Don't leave animals in the car!

Warm weather can literally be a killer for a dog left inside a car. When it’s 85 degrees
outside, the temperature inside a car — even with the windows cracked — can soar
to 102 degrees in 10 minutes, and can reach 120 degrees in just half an hour.
When it’s hot outside use these educational fliers to let pet owners know their dogs
may be at risk if left in the car on a warm day. Learn more.

Naming Betsy - helping the NY Saint Bernard Rescue

Betsy was picked up as a stray. She is only 2 years old. Her hold period ended on May 8 and the clock was ticking. Over five hundred shares on facebook yielded lots of sympathy, but no rescue or adopter. Betsy was put on the euthanasia list and her time was up. Literally hours before her life ended, a wonderful rescue, NY Saint Bernard Rescue (a 501(c)3 non profit rescue that has expanded into helping other breeds from high-kill shelters) came forward thanks to Nikki’s unconditional devotion to saving Betsy. She matched up a rescue with a foster and everything fell into place literally in the very last hours that Betsy had left.

This sweet girl was safe and she was on her way to getting sprung from the pound. Then, another hurdle presented itself. A large tumor was found on her elbow and it looked suspicious to the vet. The tumor was scheduled to be removed and sent for biopsy at the same time Betsy was spayed. Everyone waited with bated breath to find out the results of the biopsy.

Negative. Her tumor was not cancerous and she was out of the woods. She is recovering well from her surgery and then, the heart worm test comes back positive. This poor girl just cannot catch a break … but she is a fighter and she has a special angel watching over her. She is now enduring the fast kill heart worm treatment and still in doggie jail until her heart worm treatment is complete.

We want so much to bring her to her foster home and shower her with love and affection she deserves and has missed out on. She has endured many hardships in a short time.

Imagine how confused and hurt she is right now. Her body is going through so much physical pain, in recovering from her spay surgery, the removal of her tumor and the Immiticide injections that cause muscular pain and soreness. Standard treatment with Immiticide consists of giving two injections 24 hours apart, then keeping the dog strictly confined for the next four to six weeks. The injections must be given in a painful location – the muscle close to the dog’s spine in the lumbar (lower back) area. The worms start to die immediately. As their bodies begin to decompose, pieces are “shed” into the dog’s bloodstream and filtered out through the dog’s lungs. This can cause the dog to cough and gag, or lead to a fatal pulmonary embolism.

Betsy is not out of the woods yet and she is may be losing faith but she hasn't given up. Her spirit is not broken; she is friendly and greets the animal control workers with a tail wag.

We want Betsy to have a name that reflects her triumph and spirit.

You have the opportunity to give her the perfect name!

With the economy in shambles, rescues are overwhelmed and under-funded; so, we started a naming auction for her. The highest bidder by midnight on Saturday, June 16, gets to name Betsy.

The auction is going on right here on “For the Love of Animals Blog” in the comments section.

She is so precious because has known suffering and hunger but has held her head high and shown nothing but love to those around her - people and animals alike. From now on this sweet girl will only know kindness and love. The highest bidder by Saturday at Midnight will get the honor of naming her and leaving a legacy forever! This name will be her name for life. The winner will also be helping The NY St. Bernard Rescue now when they need it the most!

Your donation is tax deductible. Bids will raise in $5 increments. Her name will be written into her contact as a permanent name in appreciation to the winning bidder. 

Bidding opens at $10. The winning bid will be paid directly to The New York Saint Bernard Rescue. Thank you! 

Free Bag of By Nature Pet Foods

This is easy to do! 

If you don't have a dog, please consider purchasing and submitting the rebate to donate the free bag of food to your local animal rescue.

Go to By Nature Pet Foods facebook page and 'like' their page.
Fill in the e-form after you have liked the page.
Then, you can download the rebate form.
Mail the original rebate form, the original UPC, and the original receipt into the address on the form and wait for your check.
Hurry! The receipt must be dated no later than 6/10/2012

Two FREE Samples of Milk Bone Trail Mix

You can go to this link and sign up for your free sample of Milk Bone Trail Mix.

AND

You can go to this facebook page, take the pledge and get another free sample of Milk Bone Trail Mix.

Good Deals Tomorrow: livestock feed, small animal supplies and Dog/Cat food

I love Farm & Pet Outlet. They have the best prices on livestock feed and even better prices when they run specials! Their selection of high quality dog and cat food cannot be beat.

Tomorrow is a pretty good day to hit up Farm & Pet, especially if you pay in cash and need to stock up. 

 The sale they had a couple weeks ago had better pricing on hay and sweet feed. I wonder if prices are going up or the sale just isn't as good?

Free Cat Litter at Publix

Here is an easy way to get a free bag of Litter Pearls from Publix.

Buy any Ultra Litter from Publix and use the $1.50 off 1 Ultra Crystal Cat Litter Pearls or Micro coupon found in the Return the Love coupon booklet found in Publix stores. (If you cannot find it on display, just ask for it at the customer service counter.) 

Make sure you hold onto your receipt. 

Like Ultra Pet on facebook  

You will need to make sure secure browsing is turned off to download the rebate form. To turn of secure browsing, click on the arrow in the top right corner and select 'account settings'. Click on security and turn off secure browsing. Then go to the "Free Bag Rebate" form.Check to be sure that HTTPS is not in the browser address bar.

After turning off secure browsing,You can also download the form here.

Make sure you remember what email you submit when you sign up on facebook. Send in all the required info and you get two bags of litter for the price of one and save $1.50 with the in-store coupon!

Innova product review and Giveaway

     We were blessed with a sweet rescue dog that was transported to us by the amazing TLS (The London Sanctuary) Transport Connection. She is six years old and heartworm positive. The heartworms have caused her to lose a fair amount of weight over the course of however long she has had them. It also doesn’t help that she has very few teeth. She is a boxer/English bulldog mix. gingival hyperplasia is a common condition in boxers, and Benny has the misfortune of suffering from this as well as very poor care from her previous owner. The gingival hyperplasia (gum overgrowth) coupled with neglect has rendered her nearly toothless. We have her on a special diet of cooked sweet potatoes, wet food, and dry senior food. Most often, I will mix the senior dry food with a can of wet food and ad some water. Intermittently, I will also add mashed sweet potatoes and sometimes farm fresh, boiled eggs to this mixture.

     All this being said, I am always in search of something to keep Benny interested in eating. Not only do heart worms cause weight loss, they also cause decreased appetite. She is in her third month of a slow-kill method heart worm treatment and getting her to eat is vital to getting her well. I have tried many wet foods. I mix her pills in with a handful of wet food to get her to take them without a fuss. I believe I have finally found a food that I will continue to buy. My search for the perfect food has ended!

I was given a coupon for a free bag of food, case of canned food, or package of treats from Natura Pet Products. I did a little research and decided to redeem my coupon for a case of canned Innova Adult Dog Food.

     I don’t think I can say enough about the great quality of this food! The consistency is soft, but not too mushy; very different from some of the rubbery wet foods I am used to buying. The food smells amazing! It could easily be confused with a gourmet soup. You can actually see the real food ingredients in the canned food. IT isn’t a gelatinous blow that takes on the shape of the can that contains it. The food is a blend of real whole foods. There are diced potatoes, real whole grain rice, small chunks of carrot, many essential nutrients and a generous blend of turkey, chicken, and herring. You won’t find any unnecessary fillers in this food!

     Benny now gobbles up two full meals a day without any coaxing to eat. I have caught my other dogs digging through the recycle bin just to retrieve the Innova can so they can lick it clean! I am so excited to see our sweet rescue dog finally eat a healthy amount of food. Here’s to a healthy recovery! Thanks Innova!

Would you like a chance to win a coupon for your choice of one of the great products made by Natura Pets? 

Here is your chance to win a coupon for your choice of a free bag of food, case of canned food, or package of treats (for dog or cat).

1. Mandatory Entry – Become a follower of this blog and post in the comments section that you are following. 
2. Secondary Entry – Visit http://www.naturapet.com/ explore the site and tell me what your favorite product is and why, in the comments section on this page. 
3. Third Entry – In the upper right hand corner of http://www.naturapet.com/ you can click on the facebook logo and ‘like’ Innova, Evo, or California Natural. Like at least one of these products on facebook and then post in the comments on this page which one(s) you liked on facebook.
4. Forth Entry - Share this giveaway on your facebook page; then, come back and let me know you shared this great giveaway!

A winner will be randomly selected on June 21 to win a coupon for your choice of Natura Pets dog or cat food product. This prize is valued at over $30.

Quick Kwik Guide

One thing many rescuers and adopters have probably observed when bringing home a dog from the shelter is grossly overgrown nails. Unfortunately, you cannot just clip the dog's nails nice and short and be done with it. Often, these dogs have gone a long time without their nails being trimmed and therefore, the kwik has actually grown out with the nail. You can see this illustrated in the diagram below. 

 

A simple solution for an overgrown kwik is to file the nails every day. A chunky acrylic block nail file will give you plenty of surface area and a good grit to file down the dog's nails. It is non invasive and often relaxing if you pet the dog while filing the nails. If the dog does not show any fear or trepidation, a dremel tool or pedipaws file can be used for the same results. These files are electric and cause many dogs some anxiety; however, there are plenty of dogs that will gladly accept the rotating file if you will give him a belly rub while you are filing away. Slowly introduce the clippers after a week or two of filing. You can do this by clipping a very tiny slice of the tip of each nail. Make it a habit to praise and speak in happy tones while filing and clipping. Play with the dog's feet constantly, in between clippings always making the feet play a fun game. Soon enough, your shelter pet will have a healthy set of nails that are easy to trim.

 If you clip the dog's kwik you can expect a yelp and/or a nip followed by a good amount of blood. The veins in the dog's quick contain many blood vessels and nerve endings which will excrete a lot of blood in a short amount of time. It is important to have styptic powder (kwik stop), corn starch, or a bar of ivory soap on hand when trimming nails. If you do accidentally trim the nail too short, pack the toenail in styptic powder or shove the nail directly into a bar of soap. This will stop the bleeding. Ideally, you want to avoid ever trimming too short, causing injury to the kwik, to prevent future fear of having nails clipped. Dogs with white/clear nails are much easier to inspect for the location of the kwik versus dogs with black nails. When in doubt, file or use a dremel only.