Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.
All Critters
Pet Guardian Responsibilities
And Animal Well-Being

A Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization
All donations are tax deductible
Copyright © 1997 - 2010

"Living with animals can be a wonderful experience, especially if we choose to learn the valuable lessons animals teach through their natural enthusiasm, grace, resourcefulness, affection and forgiveness." ~ Richard H. Pitcairn, American Veterinarian and Pet Nutritionist

Read, then help spread the word about MILLS.
Protect the pets - please don't buy your pets from pet stores! 90% of pets are supplied by pet mills, a business dealing in the exploitation and misery of animals. In puppy/kitten mills, irresponsible breeders create a business selling to pet stores for profit, leaving the over-bred, malnourished breeding animals to live in unsanitary and cramped quarters. Once their five or six year breeding period is over, they're quickly disposed of by inhumane deaths. By then their tired and abused bodies are simply left as garbage. They can't speak for themselves ... WE must.

Don't buy your pet from pet stores ... put them out of business. Adopt from your local shelter/rescue facilities.

Please Don't Buy While Millions Die

Millions of forgotten animals are sure to die,
Because too many people would rather buy.
Despondent and lonely they patiently wait;
Each day that passes may be too late.
Our pounds and shelters are filled to the brim
If not adopted soon the outcome is grim.

Our pet stores are filled with puppies and kittens
One look in their eyes and consumers are smitten.
Treated as crops they are shipped to and fro
From breeders to brokers to pet stores they go.
Their parents suffer untold misery and despair
Could it be because the public doesn't care?

Breeding animals suffer in small cages forever
Our "best friends" reduced to a business endeavor.
Living conditions never meet basic needs,
Prisoners of an industry driven by greed.
Avoid the pet store and "impulse buy"
Adopt instead, so homeless animals won't die.

Be a guardian, not an "owner"!

To learn more, contact:
API - Animal Protection Institute

Learn about some really special seniors and all kinds and sizes of them at the Senior Dogs Project and all the great advantages of adopting an older pal.

Do You Know the Truth About Declawing?

Do you have a cat AND you're thinking about declawing? You may be unaware of what's involved, and after the painful surgery, it's too late. Make an informed decision. Click on the image to learn why many countries have outlawed this invasive procedure.

Feral Cat Population Problem

Most humane experts believe the only permanent solution to the feral cat problem is for owners to become diligent about neutering their pet cats.

Meanwhile, there remains the need
to control the feral population.
Some humane groups have begun to use a strategy for dealing with ferals that is demonstrated to work in many areas where there are willing cat caretakers. Read more.

Why Adoption?

Whether you adopt from a breed rescue, or a shelter, you are providing a home for a displaced pet. Pets at kill shelters are at a dangerous crossroad and at risk of euthanasia. Want a particular breed? You may be surprised to learn that of the animals coming through shelters each year, approximately 30% are 'pure breds'. Search the breed rescue list.

When you bring home YOUR adopted pal, remember... a loving commitment is required, because pets are forever.

Toll-free to report abuse:
866-240-1179

Food for Thought Quotes:

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." ~ James Herriot, English Veterinarian and Author

"It is not just that animals make the world more scenic or picturesque. The lives of animals are woven into our very being - closer than our own breathing - and our souls will suffer when they are gone." ~ Gary Kowalski, Author

"It is worthwhile to take pains to make children kind to animals, to treat the cat and dog kindly, allow no teasing or harshness. If they behave properly to animals, they are more likely to behave rightly to their brothers and sisters." ~ The Old Farmer's Almanac (1882)

"We dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent IDs, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand about our stuff?" ~ Author Unknown

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow man." ~ St. Francis of Assisi

"You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets." ~ Author Unknown

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel. But they do not suffer less because they have not words." ~ Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty

"I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it." ~ Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

"Animals are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." ~ George Eliot, nom de plume of Mary Anne Evans, English Author

"Our treatment of animals will someday be considered barbarous. There cannot be perfect civilization until man realizes that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own." ~ Dr. David Starr Jordan, American Biologist and Educator

"Whenever an animal is in anyway forced into the service of man, everyone of us must be concerned with the sufferings it has to undergo." ~ Albert Schweitzer, Philosopher, Physician and Humanitarian

"Life on earth has never been a bed of roses. It may never be. But no living creature wants to give up. We all have a basic instinct to survive and to live the best life we possibly can – feral cats included. Once any of us starts undermining an animal’s own will to live, we have begun to play God, preemptively deciding who shall live and who shall die." ~ Michael Mountain, President and a Founder of Best Friends Animal Society

Visit our message board for serious information gathering and decimination regarding animal health, advocacy, and rescue - cats, dogs, wildlife, and so much more. You will have to register, but it's FREE. We hope you will join us.