Another Reason Why It's Important to spay or neuter

Dear Mom and Dad-

I died today. You got tired of me and took me to the shelter. They were overcrowded and I drew an unlucky number. I am in a black plastic bag in a landfill now. Some other puppy will get the barely used leash you left. My collar was dirty and too small, but the lady took it off before she sent me to the Rainbow Bridge .
Would I still be at home if I hadn't chewed your shoe? I didn't know what it was, but it was leather, and it was on the floor. I was just playing. You forgot to get puppy toys.
Would I still be at home if I had been housebroken? Rubbing my nose in what I did only made me ashamed that I had to go at all. There are books and obedience teachers that would have taught you how to teach me to go to the door.

Would I still be at home if I hadn't brought fleas into the house? Without anti-flea medicine, I couldn't get them off of me after you left me in the yard for days.
Would I still be at home if I hadn't barked? I was only saying, "I'm scared, I'm lonely, I'm here, I'm here! I want to be your best friend."
Would I still be at home if I had made you happy? Hitting me didn't make me learn how.
Would I still be at home if you had taken the time to care for me and to teach manners to me? You didn't pay attention to me after the first week or so, but I spent all my time waiting for you to love me.
I died today.
Love, Your Puppy
(SADLY THIS IS LOST ON SO MANY PEOPLE...THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED)

PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER

The reason so many animals end up in shelters-not spaying and neutering. There are too many unwanted animals out there. Simply stated, over crowded shelter are due to lack of education in poor and impoverished areas, and lack of spay/neuter laws. I think laws should be put in place to make this mandatory. If we S/N, our shelters would be less crowded, and animals wouldn't be put to death simply for being born. If everyone could do their part-we could end over population. Please, read the "top ten reasons to s/n" below. The animals depend on it.

1. Spaying and neutering saves lives!
   Spay or neuter one dog saves 67,000 lives in six years if two survive each litter. Spaying or neutering one cat saves 420,000 lives in seven years if two survive from each litter.
2. Spaying your female cat or dog will help prevent pyometra (puss filled uterus) and breast cancer.
   It is also less expensive and easier to treat medically (pets go under general anesthesia and are released within hours) than treatment for pyometra (requires hospitalization, surgery and IV).
3. Neutering your male cat or dog prevents testicular cancer.
4. A spayed female will not go into heat.
   There will be no yowling or frequent urination of your un spayed cat looking for a mate and no bloody discharge from your unsprayed dog in heat.
5. A neutered dog is less likely to roam.
   An un neutered male will go to extremes in searching for a mate, including jumping the fence or digging his way out of the yard. Once out, he is at risk of getting lost, getting hit by a car, causing an accident or getting into a fight. A dog who roams is also more likely to get external and internal parasites.
6. Neutered males are better behaved.
   They are less likely to be aggressive (statistically most dog bites are inflicted by intact males), less likely to mark their territory with strong smelling urine and less likely to mount when stimulated. Spayed and neutered pets are more affectionate and more focused on their owner.
7. Spaying or neutering your pet will not make them fat!
   Pets become obese from lack of exercise and overfeeding. The myth that spaying and neutering your pet makes them fat is medically and factually indefensible.
8. Spaying and neutering your pets help create a safer neighborhood.
   Stray animals can cause problems in the community. They can prey on wildlife, cause traffic accidents, scare children etc.
9. There are no benefits of letting your female have "just one litter."
   Research shows the whole pet population virtually stems from "just one litter." Many pet owners think their dog is special and unique and that is why they should breed their dog. The shelters are full of special and unique dogs. Letting your children witness your dog giving birth to a litter that you do not intend to keep does not teach them about birth, it teaches them to be irresponsible. Finding homes for the litter is not enough. An equal number of animals will then die in shelters. Furthermore what happens when the new owner doesn't spay or neuter the puppy? What if they can no longer keep the puppy? Every time an animal dies in a shelter, someone somewhere is responsible. Don't be that person.
10. Just because your dog is a purebred doesn�t mean it should be bred.
    25% of dogs in shelters are purebred not including those in rescue groups.

In Mutts We Trust

Every year, between 7-11 Million animals will end up in shelters throughout the United States. Less than 50% of those animals will get to a rescue or get adopted. THINK before you drop your animal off at a shelter. Shelters are overcrowded, understaffed, and under funded. An animal is a lifetime commitment. Animals want for so little, and only want for love. They ask for so very little in return. So the next time you're thinking of getting rid of your pet, think first. It may not make it out of the shelter. It would be tragic for your pet to die alone and afraid in shelter due to no fault of it's own.

YES-THEY SUFFER TOO!!!

Here are some facts that you may or may not know!
DID YOU KNOW...

-863 animals die every second
-Pigs are smarter than dogs and three year old children
-Piglets are torn away from their mother at just three weeks old
-Once the piglet is ready for slaughter, usually at about 5 months old, their food will be withdrawn leaving them feeling weak, lethargic and cold.
-Vegans live an average 6-10 years longer than a meat eater
-A meat eaters risk of developing heart disease is 50% higher than a veg{etari}ans
-Animals are fed drugs so they can grow bigger
-In every package of chickens there’s a little bit of poop
-They flavor McDonalds french fries with meat juice
-Animals like cows are kept in dark, filthy rooms then they are taken in a metal truck, which usually makes the cows sick, and then they are killed in the slaughterhouse consciously.
-Birds and chickens are kept in small cages. The great majority of all "layers" are kept in battery cages. Usually 5 hens have to share a cage measuring 18 by 20 inches.
-They are also de-beaked with a hot blade so they don’t peck the other animals to death
-Cows have their horns sliced off; they are branded, which causes excruciating third-degree burns; and males are castrated. This is all done without any painkillers.
-When cows are done making milk they are killed
-Pigs-farmers cut off a pigs tail so the other pigs tail don’t bite it off due to the fact of the small space
-When chickens are done laying eggs they are also suffocated in plastic bags
-Male chickens are gassed, suffocated in a bag, or ground up alive because they don’t lay eggs when they grow up.
-Eating one hamburger uses enough energy to drive a small car 20 miles and take 17 showers
-More than half of the water consumed in the U.S. is used to raise livestock
-Cows are excellent mothers
-Sheep can recognize other sheep’s faces and human faces as well
-Goats are very curious and playful, have individual personalities and capable of great affection and loyalty
-Goat’s intelligence is comparable to that of pigs and dogs
-If you give an apple or a small ball to a group of turkeys they'll play with it
-Fish grow underwater algae gardens
-Hens and their babies communicate even while the chick is still in the egg
-A cow must be pregnant in order to give milk... they are artificially inseminated and confined in one stall where they have to stand in their own urine and feces
-Cows are separated from their moms within 24 hours of birth
-To get milk out of cows farmers use electrical machines and usually the cows bleed and pus comes out so that’s usually that’s what your drinking
-The U.S has the highest upper limit of milk pus concentration in the world
-Mad cow disease is in the United States
-Fishing hurts. Imagine a hook is stuck through your lips and you are being pulled up rapidly.... Pain right?
-Raising animals for food need more than a third of fossil fuels and raw materials in the U.S.
-Cattle ranching is the number cause of Amazonian deforestation
-Going Veggie does more to stop Global Warming than switching to a hybrid car
-Vegans save an average of 100 animals a year

Now tell me again why you want to eat meat?

Pitful little pitty puppy that only wanted to play and be loved..

Oshkosh, WI - The 5 month old puppy discovered starved to death on an Oshkosh sidewalk last Thursday had a name. His name was Snoop. The beautiful puppy never stood a chance with the owner that he was cursed with - that owner was identified to police through an informant. That informant led police to the home of Bryan I. Hutcherson, 19. Shockingly, Hutcherson is reported to have told police that the puppy was too stressful and "too expensive" to feed. Instead of surrendering the puppy to an animal control facility, the man and his girlfriend reportedly watched him starve to death before their eyes. Apparently little Snoop was kept in a wire cage measuring 2 ft x 3 ft - the cage was kept in the couple's living room. The informant told police that the puppy was covered in feces and shaking the last time that he was seen in February. Puppies, with their quickly growing and developing bodies, require special puppy food during their first year of life - food with extra calories and nutrients to keep them healthy and ensure proper growth. Instead, Snoop received nothing - from what his owner told police, he apparently received nothing for over a month. Hutcherson told the police that he decided to lay the sick puppy on the sidewalk, just 2 blocks from his home, last Thursday - the puppy was so weak that he could not raise his head from the cement.... A necropsy showed that the emaciated puppy's organs had systematically shut down as a result of the starvation. How could a person watch another life slowly fade away before their eyes? Surely Snoop suffered greatly - surely there was crying as the pain wracked his little body.... Hutcherson was held on a $1000 bond and will have a preliminary hearing on April 14. He could face fines of $10,000 and up to 3.5 years behind bars. In the court of public opinion, his name will forever be associated with that of a person with no heart. His unidentified girlfriend is also facing charges - her case has been sent to the Winnebago County District Attorney. Rest in Peace Snoop.

Speak up for our animals..They need you more than ever!

A follow up to Nico

Remember Nico? I wrote about him last year in my blog when he was in the shelter. The story below is another follow up. Nico has had another bad blow....

This photo is not unknown to animal lovers and rescuers. It captured the depressed and broken spirit of a suffering shelter dog. It’s Nico, the 6-year-old Dogo Argentino who’s picture appeared on Facebook July 2009 that immediately went viral and caught the attention of animal rescuers. He was malnourished, covered in sores, flea bitten, missing several teeth, covered with tumors, and deaf.

It was this photo, taken by Southern California animal rescuer Nikki Audet, that saved his life. It caught the attention of Kelley Gibson, a rescuer and animal transporter in San Diego, where she quickly helped get him to the Hamilton County Humane Society in Indianapolis.

After three months of training and medical care, his tumors removed, Nico (now known as Nico SwanGarris) found a home in Indiana with two loving moms and settled into a pampered life of playtime, good food, snuggles on a couch, and…squeaky toys!

It’s amazing that this dog – so broken – got a chance at the good life. There are many dogs in shelters that have their stories end right there – with a needle. It’s the rescue story from heaven.

But now life just dealt Nico another challenge. He has four different types of aggressive cancer. He is currently on oral chemotherapy medication until his two moms can afford highly expensive IV chemotherapy treatments at the Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Bridget and Melissa, Nico’s owners, are using holistic treatments including a special diet high in protein. They’re optimistic, but battling cancer is tough and they’re taking it one day at a time. They will do everything they can for Nico.

Here is the chip in to help with his care http://nicosfund.chipin.com/nicos-fund-3