Vote to Help Your Favorite Shelter or Rescue Win a $5,000 Grant from Petfinder!

Petfinder.com has a really awesome program going on through October 1, 2008 to assist shelter and rescue organizations with disaster relief. Petfinder is giving away $1,000,000, yep that's ONE MILLION DOLLARS, worth of power generators to shelters and rescue organizations to help prepare for disasters.

In addition, Petfinder.com is also giving away two $5,000.00 grants to two partner shelters or rescue organizations, and WE get to choose! Simply go to Petfinder's Pet Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Contest, select your favorite rescue organization or shelter, and VOTE! You can vote every day between today through October 1, 2008, so be sure to visit every day.

Kudos Petfinder and Honda!

Please help spread the word far and wide!

Now, off you go to vote! :)

Check Out These Cool New Banners and Widgets from Petfinder.com

Many of our fellow pet-loving bloggers feature Petfinder.com "featured pet" widgets on their blogs. I just recently discovered that Petfinder now has dozens of other new cool banners and widgets to choose from. Please consider adding a couple to your website!




This new "featured pet" widget can be found here at Petfinder.com.

Here's another neat banner from Petfinder:

And my favorite, the "101 Reasons to Adopt" series of banners:



These awesome banners and MORE can be found here at Petfinder!

Calling All Pet-Loving Bloggers!

Dear Pet-Loving Bloggers,

As you may very well know, your blog is a very powerful tool, and as someone involved in online animal rescue activities, I can tell you from first hand experience that bloggers can help save and improve the lives of shelter pets.

Here are three quick, easy things you can do to help needy pets:

1. Post a link on your page to Petfinder.com or Blogroll it, add a Petfinder widget to your webpage or blog, or add a Petfinder search banner to your page.

2. Add a link to your page to the Animal Rescue Site or Blogroll it, add an Animal Rescue Site Button to your page, like the one seen on the right side of my page, and remember to click on this link daily to help feed shelter animals!

3. Find a pet on Petfinder.com that tugs at your heartstrings (don't worry, it won't take long to find one), and post its picture, biography, and the shelter contact information in a post on your blog. The more exposure these pets get, the better their chances for adoption.

These are just a couple ways that individuals can make a difference in the lives of shelter pets using the power of the internet. Stay tuned for more simple ways you can help animals online.

Thanks for helping!

Adding a Petfinder Widget to Your Blogger Page

If you look to the right, you'll see a Petfinder widget that showcases a shelter cat in Georgia. These widgets are a great way to spread the word about pets in need.

If you have a webpage or blog, you can easily add one of these widgets to help promote homeless pets. Unfortunately, some blog sites such as Squidoo and Wordpress.com do not allow these widgets to function properly in a sidebar. They work great on Blogger though.

Here's how to add the widget:

1. Go to Petfinder, and you're given several options for customizing your widget, including font, color, and size. You are also given the option of promoting a specific shelter, or promoting pets in a particular state. Make your selections, enter your email address (you can opt out if you don't wish to receive emails when there are updates or new features available), enter your website address, push "Go!", and the next page will bring up the code you will be entering into your page. Select the code, right click, and pick copy.

2. Go back to your blogger page and click on "Template." From there, click on "Add a Page Element" located at the bottom of the page. It will bring up a menu of several options, including "HTML/JavaScript." Click "Add to Blog" and it will bring up a text box. Paste your code into this box. Give your text box a title, like "Adopt a Shelter Dog," "Adoptable Cats," etc., then click "Save Changes." This will put your new module into the bottom of your templates. Click and drag it into your widget boxes in the sidebar.

3. Preview your page, and make sure your Petfinder widget is working properly, and you're on your way to helping shelter pets!