Dogs Vs Cats Lucy Bowl

BUDDY:  We have never been sports fans and have never understood the attraction, but this year we're definitely interested in Super Bowl Sunday.

CYNDI:  Yes, Hallmark's Kitten Bowl commercial will be airing on Super Bowl Sunday and it just might be the best and most discussed Bowl commercial this year.

MICAH:  You'll never look at us dogs and cats in the same way again.  We furries rock!

SAM:  The Lucy Pet Foundation's #DogsVsCats football game commercial is going to be groundbreaking.  It will feature "some of the most hightech Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) special effects ever done" using live - yes live - animals. 

RUSTY:  Don't you think I'd look good in a football helmet?  So why weren't all of us invited to play in the Kitten Bowl since it's for a good purpose?   It intends to draw attention to pet overpopulation and the 80,000 pets euthanized in shelters across America every week. 

MERCI: The Lucy Pet Foundation proposes and promotes a multitarget platform on pet overpopulation which includes -

• For the US to have low cost and free (eventually all free) mobile spay/neuter clinics.

• Education.

• Grooming and training of shelter pets to make them more adoptable. 

• Working to enact legislation to benefit pets.  This includes banning gas chambers at shelters. 

PERCY:  The commercial is directed by Sam Nicholson, a highly praised visual effects wizard.  He is best known for Heroes, 24, The Walking Dad and Star Trek I.  We haven't seen any of those but if he's a wizard, he must be talented..

CAMERON:  The Lucy Pet Foundation commercial will air on February 1, 2015 - this coming Sunday - during the Kitten Bowl, on the Hallmark Channel at 12/1c.  Don't just tell your friends about it.  Invite them over for a Kitten Bowl Party.  Um ... don't forget to invite us since we don't have cable TV.

MARCUS:  Hey, there's nothing left for me to add.  You guys hogged the whole post.

CYNDI:  Pssst, Marcus, post the teaser.

MARCUS:  Thanks.  I forgot we have a teaser for our friends to watch.  It's short so don't complain you don't have time.  You won't be sorry.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

This post is brought to you by the rocking furries at the Funny Farm to draw attention to the Lucy Pet Foundation and its efforts on behalf of homeless pets.  LPF provided the information, photos and video.  Our blog will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $500 donation for a 501c3 rescue of our choice.  Contact bloggers@lucypetfoundation.org for information if you are a blogger interested in spreading the word and who would like to win a donation for a rescue of your choice.

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.

Summer Travel Stories

This is Cotton. I'm bringing you today's edition of JFF news. And we have good news.

We had a collective panic attack this afternoon. (No, that isn't the good news.) Earlier this month we again partnered with Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul but we had a couple of Jan's senior weeks and we -- let's just say when we read Nikita Cat's post on the same giveaway (ends 8/28, 11:59 pm PST) , we didn't give it a second thought. After all, the end of August is near and we'd already finished our giveaway for the month.

Well, if you're reading this, you've probably guessed by now that we hadn't even started it.  And Jan wouldn't let us use the computer.  She had about 3 software programs open and 5 or 6 tabs open in the browser and the floor around the typing chair and the desk were littered with breakables. Glass and china items Jan was posting on Jan's Funny Farm Fair. (That's her "yard sale" of personal items. Stop by and browse.)

We have finally gotten possession of  been given permission to use the computer while Jan packs up the glass before we break something.  We don't know what she's worried about.  As hard as we've tried the past few months, we haven't managed to break any of her breakables.

Now we're ready for the good news.

We're off to a late start on this giveaway. You might want to enter right away so you don't forget. We're going to list the specifics, in no particular order, just numbering them so they stand out for you.

1) You must be a US resident to enter.

2) The giveaway ends at 11:59 PM EDT on Tuesday, August 31. We (probably Sam) will draw a winning name - from something non-breakable - on September 1st and post it.  Be sure to leave a blog url or an email address so we can get in touch with you should you win.

3) The theme is Summer Travel Stories. Share your pet-related travel stories or tips on how to care for your pet on the road or when you are away. Some of you take your pet camping or on a motor trip, some of you do travel on your vacation but have to leave leave your pets home - board your pets while you are gone or use a pet sitter. We look forward to reading your travel stories and your tips.  Have fun.

4) Entering is simple.  You do not need to have a blog to enter this giveaway.
     a) Just leave your story or tip in the comments of this post.
     b) Or post your entry on your own blog and leave a link in the comments of this post. 

5) The prize is either a dog or a cat "goody bag" from Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. The goody bag will be pet appropriate, depending on whether the winner is a dog or a cat.

Stop by and "Like" the Chicken Soup Facebook Page.

Grey of Hubble Space Center took a turn for the worse and had to be helped to the bridge last evening. Purrs and tail wags for his family.

One other thing. We found the article "Mandatory spay/neuter: Sacrificing animal lives to ideology" posted on Pet Connection Blog to be interesting reading.

UPDATE 9/1/10 --  The winner is announced here.

Darren the Waving Goat,and SB250

Children visiting White Post Farm in Farnsfield near Nottingham often wave good-bye, so a friendly Anglo-Nubian goat named Darren learned to stand on his hind legs and wave back. He was featured on "Animals Do The Funniest Things" and he's fast becoming an internet superstar. Here's a short video.






And while you're smiling, we'd like to comment on a controversial subject -- Senate Bill 250, an attempt to pass a law requiring mandatory spay/neuter of cats and dogs in California. We don't live in California, but we do have an opinion on the subject.

Just today we read two blog posts with opposing views. Surprisingly, the one rooting for the bill to pass moderates comments. We left a polite comment that we disagree, with a very short explanation, and although the blog has been updated and another comment added, our comment has disappeared. So we're going to touch on the subject. It's okay to disagree. We won't delete polite comments.

We strongly believe spay/neuter should be voluntary. Jan volunteered all of us, and she would like to see more folks spay/neuter their pets. It isn't that we don't understand the millions of animals being killed (euthanized is too kind a word) in shelters each year. Jan used to photograph some shelter dogs and cats, knowing most every one would leave the shelter in a body bag. She knows how hard it is to convince humans to change their perspective toward animals, but she volunteers with the local Humane Society (not the shelter) to help educate and promote voluntary spay/neuter. And like Jan, we do not believe that mandatory spay/neuter will solve the shelter euthanasia population.

In the last months, we have read a number of articles stating mandatory spay/neuter does not work, but unfortunately, we don't remember who wrote them and we don't have time to search for them at the moment.

(Buddy, Mercy & Sam: Jan injured her ankle last night while we were walking her. No, we are not responsible. We got caught in a storm and Jan wanted to hurry back. She stepped up on a curb that was broken but appeared solid. It wasn't -- well, it wasn't in the one spot she picked. Broken concrete shifted and with all her weight on it, rolled her ankle. She nearly took us all down but we kept her upright long enough to get thoroughly drenched. And then it was a long, sloooooooooow walk home. She can't sit at the computer long today, so while she rests, we're typing before we get kicked off again.)

To quote from the ASPCA statement: "To the knowledge of the ASPCA, the only method of population control that has demonstrated long-term efficacy in significantly reducing the number of animals entering animal shelters is the voluntary sterilization of owned pets. .... There is also evidence that sterilizing very specific, at-risk sub-populations of companion animals such as feral cats and animals in shelters can also contribute to reductions in overpopulation. .... In contrast, the ASPCA is not aware of any credible evidence demonstrating a statistically significant enhancement in the reduction of shelter intake or euthanasia as a result of the implementation of a mandatory spay/neuter law."

So we're just going to refer you to this one article by the ASPCA, "Position Statement on Mandatory Spay/Neuter Laws."

Now, we have to run. Jan is grumpy and we need to go sit on her foot so she'll really have something to yell about.