December 2012 Share this email with friends!
Want to include your four-legged family member in holiday gift giving? Here are some inexpensive (or free!) gift ideas.
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Feather wand cat toy
Cats love to play! So take time each day to have fun with your cat. Toys – like this feather wand you can make yourself – trigger their instinct to stalk and pounce. Plus, they’ll get exercise at the same time.
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Peanut butter and pumpkin dog treats
For many people, cooking and baking are a big part of the holidays. Include your dog in the tasty celebrations with this recipe for delicious peanut butter and pumpkin dog treats from AllRecipes.com. Not only does canned pumpkin taste good to animals, it can also help calm upset tummies!
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Small animal cookies
Small animals enjoy a treat, too! Here’s a recipe for yummy carrot and banana small animal cookies from the House Rabbit Society.
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And remember, one of the best gifts to give your pet is extra love!
- Take your pooch for extra-long walks and games of fetch.
- Play with your cat, dog or small animal even more than usual, or introduce a new game or toy.
- Give your pet a day at the spa! A bath, a good brush or a nail-trimming (get an adult’s help) can help your furry friend feel his or her best.
- Take some time to improve your small animal’s habitat. Learn how to create an awesome living situation for your hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, rat, mouse or rabbit.
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All of these things make great presents for your pets – both during the holiday season and all throughout the year!
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BC SPCA events
Check out the BC SPCA events calendar to find youth and family events happening at SPCA branches around the province! This month, many BC SPCA branches are holding holiday events like bake sales, craft fairs and pet photos with Santa! You can also contact your local BC SPCA branch for details on upcoming events.
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Animal-themed activities for download
After a day filled with outdoor winter fun like ice skating or tobogganing, it can be nice to curl up inside with a quiet activity. We’ve got plenty of animal-themed colouring sheets, word searches and crosswords for you to download – including a brand new Winter Crossword! This challenging puzzle is full of tips on keeping your pets safe and warm this holiday season.
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December’s Furry Friend of the Month is Squirt, a sweet four-year-old male guinea pig.
Squirt arrived at the BC SPCA Kelowna Branch when his guardian didn’t want to care for him anymore. Like all companion animals, guinea pigs deserve a lifelong home with plenty of love and care. Squirt’s a friendly and easygoing guy; he just needs a caring family to keep him happy and healthy.
Please note: Squirt was available for adoption at the time this article was written, and may have found his forever home since then. Visit the BC SPCA website to discover more furry friends currently looking for homes.
Happy Endings are updates from adopted animals who found their forever home. This month, our featured Happy Ending animal is Leo the rabbit.
This handsome bunny originally came to the BC SPCA Sunshine Coast Branch because his guardian was unable to find homes for him and all his siblings. Lucky for Leo, he found his forever family this past August. Leo spent the warm summer days hopping around the backyard and munching on veggies from his family’s garden. Now that the colder weather has set in, Leo will be spending more time inside, nice and cozy. Congratulations on finding your forever home, Leo!
Do you have a Happy Ending story of your own to tell? We want to hear it! Email us at kids@spca.bc.ca to let us know how your pet is doing in his new home. Include a photo or drawing of you and your companion, too!
Youth around B.C. amaze us with their commitment to the animals!
Rabbits at the BC SPCA Vancouver Branch have a better space to hop around in thanks to ten-year-old Rachel. She sponsored a rabbit enclosure with the $235 she raised at her birthday party!
You can find more stories of kids helping animals in the BC SPCA youth magazine, Bark!, sent four times a year to all BC SPCA Kids Club members. Not a Kids Club member? Join today to start receiving Bark! and other perks!
The Kids Club honours even more supporters, like Nathan and Sadie, in our online High Paws Hall of Fame.
Have a High Paws story to share? Submit it, along with a photo, to kids@spca.bc.ca.
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