Paws With Claus Pt. 2

As I mentioned in my last post, it's important to recognize our local animal shelters and all they do for us. I had never really given shelters much thought until last summer when my mom finally told me I could get a kitten if I wanted, and of course I wanted to! I went to my local shelter one day just to scope it out to see what was there. I walked into a room full of cats and kittens of all ages, genders and types. I fell in love with probably every cat there but knew I could only pick one. Then the more I thought about it I realized I should get two so they could keep each other company. So I did and I got Bates and Ivy.

Bates is on top and Ivy is on the bottom.

After writing my paper for this event, I came across some startling facts from the Humane Society of the United States. The HSUS said that 6 million to 8 million cats and dogs are cared for in shelters each year. Out of those animals, 4 million are euthanized every year. While the numbers of animals ending up in shelters is declining, it still makes me sad to think there's so many animals in shelters that need a good home.

So now you're probably asking yourself what you can do to help, right? Well, there's many options. You could adopt from a shelter if you're considering bringing a pet into your home. If you already have pets and don't want any more, or you can't have any right now, you can always donate to shelters. Or if you want to donate some of your spare time to volunteering, the shelter has many different volunteer options you could try.  So please go out there and make a difference.  I promise you won't regret it!

Paws With Claus Pt. 1

On Saturday, Dec. 4 I went to AnnaBelle's Pet Station in Lansing to attend the fundraiser Paws With Claus. This event was sponsored by MSU's PRSSA to help them raise money for their chapter, as well as money for the Ingham County Animal Control and Shelter.

The event allowed families and owners to bring in their dogs to get their picture taken with Santa Claus. People that brought in pets were asked to give a $10 donation to help raise money. The event raised a total of $680 and PRSSA split the money up so $340 went towards their chapter and the other $340 went to the shelter.

I thought this was an awesome event and I had a lot of fun attending and meeting other pet fanatics. I know if it were allowed and I hadn't of gone here to work on my project, I most definitely would have brought my cats in to get their picture taken. I then would have printed off the picture, framed it and would have given it to my mom for Christmas. She would have loved it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do so, but I did learn a lot about why donating to our local shelter is important and why everyone should try and donate something.

Video from the event: