Want to spread the word about supporting your local animal shelter? Click here to tweet this post!
Have you seen the hashtag #savethefurbabies on Twitter lately?? AWESOME. Because it’s something I created to encourage support for our local animal shelters, whether you adopt, foster, volunteer, or even just donate a few bucks.
When MTV announced that our second challenge was to:
What inspires you and why? Answer using any form of media available to you. Examples include text, images, sound, or video.
Create a new hashtag on Twitter related to something you are passionate about. Use your influence to circulate your hashtag as many times and as broadly as possible.
I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do. And I’m sure none of you are surprised a bit. (Sidebar: Have you voted for @livitluvit for MTV’s TJ yet?? Do it here in just a few clicks!)
B and I rescued our own furbabies, Murray and Axe Murderer (sidebar: don’t ever tell your boyfriend he can have uncensored naming of a pet), from the unbelievably awesome Homeward Trails about a year ago. Though B was hesitant (and allergic) at first, he now openly admits it’s the best idea I’ve ever had. (And I catch him singing to them on the regular. Hopefully he doesn’t read this…)
I spent Friday busy on the Tweet, asking you to share pictures of your own rescues and their stories, tagging them with the hashtag, which led to it being the top trending topic on Twicsy… which meant we could see ALL the #savethefurbabies pictures right here:
http://twicsy.com/tag/savethefurbabies
Melt melt melt.
And, more importantly, we also tweeted about HOW to help support our local shelters, like the Washington Humane Society:
(If you can’t donate $$$, they need plenty of other things, like linens, food, litter, etc. More info in the vlog below.)
Yesterday morning, I headed over to the Washington Humane Society to have a chat with Jess Townsend, the WHS Adoption Manager. We walked around taking pictures as I explained what I was trying to do, and she filled me in on ways people could help, told me the animals’ stories (a few of the kitties there were rescues from the hoarder’s house in VA), and laughing at how ridiculous the ladies on “Say Yes to the Dress” are. (What? Reality TV is forever intertwined in my life. I can’t help it.)
Here’s some pictures of the gorgeous creatures I got to see:
Afterwards, we did an interview so Jess (the expert!) could personally tell you guys how you can help. Check it out!
Check out adoption info at 0:49
Donation info at 0:52
Sponsor a specific pet info at 1:25
Come play with the animals! Volunteer info at 1:57
Fostering info at 2:47
Spay, neuter and shots info at 3:17
***ESPECIALLY*** Senior cat event!!! info at 4:05
For any of you keeping a tally of how many times I said “That’s awesome,” don’t worry, I’ve already shot myself. Also, eff you.
Finally, I MUST give a shout out to the Washington Humane Society’s photographer, Sora DeVore- all of the absolutely unreal pictures on the WHS website are done by her, and she donates her time to do them. Sora, you are an angel. A very, VERY talented angel. Look at these!
So, where are your furbabies from?? Leave a link to the shelter in the comments or tweet it at me and I’ll post it here!
Washington Human Society (follow them on Twitter! @Wash_Humane)
Homeward Trails (DC, VA, MD)
PetFinder (finds a pet at a shelter near you!)
Cape Anne Animal Aid (Massachusetts- raising $$$ to build a new shelter!)
Rocket Dog Rescue (San Fran Bay area)
Western Border Collie Rescue (Colorado)
Kitty Haven Cats (Washington State)
Last Chance Animal Rescue Inc. (DC, VA, MD)
Greenville Humane Society (South Carolina)
Coastal Pet Rescue (Savannah, GA)
Greyhounds Only, Inc. (Illinois/Wisconsin)
Fairfax County Animal Shelter (Virginia)
Capital Area Humane Society (Ohio)
Isabella County Animal Shelter (Missouri)
Rescue Me Pet Foundation (Los Angeles)
Berkeley East Bay Humane Society
New England Society for Abandoned Animals
Beagle Rescue, Education, and Welfare
Pet Rescue by Judy (Orlando area)
Southern Pines Animal Shelter (Mississippi)
Greyhound Welfare (Mid-Atlantic and New England)
Animal Rescue League of Western PA
Animal Friends (Pittsburgh area)
Helping Hands Humane Society of Topeka, KS
City Dogs Rescue (DC area)
Animal Haven (Kansas)
Forever Friends Animal League of Kansas City
Animal Welfare League of Arlington (Virginia)
Orange County Animal Shelter (Chapel Hill, NC)
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P.S. Totally off topic, make sure you check out my brand new Jersey Shore tumblr, “I Wish I Was Orange” ! Oh, shame… it tastes so good.
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http://www.sfspca.org/ – San Francisco SPCA
http://www.rocketdogrescue.org/ – Rocket Dog Rescue
Just to name a FEW.
We got our buddy Tiberius through http://www.greyhoundsonly.com/, a Chicagoland Greyhound rescue!
I got my kitty from the Fairfax County Animal Shelter in VA. Best decision ever.
@Shannon, We got our kitten from the Fairfax County Animal Shelter too. They were great and we love our little guy!
Kick ass, girl. I think it’s awesome that you’re doing this. I fostered my last kitty (now in kitty heaven) and wound up adopting her. She was the sweetest cat in the world. Adopted from Rescue Me Pets in Los Angeles, CA.
Don’t breed or buy while shelter pets die. Save a life and adopt! Word.
This is so awesome that you’re doing this. Here are a couple of local Pittsburgh shelters:
Animal Rescue League of Western PA
Animal Friends
we got our Ellie from Homeward Trails! We also worked with k-9 lifesavers in the DC area when we temporarily adopted pup #2 (but didn’t work out with Ellie) which is another good organization to find pups/kittehs that need homes.
I’m all about rescue dogs/cats – there are so many animals that need good homes that come from awful situations and i’m so glad there was a bit in there about the spaying/neutering programs! We used WARL to spay Ellie it was so inexpensive and they were so great with her (and we got her microchipped at the same time!)
Greyhound Welfare: http://greyhoundwelfare.org/
Love my Ramona!!
What a great cause and a great idea! (Also, you’ve made me want to donate my time as a photog to a local animal shelter!)
My pup, Lucy Belle, is from Southern Pines Animal Shelter in Mississippi. And she was the best idea I ever had. Hands down.
I got my baby from a friend of a friend, but he’s a mutt if that counts for anything.
I just checked out your I Wish I Was Orange thingy on Tumblr.com (what the heck is tumblr, any way???), and Oh My Gahd!! is that you and B in the profile pic? My, you two have been getting your GTL on!!
Wow I really like this challenge- it sounds like something straight from a reality show. However I am more impressed with what you did with it- good luck!
Our furbabies are from Pet Rescue by Judy. It’s in Sanford, FL but serves all of the Orlando area. http://www.petrescuebyjudy.com/
Aww, those furbabies are too cute! I love that you’re so passionate about this. Not that we don’t already know this, but YOU ROCK!
Our beautiful furbaby was from BREW: Beagle Rescue, Education, and Welfare!
http://www.brewbeagles.org
this is a topic very near and dear to my heart…i frequently donate to the mspca, the american rescue league, the humane society, and petsmart charities.
one of our babies was from the arl in brewster, ma, another one was rescued from a trailer park in mojave desert.
also, i would like to mention NESAA, or new england society for abandoned animals. this is a recent amazing rescue they did- http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100707/NEWS/7070335
overall they are a tremendous organization!!
Lilu, you are saving the world thru Twitter. You ROCK. I got my furbaby through a rescue organization and heartily support your cause. I also love the pic of the white cat reaching out, I nearly imploded from teh cuteness!
ps. lmao: “Until I berated my boyfriend into getting two cats.” haha, you are so funny!!
I just read your kitty story, and it’s soooo similar to what happened with my bf and I. We went in to get “just one” and ended up with brothers – Bongo and Taiko. Best thing that could have happened to us. They are from the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society (which really needs help due to a small fire there a few months ago)
http://www.berkeleyhumane.org/
I love you for this.
My kitty boy brothers, Jacob and Jasper, are from the Virginia Beach SPCA. We plucked our lady cat Lola from the mean streets of Massachusetts.
Our Gepeddo’s story is cute.
I’d been wanting a dog for a long time, but living in our apartment and being as busy as we are, we decided for a cat. The husby and I went to look at our local shelter, Helping Hands Humane Society, without our only kiddo at the time…..no need to get her hopes up if we weren’t bringing one home that day. I had some rules, such as…the cat had to be older, litter box trained, declawed, and gray. Apparently it was meant to be, because “G,” as we call him, was there waiting for us to adopt him.
We filled out the paperwork, and had to wait until the next day for our apartment complex to be called to make sure it was okay to adopt him. Well, I’d been feeling sick for a while, and decided while husby went to take kiddo to breakfast, that I’d take a pregnancy test.
Sure enough, it was positive.
I made my husby have bonding time with our now oldest, so that I could freak out and take some more tests and figure out how I was to tell them both that we were going to have another one…..plus a cat that I wouldn’t be able to help a lot with, since I was pregnant.
They both fell in love with the cat, brought him home, while I was falling in the first minutes of love with the little pea growing inside of me.
I told them when they got home about what would be another “she baby,” whom G has fallen in love with.
He loved pawing my belling as it grew and grew and grew. He loved snuggling with me while she would kick him from the inside out. And now….he loves her even more. He rubs on her, purrs in her face, and allows her to pull his tail, poke in his ears, and smack (pet) him without running away too quickly.
He’s a great cat and we’re so thankful for our shelter that he had the purr-fect animal for us. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
http://www.hhhstopeka.org
Uh, how is that last cat not yours? It looks just like you…
Animal Haven in Merriam, KS (where Gus came from) : http://www.animalhavenkc.org/
Forever Friends Animal League of Kansas City (where Frank came from) : http://www.foreverfriendsanimalleague.org/
They are both wonderful places – non-profit and no-kill. You can find Animal Haven on facebook, too!
Here’s a post that I wrote about a year ago about the first shelter if you’re interested in more information (and cute animal pictures) : http://bit.ly/cWrQKE
Lucas (pics here: http://beachbumatheart.blogspot.com/2008/12/meet-lucas.html) is from the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. Doesn’t look like you have a link to them, so here it is: http://www.awla.org/
They’re located in Shirlington, right off 395
His pics are here: http://beachbumatheart.blogspot.com/2008/12/meet-lucas.html (link above doesn’t work…)
Callie the cat from Orange County Animal Shelter (Chapel Hill, NC) : http://www.co.orange.nc.us/
Gracie the pup was a rescue that was turned in to be put down at Crossroads Vet, in Cary, NC. But luckily a friendly vet tech couldn’t do it, treated her for parvo, and she then found her way to me.
She is currently 15 weeks old & healthy as can be!
omg i want all these animals
sladkfj;sladkjf
I had never had a shelter dog before, but my fiancee always had them so we decided we would give a shelter dog a chance. We adopted a heeler mix and named her Penny Lane, and she is now the love of my life. The smartest dog I have ever had, in fact. I’m so glad we rescued a dog and gave her a loving home that she may have never had. : ) Oh, and every time I go to Pet Smart, I donate $1!
Hey! I got Pumpkin from Homeward Trails, but please add City Dogs Rescue. The girl who runs it is a friend of mine and they always have lots of loving pups who need good homes. Many of them stay at my work (the dog daycare) until they find a family so I get attached to them. *tear*
Here’s the link: http://www.citydogsrescue.org/main_page.html
I got mine on PetFinder.com! We had another rescue pup before our current guy. He was the sweetest, most gentle, most adorable dog in the world, so when he died B and I knew we needed to adopt again ASAP. We brought a puppy home from a foster family and — I kid you not — he was the biggest dickhead I’ve ever come across in my life. Have you ever met a mean puppy? Like REALLY mean? Welp, I have him. He was a walking oxymoron. He was so adorable that people would scoop him up in their arms — and then he would rip their noses off.
It was horrible. He was a monster. We took him to puppy class. And he got kicked out for going for the jugular of another puppy. We took him to a doggy psychologist. And he bit her. I was horrified. I went from the gentle giant to a fucking gremlin puppy.
Turns out, he had been pretty badly abused, so we helped him the only way we knew how: smothering him with luuuuurrrve. And it worked pretty well because now he’s awesome. I mean, he’s still a dickhead occasionally, but who isn’t? He’s sweet, he’s a cuddler, he adores children, and he’s a really happy dog. I take this as a sign of my awesome skills. I may not have been able to train him to come when he’s called. But damnit, I sure could love all the douchebag out of him.
Pickiessss: http://factandfiction-bridget.blogspot.com/2010/01/rooney-tunes-dominates-2009.html
My little monster love was adopted from a no kill shelter called Adopt-A-Pet in Shelton, WA. They don’t have an official website, so they use their petfinder site as their main mode of communication.
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/WA118.html
As you can see (http://www.accidentalolympian.com/the-accidental-olympian/oly/) my little Oly is the best furbabby there is.
Next to yours, of course.
Because I don’t have a twitter account to retweet, I emailed the Washington State link to a friend who is looking for a kitteh to love.
I ADORE you for doing this. At work we have this (kinda lame) thing where when it’s someone’s birthday, they get a gift (worth about $15) and everyone sings to them in reception. Horribly embarrassing, but for the last 2 years I’ve told them no gift, no cake, just make a $20 donation to the WHS. And you already know about the wedding favours
SAVETHEFURBABIES!!
Love this! My lovely ladies are from Roofs for Woofs in Holly, Michigan. http://www.roofsforwoofs.org/content/
My first furbaby, SadieDog, we got from a lunatic who couldn’t handle her antics. Our second furbaby, Luke the WonderMutt, we got from the Richmond SPCA (http://www.richmondspca.org/) in April. I’ll always be someone who adopts doggies from a shelter. Mutts are the best! Kudos on making this all happen, by the way!
The shelter I rescued my Sophie from shut down because of a lack of funding to keep it open. Terribly sad day for me when that happened because it was an amazing no-kill shelter dedicated to these animals. They took great care of kitties and puppies, and now they are no more. =(
Our feline friends are from the Greater New Haven Cat Project, in New Haven, CT (http://www.gnhcp.org).
I got my two pups at the Cashiers Humane Society – http://chhumanesociety.org/
My kitten came from the Arlington Animal Welfare League – http://www.awla.org/