Everyone loves free food, right?
It’s no surprise that during these tough economic times, shelter animals have suffered as well. Many shelters have been forced to close or euthanize more animals as result of a signifigant decrease in money–two very sad, very real truths. I’ve found a couple of "good doggie causes" that are quick, simple and available online to help these shelters and ultimately, pets out. Check em’ out.
1. Save a Dog Application on Facebook
Face it, we all are on it now…and while some of the applications that we get sent invitations to are REALLY annoying, this app isn’t so bad. The "game" allows you to virtually foster real shelter animals on facebook. All you have to do is click! You can also virtually walk a dog, pet a dog or arrange a playdate (all for points). Now, I am not sure how this translates to the real world…however, for every 2,500 points that you earn, Save a Dog will donate a cup of dog food to a shelter. The game is sponsered by DogTime. There is also a similar application for cats called Save a Cat. Be careful though, the application, just like many other applications online, can become addictive. I know.
I’m not sure if any of you are familar with PostSecret, but the Pet Postcard Project is a similar but different concept. Here is the website description, "One pound of dog food for every qualifying postcard received goes to dog charities! To date, this project has raised nearly $18,000 and 26,000 pounds of food for shelter animals!"
Basically, anyone can send a postcard to Pet Postcard Project, with content related to pets, and Nikki, the brains behind the project, will donate 1lbs of food to a shelter. And…you could make Fido famous! The best postcards are posted on the website. For full details, go to the site.
3. Like Trivia?
a) yes
b) no
c) who cares as long as I help shelter animals
Free Kibble.com offers up one trivia question a day. Go to the site, answer the question and whether or not you are right or wrong, FreeKibble will donate 10 pieces of kibble to a shelter. Sure, that is not a lot of kibble but it certainly adds up! The site boasts that nearly 283 million pieces of kibble have been donated since the sites creation in 2008. Again, there is also a separate kibble site for cats too. Added bonus: the questions aren’t THAT difficult 
4. The Animal Rescue Site
I stumbled upon this site a couple of days ago. The site is owned by a couple of guys who started a non-profit and then like 10 more. Here is how the site describes their program, "The Animal Rescue Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific need — providing food for some of the eight million unwanted animals given to shelters in the U.S. every year. Over four million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted. Each click on the purple "Click Here to Give – it’s FREE" button at The Animal Rescue Site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary. Funding for food and care is paid by site sponsors and distributed to animals in need."
This is super easy and it donates a little over half a bowl!
So next time you see Fido, asleep and comfy in his plush pet bed or bounding out the dog door, please remember that so many animals are not as fortunate and do not ever have the opportunity to have such pleasures.
Happy Tails!
