Hero, Niptini Sale, IH4H and Jesse

 Buddy: It's my turn to introduce our post today.  We have a bit of variety, including a fun video.

We are very sad to learn Dan Palmer, the man who was in critical condition after being beaten for trying to stop a neighbor from abusing his dogs, has died. We send lots of purrs and tail wags to his family. We hope his killer(s) receive a sentence according to the severity of the crime.  You can read the story here.

Even though this link only applies to Georgia residents, we live in Georgia so we are posting it in case any of you do too.  We don't have a clinic or a vet who does low cost spay/neuter around in this area.
http://www.atlantahumane.org/suv/

For those of you who read our howl for help with a blogger problem yesterday (Blogger on Booze)  and missed the update, we're re-posting it in case any of you run into the same problem.  By then, we will have forgotten the solution.

Update: @electrobutter on Twitter suggested we resize photos to 150 (smaller than the 180 needed) for the sidebar. Now this is not the way it is supposed to work. In fact, it is bass-ackwards. But it worked! We tried it on two photos and both of them resized themselves UP to fit properly. Didn't matter whether we unchecked the "resize to 215" box. Tomorrow it might go psycho again but for tonight it worked.

We don't have anything to add to the sidebar today but we assume we'll still have to continue to manually size the photos down for the widget maker to size them up.  (We're really considering turning to the bottle after the last few days.  Anyone know a good place to buy niptini in quantity at a reduced rate?) The rest of the blog is working.  The background is where it should be.  (It rode up over the weekend and the pretty hummingbirds disappeared.) It seems to be loading properly again.  We all have our paws crossed it doesn't turn into psycho blog again. 

If you click on either of the Thanksgiving designs in our sidebar, you can check out those designs on cards and t-shirts in our Zazzle store. $5 Off Dark Apparel This Week Only! October 25, 2010 at 12:01 am PT through October 31, 2010 at 11:59 am PT. Use Code: OCTSHIRTSALE at checkout.

We want to encourage you, no matter where you live, to join the Iams Home 4 Holidays blog hop this week.  According to PetCareBEev, Iams Home 4 the Holidays is a global event, so anybody who wants to write about pet adoption for the Iams Home 4 the Holidays campaign is welcome to join in! So please write a post - it doesn't have to be elaborate - on how pet adoption has affected your life, either as an adopter or an observer. Then follow the instructions here. Your participation in the blog hop will earn a shelter in need 100 bowls of food.

And after reading all that, we think you deserve a smile break. This is Jesse performing useful dog tricks. We can't let Jan see this one.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Save an Orphan

Iams Home 4 the Holidays kicked off their 2010 campaign with big expectations - save the lives of 1.5 million orphaned pets (1.3 were adopted last year) AND donate 5 million bowls of food to animal shelters in need!

Iams is also aiming to give 5 million meals to homeless animals. One way all of you can help donate a meal to a pet is to follow their Adoption Angel's stories on Facebook.com/Iams and “LIKE” photos, videos and posts. For every like they receive, Iams will donate a meal to a homeless animal.

This week we are participating in the Iams Home 4 Holidays Blog Hop. For this post, Iams will contribute 100 bowls of food to an IH4H shelter in need. So we didn't have to beg or blackmail to persuade Jan to let us use the computer long enough to do a post on how pet adoption has affected our lives —either as an adopter or an observer.

As to how our lives have been affected by pet adoption, in 2008 we wrote about Merci and Rusty and how they came to live here. We can't imagine the Funny Farm without little Merci or big Rusty. If you want, you can read the 2008 post here and our 2009 post here.

But since Jan used to photograph county shelter animals for the newspaper, she has had the most experience with adoptions - or lack of them -  so we're going to let her tell you about how shelter adoptions have affected her. 

Jan:  I loved taking photos of shelter animals.  They were basically sweet, scared, wanting to please, confused as to why they were there, and wanting to get out of there and go home.  Unfortunately, most of them didn't leave the shelter for a new home.  And that is the part I hated.  I could remember each animal I photographed as an individual and it was so hard to mark an X above their photos in the previous week's ad on my next trip to the shelter and come home to delete their photos from my computer.

We all want to read sweet and uplifting stories on shelter adoptions but the reality is that those terrified, adorable cats and dogs that want so desperately to live but are not adopted are killed.  If you love animals, you can not spend any time at a kill shelter and not be affected by the large number of animals that die there each year. 

Just as I started to type this I received an email indicative of how too many animals end up at the shelter.  The original email was dated Friday so these dogs don't have much time. Jerry, because of her age, has virtually no chance at adoption.

While the mother is in hospice dying from cancer the daughter dropped off the mother's dogs  today at the shelter: She brought in 3 of the 5 & will bring in the other 2 later today. Per Elizabeth at the shelter these dogs are TERRIFIED! They have 3 days to find homes before being Euth'd.

Jerry is a spayed female, utd on shots, 14 yrs old , deaf, good with other dogs, kids, and people, very sweet.
Hershey is a neutered male Lab, utd on shots, 4 yrs old, good with other dogs, kids, and people, very sweet.
Lovey is a spayed female Australian Cattle Dog, utd on shots, 5 yrs old, good with other dogs, kids, and people, very sweet.

If you can save these sweet souls who are so terrified and confused please email or call the shelter directly (contact info below) or email.

And just in case anyone can help save any of these dogs, this is their contact information.
Elizabeth Ann Brown
City of San Antonio
Animal Care Services Department
O: 210-207-6655
C: 210-508-8953
Email: Elizabeth.Brown@sanantonio.gov

Update Sunday: All 3 dogs are safe.  Lovely will be joining Jerry in her new home. Hershey is settling in at his new home. No word on the other 2 dogs.

You're undoubtedly wondering about the 6 Adopt A Shelter Pet photographs in this post.  A few months ago I took some photos of shelter animals in their cages/runs and used them as designs in our Zazzle store to promote shelter adoptions.  The animals in these photos are a symbol of why I advocate adoptions and why I support programs that help publicize shelter animals, such as IH4H. I never asked whether any of those in the photos were adopted because after 28 months of asking, I can pretty much tell you it is unlikely any of these beautiful, healthy, adoptable animals made it out of the shelter alive.

And so I use their photos to encourage folks to save another life and adopt a shelter pet.

PS from Funny Farmers - As we finish this on Saturday, another email arrives. This dog is not yet in a shelter. Can you help - adoption or foster!  We assume this beautiful dog is in the Los Angeles area as the original message was from Marie Atake of Forte Animal Rescue.

Missy was adopted from us three years ago.  We just received a call that her adopter had a heart attack and suddenly passed away yesterday.  He was ill, but was getting better.  His daughter has been here from TX to take care of him while he was getting better.  They did a routine x-ray, and while she stepped out to have a yogurt, he had a heart attack and died.  She was in tears and it crushed my heart...  

Missy was doted and is a real sweetheart.  She's gentle with people of all ages and shapes, other dogs and any creatures.  Missy needs TLC right away.  Please contact us even if you can just foster her until her forever home is found!  She's about 7 years old now.  She's little; she's just a Malti-Poo who doesn't do any harm to anyone...


We have only a few days while the late adopter's daughter is in town.  Please get back to us ASAP.  If you cannot help, please spread the word.  I'm desperate for Missy's sake. 

Sunday UPDATE:  Missy has been adopted . She will now live with a couple who had to put down their very elderly and sick Malti-Poo/Bichon about a month ago. After much heart break, they heard Missy’s story and felt it was meant to be to have her join their family. 

The blog hop will last thought this week.  If you would like to join and have 100 bowls of food donated to a shelter in need, click here for instructions. 

Some Homes 4 Holidays

Shelter animals are close to our hearts here at JFF, so we are happy to support the 2009 Iams Home 4 the Holidays. We're a little short of time for posting so we were going to rerun last year's post with an update or two, but when we checked it, we realized 2009 brought great change at JFF and the old post no longer applies. So we'll have to start from scratch.

There are so many animals in shelters awaiting adoption .... or euthanasia. And with the poor 2009 economy, some shelters have been swamped with owner turn-ins. This means more healthy, happy, adoptable animals are needlessly dying daily. We advocate for shelter adoptions but we also advise caution. Give it some thought. Are you ready for the responsibility of a pet? Can you afford to feed, shelter and vet one? Is this just a whim and you'll tire of the animal after the holiday excitement has dimmed, or perhaps you'll tire of it when the cute puppy or kitten reaches maturity? If so, don't adopt! You won't be doing the animal any favor. It will likely end up either abused, abandoned or back at the shelter.

We know of one adorable small dog that was adopted from a rescue. The family called the rescue afterward to say they they loved the little dog and it was sleeping on the daughter's bed at night. So the rescue was surprised when Jan contacted the rescue's owner one day to ask about this particular dog's history. How did Jan get involved? Well, when school started, no one had time for the adorable dog any more and he was relegated to the yard or crated for long periods. Eventually, someone Jan knows offered to take the dog in for a short period, until the family got less "busy." The person who took him in temporarily fell in love with him and was relieved when the owner relinquished him to her. Now he has a good home.

Please, adopt a pet from your local shelter or rescue, but only if you are truly committing to the physical, financial and emotional responsibility involved!

We found a personal video (as opposed to a professional video) on the 2009 campaign. We enjoyed watching it and hope you will too.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

You can find more information on IH4tH here. And you can follow 9Iams Home 4 the Holidays) on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IH4TH.

And we promised JC we would let you know of Beau Beau and Noni Noni, 2 cats that have been at the Petsmart in Renton, WA for over 4 months. They need a home for the holidays, too!

Home 4 the Holidays

We're a little late posting about the Iams 2008 Home 4 the Holidays shelter adoption program, (big surprise, right!) but you know how close to our hearts this subject hits. Rusty and Merci came from the same shelter where Jan takes photos of shelter animals for newspaper exposure.

Unfortunately, more of these animals are euthanized than adopted. There are just not enough homes for all of the animals that, one way or another, end up at the shelter.

Everyone has a different way of posting the same story. There are facts, videos and photos available, so we would like to make our post a bit more personal.

This is one of several photos taken July 19, 2003 by another member of the Humane Society, who suggested this would be a good dog for Jan to adopt. She was right. Merci was a very good choice!


This is Merci today.


Jan saw this photo of Rusty in the paper and when she read he was declawed, she knew he would be a perfect pet to keep her mother company after her dogs died. She passed away less than a year later and Rusty moved in with us.


This is Rusty today. He is a huge ball of fluff with feet nearly as big as a dog's.


This is one of the shelter cats Jan photographed Monday. He is a handsome dude and very sweet. He would probably make a good mouser and lap warmer.


Each week, Jan photographs three dogs and two cats for the newspaper ads. When she went in Monday, she learned there weren't three dogs in the shelter. They had all been euthanized because of Parvo -- except this Border Collie mix.


It's really sad when all the dogs or cats are killed because of something contagious. The longer an animal remains in a shelter, the more likely it is to be exposed to something that could kill it.

So we are pleased that Iams is again partnering with a large number of shelters in Home 4 the Holidays.


2008 shelter program Spokesperson Felicity Huffman, her shelter dog Tucker and an unidentified cat.

Starting with only 14 partner shelters in 1999, Iams Home 4 the Holidays has grown to nearly 3,000 partner shelters in 15 countries around the world, and has helped place more than 2 million pets into homes.

The goal this year is to place at least 1 million pets in loving and happy homes over this holiday season -- Oct. 1, 2008 through Jan. 5, 2009. Every cat, dog, puppy or kitten that is adopted during Iams Home 4 the Holidays will go home with an Iams Adoption Starter Kit that contains food samples, coupons and important tips and information about pet care, behavior, training and nutrition.

We hope they reach their goal!

JFF: Crystal, Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Sam --- and Jan

PS -- Alasandra made a good point in the comment she left. It is important the animals be adopted from shelters. But we also need to consider those who need help to keep the ones they have. Times are tough for a lot of folks who would never have thought of giving up their pets to a shelter.