, she must have seen the confused look on my face.

“We didn’t want you coming home to an empty house so we got you a cat,” she said, referring to the fact that my ex-girlfriend had moved out of our house three weeks prior. “Now you’ll have someone to greet you at the door when you come home.”

I remember thinking to myself, “What’s worse? Coming home to an empty house or coming home to a house with a cat in it?”

“We even got you a litter box," Les said, smiling broadly, all proud of himself. "He’s an indoor kitty.”

That's when the question became, “What’s worse? Coming home to an empty house or coming home to a house with a cat and a litter box in it?” The answer was crystal clear to me but, for some reason, my parents hadn’t seen it.

“Great,” I said, not very convincingly I’m sure.

“Let me see if I can find a box for you,” Les offered, appearing a little to anxious to be rid of the animal. “He kind of tore up the cardboard carrier he came in.”

“Okay.”

“His name is Bo. Or maybe it’s Biscuit,” said my mom after Les went searching for a box. “You can name him whatever you want.”

“Okay.”

“He’s a shelter kitty. He’s had it pretty hard as a kitten so you have to promise to take care of him,” she insisted. “Promise?”

"Okay.”

I waited until Les had returned with a rather inadequate looking box and made sure he had closed the bedroom door before I moved the bed to get to the cat.

He seem as displeased as I but, despite the hissing and growling, there was no scratching and no biting as he was placed into the box.

“I’ll grab the litter and the litter box,” Les offered.

“Okay,” I said as Bo, or Biscuit, and I headed back down the hallway and out the front door.

Send me your suggestions

Do you know of, work at, or volunteer at an animal shelter in your community? Send me a brief description of the charity and its URL and I'll post it on A Dime A Day.