Pet Product News - January 2016

NATURA, NATURAL BALANCE,
OTHERS DONATE TO SENIOR
ANIMAL FUND

The Lincoln County Animal Shelter and Coastal Humane Society are the recipients of more than $3,000 in dog food, cat food and treats to feed their senior population, courtesy of The Animal House in Damariscotta, Maine, through partnerships with Natura Pet Products and Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc.

“The idea is that the dogs and cats look and feel better being on high-quality food, in the hopes that they will be more adoptable,” said Aubrey Martin, president of The Animal House.

Halo, Purely for Pets also has agreed to donate through its 5,000 Bowls campaign; supplement company The Pet Health People LLC will provide joint, immunity and heart health supplements.

“We are so fortunate to work
with our representatives, Jodi
Langelotti from Pet Food Ex-
perts, Rick Frautten from Natu-
ra, Kristen Harris from Natural
Balance, Kathleen Brennan from
Halo and Amy Paris from Pet
Health People, who organized
and supplied the donations,”
said Martin. “Hundreds of dogs
and cats in our community will
benefit from the high-quality
food and supplements.”
The Kelly Brook Memorial
Senior Fund also raised more
than $4,000 in November. The
funds will be used to waive the
adoption fees for senior dogs
and cats at both shelters. The
Animal House has been a dona-
tion spot for funds, which then
were matched by an anonymous
$2,500 donor. The Animal House
had a goal of reaching $5,000—
the equivalent of adopting out
100 seniors, with fees waived,
by the end of November.

The Animal House is a family-owned business with locations in Damariscotta and Westbrook, Maine. The company features healthful food and supplies for dogs, cats and companion animals, with a focus on nutritional consultations. The Animal House is partnered with area shelters and rescues and has, to date, adopted out more than 1,000 cats and bunnies.

MILLION MEOW MISSION
SUPPORTS SHELTER CATS

The Clorox Co., the Oakland, Calif.-based maker of Fresh Step cat litter, is continuing its mission to help improve the lives of shelter cats and help more shelter cats find forever homes with the return of its Million Meow Mission.

Fresh Step is making a donation of 1 million scoops of litter to shelters nationwide while offering enhanced opportunities for its Paw Points loyalty members to get involved. Members can enter their Paw Points code to show support for shelter cats and receive a Million Meow Mission badge to share on social media; donate Paw Points to support shelters and receive a $2-off Fresh Step coupon, while supplies last, and a Million Meow Mission badge to share on social media; and share their adoption story with the community.

Participating shelters can redeem Paw Points for free Fresh Step litter as well as other cat necessities, care items and toys. Shelter and rescue organizations can register at freshstep.com/ pawpoints to begin receiving donations. Through its site, Fresh Step will provide shelters and rescues with materials to encourage their cat community to participate in the donation program.

“At Fresh Step, we understand
the immense amount of love and
joy our cuddly cats bring us,” said
Nick Meyer, Fresh Step’s director
of marketing, litter. “They reward
us in millions of ways, which is
why we are committed to giving
back through our Million Meow
Mission program.”
For more information on the
Million Meow Mission and to get
involved, visit freshstep.com.

BLUE BUFFALO, HELEN
WOODWARD HELP 300,000
ORPHANED DOGS, CATS
FIND HOMES IN 35 DAYS

Just over one month into this past year’s Home 4 The Holidays program, Blue Buffalo and the Helen Woodward Animal Shelter were off to a successful start toward giving dogs and cats a second chance at a loving home this past holiday season. As of press time, 300,000 pets had been adopted, and the annual Home 4 The Holidays program was well on its way toward helping find forever homes for a total of 1 million pets adopted by the end of 2015.

“Every animal deserves a loving home, and we couldn’t ask for a more dedicated partner than the Helen Woodward Animal Center to help us achieve this incredible goal,” said David Petrie, vice president of Blue Buffalo in Wilton, Conn.

“With so many homeless pets across the country, we’re able to make a real, lasting impact on shelter animals and bring countless hours of unconditional love to the families that choose to adopt,” he added.

Since their partnership, Blue
Buffalo and the Helen Wood-
ward Animal Shelter, working
with more than 4,000 rescue
organizations, have been
responsible for the adoption of
more than 2.7 million pets.

MYRESCUE.DOG CONTEST
RAISES MONEY FOR PET
SHELTERS

Tucson, Ariz.-based Petfinder Foundation, together with Bellevue, Wash.-based Donuts Inc., the largest owner/opera-tor of “not-com” domain names, announced the winner of the MyRescue.dog contest. The national campaign, which ran for four weeks, was hosted on the new .dog domain to help celebrate rescue dogs and the animal shelters and rescue groups nationwide who save them every day.

Cora-Bella beat out more than 20,000 other rescues to secure the top spot, and $25,000 will be donated to Midwest Dachshund Rescue in Highland, Ind., in her honor. As a rescue, Cora-Bella faced many challenges, including congenital heart failure, skin issues and other ailments. After six months under the care of Midwest Dachshund Rescue, Cora-Bella is healthy, happy and ready to find a forever home.

Through the contest, each picture posted to MyRescue .dog generated a $10 donation to Petfinder Foundation, and each vote generated a $1 donation—up to $100,000. More than 500,000 votes were cast, and $100,000 was raised for pet shelters nationwide. Read more about Cora-Bella and the other winners at MyRescue.dog.

Humane Society Spies Go Undercover

Undercover operatives em- ployed by the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) mounted a campaign against pet stores in Georgia to find out if they sold puppies from so-called puppy mills.

Posing as customers, they
went to 13 pet stores in the state.
The HSUS report, released to the
media in December, alleges that
HSUS personnel “obtained visu-
al information from paperwork
about some of the breeders who
supply Georgia stores. Addition-
ally, researchers examined ship-
ping documentation for puppies
shipped to Georgia stores from
out-of-state during 2015, and re-
viewed Georgia Department of
Agriculture pet dealer inspection
reports. Investigators attempted
to visit several of the breeders
that supply to Georgia stores.”
In total, the activist group
claims “ 17 pet stores sell pup-
pies in the state of Georgia, and
HSUS investigators visited 13 of
these stores with hidden cameras
during 2015.“
They say that “documents
obtained through Georgia’s
Open Records law show that
over a period of 60 days this
summer, 551 puppies were
shipped from out-of-state facili-
ties to Georgia pet stores. Many
of these puppies came from Mis-
souri breeding operations—the
state with the highest concentra-
tion of some of the worst puppy
mills in the country.

“Some breeders found selling
to Georgia pet stores have serious
Animal Welfare Act violations on
their inspection reports includ-
ing: dogs with untreated, open
wounds; severe eye discharge;
feces in food bowls and heavily
matted fur,” the group added.

One particular target was the
Petland chain. HSUS alleges that
“all five Petland stores in Georgia
Midwest puppy mills, several
with violations so severe that an-
imals were found suffering with
conditions such as bleeding sores
and encrusted eyes. Some of
these violations were classified
as ‘direct’ on federal inspection
reports. Petland claims to have a
policy of not buying from breed-
ers with direct violations.”
HSUS quotes unnamed Pet-
land store employees in the report.

The stores targeted were: 19 breeders of John’s Creek; Janine’s Noah’s Ark, Macon; Pet Stop, Thomasville; Petland stores in Columbus, Dalton, Dunwoody, Kennesaw and Rome; Pets & Pals, Albany; Puppies Galore, Lawrenceville; Tifton Pet Center, Tifton; Video Bazaar, Milledgeville; and Village Pets, Gainesville.

More than $3,000 in donations came through The Animal House’s partnership with several pet food companies for Coastal Humane Society and Lincoln County Animal Shelter for the Kelly Brook Memorial Fund to feed senior dogs and cats. Animal House president Aubrey Martin is seen here loading up the Coastal Humane Society van.