Animal Pet Health : RESCUE Hosts National Pet Idol Contest to Support Animal Rescue Efforts

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Oct. 2 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Look out American Idol, there's a new game in town. RESCUE, a non-profit 501(c)3, based in Phoenix, had such success with their first Pet Idol Contest at the local level, that this year, they are taking it national.

"We are so excited about this year's contest," Jennifer Klein, Executive Director, RESCUE, said. "The first year we raised over $9,000 and that was just at the local level. We know people love their pets, so we wanted to open up the contest to everyone."

The national Pet Idol Contest will benefit the efforts of RESCUE, an organization that is dedicated to saving the lives of animals on euthanasia lists.

The registration process is simple. Interested contestants submit photos of their pets, and viewers vote for their favorites; entries and votes are $1 a piece.

All entries must be received by midnight on Tuesday, October 23 and the voting begins the next day. There are three rounds of voting with the winners of each round proceeding to the next. The winners are those entries receiving the most votes. Final winners will be announced on November 15 and will receive prizes from sponsors and their pet's photo will appear in "Animal Wellness."

All pet photos are welcomed - cute, funny, simple and curious. Turtles, ferrets, and chinchillas are among the more non-traditional entrants.

"We know that your pet is a star," Klein said. "Now, is the opportunity to show the world."

Based on this year's success, RESCUE hopes to time next year's Pet Idol to coincide with the national talent phenomena "American Idol."

RESCUE relies on no government funding and is proud to reveal that they have been in existence since 1995. They rely on volunteers and private funding and have no central facility; they are volunteer run.

"Community effort and involvement has been overwhelming," Klein said. "The old adage 'it takes a village' holds true when it comes to meeting the goals of RESCUE."

RESCUE is an acronym for "Reducing euthanasia at shelters through commitment and underlying education." They are a registered non-profit that has found homes for over 8,800 dogs and cats. Their motto is "for every animal we place, we are back to rescue another."

For more information about RESCUE and the Pet Idol Contest, visit: www.azrescue.org.

Note: Pet Idol has no relationship with American Idol or any other "Idol" TV show.

Animal Pet Info : Animal Health Summit 2008

The meeting place for senior-level executives working within or servicing the animal health industry

“There is now a huge interdependence between animal health concerns and needs with issues such as public health and medicine, economics, global trade and national and international security.”

For delegates

Animal Health Summit 2008 is an executive level forum where local and global experts in Government, regulatory affairs, industry, academia and research will meet to discuss the key issues, and pioneer solutions for the benefit of animal health in Australia.

The aim of the conference is to identify strategies to prepare Australia's animal health system to meet future challenges and take advantage of the opportunities facing our livestock industries.

The conference will provide an opportunity for delegates to examine Australia's animal health system at a national level.

For sponsors

If you have products, solutions or services that can assist in the successful implementation and delivery of Animal Health programs and initiatives, this is the only event which will deliver the chance to:

• Network with key Animal Health stakeholders
• Hear unique networking sessions, expert panels, and time to talk in a relaxed environment with new business contacts
• Capture new prospects whilst enhancing your corporate profile to existing clients
• Increase your brand recognition with a decision-making audience

» Reserve your seat now

Top 10 Things You Can Do For Your Dog

October is Adopt-A-Shelter Dog Month—and here at the ASPCA, that means that we’re not gonna stop talking about how great dogs are from now until October 31!
To get the pooch party started, we prepared a list of 10 things you can do for your dog this month…and every month!
1. Is your pooch an action hero or a couch potato? If you can’t feel Rover’s ribs, he may need to shed a few pounds. Ask your vet about a healthy and safe doggie diet-and-exercise program.
2. Tag, you’re it! Be sure your dog wears a collar with ID tag that includes your family’s name and phone number.
3. Did you know that your dog has her own personal hair stylist? She sure does—and that would be YOU, of course! It’s a good idea to brush her once or twice a week. (If she has long or curly hair, you’ll need to comb her every day.)
4. Your dog has her own personal trainer, too! Yup, that’s right, you again! Spend at least 20 minutes a day playing her favorite game, whether it’s fetch, Frisbee or find-the-biscuit.
5. Fur sure! Check your dog’s coat and skin for lumps, bumps, flakes and scabs. If you find what looks like teeny specks of black pepper, tell an adult. Poochie may have fleas!
6. Snip tip! Did you know that your dog’s nails should be clipped regularly? Your vet can show you how.
7. Is Boo Boo on his best behavior? A well-mannered pooch can walk on a leash without pulling and understands the commands “Come,” “Sit!” and “Stay!”
8. Mean greens! Keep Kookie away from poisonous plants and trees, including lilies, azaleas, rhododendron, English ivy and yew.
9. Puppies just wanna have fun…and when they start teething, they just wanna chew. Get your pup set up with a nylon bone.
10. Be a hot shot and make sure your dog visits the veterinarian for a checkup once a year.

Adopting a Dog

There are lots of ways that people choose a new family dog. Some may search the newspaper for advertisements from breeders who are selling new puppies; others find breeders via listings on the internet, while still more may simply purchase a puppy from a local pet store. Perhaps the best method, however, in terms of being helpful to society in general is to adopt a dog from a local animal shelter.

Adopting a dog brings a new friend into your life. It also helps to reduce the number of unwanted and homeless dogs in your area. Unless the shelter is a “no kill” facility (and these are sadly few and far between), it will also save a dog’s life. Animal lovers everywhere champion the adoption of dogs from shelters as opposed to any other method of bringing home a new pet for this reason alone, but there are other reasons to choose the adoption option.

Adopted pets have had their shotsShelters often have information about a dog’s temperamentAdopting a pet frees space in the shelter for more dogs
When you adopt a dog you can be sure that the staff at the shelter has had the dog examined by a vet for diseases and parasites and that the dog has had its shots. This is not always true of dogs acquired by other means such as kids giving away “free puppies” from a box in front of the local grocery store or PetsMart.

The dogs at a shelter are not just strays and often are turned in to the shelter by former owners for various reasons. When this happens, the shelter collects as much information about the dog as possible, including whether its good with children, how much it barks, how playful or obedient it is, whether its housebroken, and other important details. While it’s true that this information is only as good as the honesty of the former owner, most of the time it is fairly accurate.

Animal shelters provide a valuable service to the community that they serve by keeping the streets as free of stray animals as possible. Because many of them do this with little or no public funding or governmental support, they are very limited in the number of dogs they can have in the shelter at any given time. The only way that they can bring in more stray animals is if they remove the ones they currently have. This is done through adoption or euthanasia. Obviously they would prefer to have the dogs adopted rather than killed. Adopting a dog could very well save its life and allows the shelter to bring in another dog in its place.

source : http://animaltreats.biz/

Animal Pet Contest ; Spoke Animal

Click Here to See the Finalists!

Think Your Pet Has Celebrity Potential??

This year, APS is not only looking for a worthy pup for our 2008 Spokesdog Contest, but also a deserving cat for the addition of our 2008 Spokescat Contest!

APS is searching for candidates, who are friendly toward people and other animals, to represent APS at the 2008 Walk for the Animals and other APS events throughout the year.

The contest:
-The Spokesdog and Spokescat contests are an opportunity for APS to recognize

one outstanding dog and one outstanding cat in the community, and for APS to

have representatives at its events.
- Since APS is an advocate of pet spaying and neutering, only those animals that

have been spayed or neutered may qualify to win.
- Entries for each contest will be read and reviewed by a panel of judges at APS and

narrowed down to a small group of finalists.
- Once the dog and cat finalists are chosen, the Herald Sun will post the pictures

where the public will vote online to decide the two winners.

Winners will Receive:

- $50 PetsMart Gift Card
- Satisfaction of seeing your pet as a Local Celebrity!

APS thanks this year's Spokesdog and Spokescat Contest Sponsors: The Herald Sun, NBC-17

To enter:

- Enter Online
- Fill out an entry form (pick one up at the Durham County Animal Shelter, one of our

upcoming events, or print one here)
- Write a brief essay (250 words or less), explaining why your pet should be the

2008 Spokesdog or Spokescat.
- Mail the entry form, essay, a photo of your pet, and the $10 entry fee (proceeds

go to APS) to:
APS of Durham
ATTN: Walk Spokesdog/Spokescat Contest
2117 E. Club Blvd.
Durham, NC 27704

**If Submitting online, your entry is not complete unless you do one of the following by October 31st:

Email: Please send your picture file to associate@apsofdurham.org. Include in the subject line "Spokesdog/cat Picture" and in the body include your first and last name, your pet's name and your contact information.

Mail: Please send your picture to:
APS of Durham, 2117 E. Club Blvd, Durham NC 27704 ATTN: Spokesdog/cat
Include with your picture your first and last name, your pet's name and your contact information. Pictures will not be returned.

Animal Pet Picture ; Top 15 Vote Getters

The Greater Huntsville Humane Society sponsors an annual "Hot Dogs & Cool Cats" photo contest for their calendar. Proceeds from the contest will be used to further the work of GHHS for homeless and abandoned animals. The Top 15 vote getters for the 2008 Calendar are listed below. Each of these pets will be featured on one of the month's of the calendar, while Baxter will be on the cover. GHHS raised $57,500 for the shelter this year. Many animals will be saved and rescued with this money!

See some of the 2008 Calendar Contest Entries.