I want to shine some light on an extremely important, not to mention incredibly overlooked issue that most of us don't even think twice about! Ending the tragedy of homeless animals...
It means a lot to me because I grew up in a home where my mother couldn't pass up a hurt or abandoned animal. We were always nursing some furry creature back to health. On our mission to find a happy home for a kitten we found abandoned and badly injured in the desert, we inspired my Aunt Connie's intense passion for feral cats! Haha! That may sound silly but twelve years later my aunt still has her kitty named Dakota. She also has about twenty other stray kitties all over town she provides food and water for.
I've always admired my mother's compassion for stray animals, yet I'm very allergic to cats (there is actually a funny deleted scene on
The Hills Season Three DVD where my younger sister Casey and I shave Lauren's cat to try and help my allergies!).
I was inspired by my aunt's own selfless ambition and I wanted to do something to help! My aunt turned me onto an amazing organization called Clinico. It's based in Los Angeles, but God knows we need these all over the world.
My aunt actually used to set up opossum traps to catch feral cats around her office and bring them into the vet. She'd pay out of her own pocket (around $250 per kitty!) to have them spayed/neutered because she felt so terrible about their living conditions. Then came the
Clinico organization and she was excited to be able to continue her efforts in helping put a stop to this tragedy without going broke! It's an awesome way to greatly reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs, preventing shelter overpopulation and the euthanization of helpless animals!
Just to give an example, on their website they state, "In 2005, Los Angeles animal shelters took in 203,629 dogs and cats. Of that number, 98,241 were euthanized."
Clinico not only provides a high quality clinic to spay/neuter, but if you guys have pets they also offer flea medication, rabies shots (only $8) and all kinds of incredibly low cost services. I know I can't go to an animal shelter without wanting to take home every cute dog/cat I see and save them, so this is a way I feel we can all help out. Even if you can't donate, you can take care of your own furry best friend for a lot less money than your regular vet!
You can take the money you save and get a male cat neutered. With the price of gas these days if you rode a bike whenever possible (while getting some good exercise) you would be preventing thousands of homeless cats and dogs!
Please check out their website and help spread the word. If you don't think that this issue effects you, think again. You will find tons of convincing facts on
Clinico.org!
