By Cammie Fulk
In thinking about what to write for this month’s Best Friends, I thought of many things. Unfortunately, I’ve written about most of those. Secondly, I figured I’d be preaching to the choir about ways to keep your best friend safe at Christmas, like not purchasing those indigestible rawhides that are on store shelves, like being careful feeding your baby from your Christmas feast table, like keeping decorations out of reach of your babies, etc. I thought about preaching about a pet for Christmas is a wonderful gift as long as the family understands that the pet isn’t a toy on a shelf that can be returned to the store or taken to the Good Will or traded in for something better. A pet is a living creature designed by God and will live through many phases of life, some more frustrating to the owner than others. For example, puppies are cute and fun but need lots and lots of training to be a successful member of the family. The worse part about owning most pets is that their life spans don’t match ours. If you want a pet for life, get a parrot, they can live up to 70 years or more.
After considering all this, I saw a cute cartoon on Facebook that showed a dog, one with a life similar to that of my boys-pampered, telling Santa that all he wanted for Christmas was for all homeless pets to have a home like his. I’m right there with him, so I called the Rockingham County Harrisonburg SPCA and asked if I could use some of their pictures from their website of available pets for adoption.
Aaron Cleveland gave me the go ahead and also sent info on a promotion they are running called “HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: 400 PETS IN 40 DAYS”. Most of this initiative took place in November but Mr. Cleveland assured me that it would go to the end of the year. I also found out that the RHSPCA serves over 2,500 animals each year. Over the past five years, RHSPCA has decreased euthanasia rates by 678%, increased adoption by 214% and supported the sterilization of over 2,000 community cats. Our RHSPCA operates independently from the HSUS and the ASPCA, relying on community support for its life saving work.
So, this Christmas, if you’ve been thinking about adding to your family, check out their website and you will find plenty of faces searching for love. If you’re in a position where you cannot add to your best friends and have to buy a gift for an animal lover, you might try what Ronnie gets for me each year. He makes a donation in honor of our pets to a rescue. This year it will be the RHSPCA.
Here are a few of the faces waiting for you or you can go online to rhspca.org!
Until Next Time…
Stay Paws-ative and enjoy your best friend!
Happy Tails to You!
Cammie
