The little dachshund was allowed to roam, and that's what he was doing when he probably got attacked by another dog, sustaining an eye injury that became painfully abscessed and swollen. Untreated, Slim's infected eye bulged grotesquely out of its socket.

When PETA learned about Slim, we pressured local animal control officials to compel the owner to get veterinary care for the suffering dog. The owner made a vet appointment, but the cost of the recommended surgery was beyond his means. When animal control told the owner that his only two options were to get Slim the surgery that he desperately needed or to surrender him to people who would, the owner relinquished him.

Within 72 hours, Slim had the surgery. Now, he is on the mend in a foster home, and as he awaits adoption, he is finally receiving the loving care and attention that every dog deserves.

The pomp and pageantry of the Westminster dog show is over. Many of the dogs have been shipped back to their breeders after living in their handlers' crates for years. Now, the females will be forced to bear litter after litter of puppies, only to have them all taken away to be sold. Every year following Westminster, there is a rush to buy dogs of the winning breed and other "designer dogs" who appeared on the screen. And breeders and pet stores are happy to oblige, taking as many orders as they can get and raking in money hand over fist.

In an industry in which dogs are viewed as commodities, their health and well-being matter less than the bottom line. To minimize expenses, breeders and puppy mills commonly warehouse breeder dogs in tiny, filthy cages; deny them veterinary care; and repeatedly get them pregnant, until the dogs can no longer produce puppies—at which point, they are often auctioned off, discarded at shelters, or killed.

Just this month, in yet another horror story, authorities raided a breeder and dog-show judge's home and found 38 dogs living in small crates that were caked with feces and fur. The cages were piled on top of one another in the dark basement, and a radio blared to drown out the sound of barking. Many of the dogs were malnourished and suffering from eye diseases and severe periodontal disease. They were so sick that 13 of them had to be euthanized immediately.

People who buy dogs from breeders or pet stores keep these puppy pimps in business. They also kill a shelter dog's chance at a home. Please, urge anyone you know who is considering buying a dog to adopt instead.

Today is World Spay Day, which people celebrate by leafleting, assisting at low-cost spay-and-neuter clinics, and doing their part to combat the animal-homelessness crisis. Of course, for PETA's Mobile Clinics Division, every day is Spay Day. The clinics travel to underserved areas surrounding PETA's Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters seven days a week to provide low-cost spay and neuter surgeries and vaccinations—and we even supply transportation to and from appointments when necessary.

Here are just a handful of the animals the clinics have helped recently:

1. 

Tyga lives indoors, but she had somehow managed to become pregnant before her PETA clinic appointment. Still, we were able to spay her in time, before she could bring more puppies into a world already overwhelmed with animals who need good homes.

2. 

We aren't sure who's more adorable, Mese or her human. But one thing's certain: They are both definitely happier since we drove Mese to our clinic and spayed her for free.

3. 

Puddin' is just as sweet as his name would suggest, and making sure that he got neutered was pretty sweet, too.

4. 

We spayed Lexie's sister in December, and that dog's guardians recommended our services so highly that we ended up sterilizing the entire litter!

So far this year, the clinics have spayed or neutered 1,672 animals! Considering that one unaltered female dog and her offspring and their offspring and their offspring, etc., can produce 67,000 puppies in just six years and that in seven years, one unaltered female cat and her offspring, etc., can produce 370,000 kittens, we were able to prevent hundreds of thousands of unwanted animals from being born.

Spay Day is the perfect opportunity to sponsor a surgery at one of PETA's clinics or learn how you can volunteer to help get animals in your own area spayed and neutered—and help make every day Spay Day. 

Two PETA staffers were delivering straw bedding to cold "outdoor dogs" in rural Virginia when they spotted a thin young beagle dangerously close to the highway. The staffers had barely gotten out of the car when the friendly dog came bounding up to them. He was wearing a collar with a phone number, so the staffers called the owner after first taking the pup back to PETA's Norfolk headquarters for a much-needed warm bath and good meal.

The man said that he no longer wanted the dog—whom he had never even bothered to name—because, as the saying goes, "That dog don't hunt." (It's not uncommon for hunters simply to abandon unwanted dogs.) But the owner was willing to drive an hour and a half to our headquarters to retrieve the dog's collar.

PETA staffers knew that the gentle dog with the soulful eyes would make someone an ideal animal companion. Not long after he was vaccinated, neutered, treated for Lyme disease and internal parasites, and put up for adoption, Augie found his perfect forever home with a PETA staffer and his family.

The staffer has a 14-year-old son who is now Augie's best friend. And Augie comes to work at the PETA office, brightening everyone's days with his buoyant personality.

As it turned out, the dog who had been cast aside because he wasn't a good hunter had no trouble sniffing out a lovely new life. 

Update 2: 

Well, the results are in, and the friends of felines have carried the day: The new Monopoly token will be a cat—inspired by a real-life rescued kitty (see below)—to replace the older iron token.

Thank you to all you Monopoly fans who cast your votes in recognition of the fact that no one wins when people breed and buy animals. Remember: The best way to show more than a token interest in helping homeless cats is always to adopt them from shelters or rescues and make sure they're spayed or neutered. 

Update:

Following PETA's appeal to replace the current purebred "Scottie dog" token in Monopoly with one representing a rescued mutt (see original post below), Hasbro Gaming Senior Vice President and Global Brand Leader Eric Nyman responded in a letter to PETA, saying:

You can vote for the new cat token here. 

Originally posted on January 16th:

Monopoly players can be fanatical about their token of choice—I always have to play as the dog. Now, Hasbro is shaking things up with plans to retire one of the traditional Monopoly tokens, with the decision based on online voting. It looks like the little pooch will make the cut, so PETA is urging the company to make another change that could save real dogs by altering the token's look and referring to it as a "rescued mutt" instead of a purebred "Scottie dog."

Breeding Hurts—and Kills

How would this switch help dogs? Including a dog who is clearly a mixed breed would remind players that these canines are just as lovable, loyal, and deserving as any purebred and that every time someone chooses to buy a dog from a pet store or breeder, a homeless animal loses his or her chance at finding a home. For millions of dogs in shelters, there is no "Get out of jail free" card. Approximately half of the 6 to 8 million animals who enter shelters every year are euthanized, largely for lack of a good home.

Purebred dogs are also more likely to suffer from debilitating conditions and painful congenital disorders. Scotties, for example, are often affected by a hereditary disorder called "Scotty cramp," which can significantly impair their ability to run or even walk normally. Because they are not bred to produce specific physical traits, mixed-breed dogs have a lower risk for respiratory problems, bone disease, hemophilia, cataracts, hip dysplasia, and other disorders.

What You Can Do

 Please never buy any animal from a breeder or pet store. Instead, give a shelter mutt a "Chance"—you'll gain a wonderful companion while also helping to alleviate animal overpopulation, which causes so much misery.

Vegan Anne Hathaway's footwear at the Les Miserables premiere was the talk of Tinseltown this week. The 2013 Golden Globe nominee asked Tom Ford to design the custom leather-free boots that made her daring look.

Word on the street is that Anne is also a huge fan of cruelty-free Stella McCartney heels. And she's not alone: Stores are reporting "extreme demand" for the designer's luxurious leather-free accessories.

Vegan Carrie Underwood is in extreme demand, too. She just scooped up Female Artist of the Year honors at the American Country Awards, and she's always a favorite when it comes to animal issues. In her recent interview with Self magazine, Carrie said, "My veganism is based on a concern about where my food is coming from. In my perfect world, I'd have webcams wherever food is processed so I'd know how clean it is. … I'll never eat meat again, because I look and feel better without it."

Rob Thomas has continued to use his voice to make sure homeless animals' voices are heard by urging his legions of Twitter followers always to adopt and never buy animals. And several of his fellow celebrities followed suit with animal-friendly posts of their own:


Our late friend Michael Clarke Duncan's last film, In the Hive, opens this weekend in select theaters. Check for showings near you to see "Big Mike"—who was such a big voice for animal protection—grace the big screen one final time.

While Hurricane Sandy's gale-force winds rattled buildings and its driving rain flooded roads, most people probably weren't thinking about spaying and neutering animals. But that's exactly what the folks who staff PETA's Mobile Clinics Division (MCD) program were thinking. Natural disasters should strengthen our resolve to spay and neuter because fewer unwanted animals born means fewer stray animals left to suffer on the streets.

Despite not being able to provide low-cost spay-and-neuter services in the middle of the hurricane—or over the Thanksgiving holiday, when people had other things on their minds—the MCD team altered almost 700 animals in November—699, to be exact.

Here are just a few of them: 

This dear pit bull's guardian is undergoing cancer treatment and wasn't able to take her dog to the vet. PETA got Sasha spayed, vaccinated, and back home again to comfort her guardian.

Morgan and Beanie might not have been as desperate to be spayed as they were to get cookies—but fortunately, they got both.

Teepee was already in heat, so her guardian knew that there was no time to waste. We quickly got Teepee spayed before she could add to the overpopulation crisis.

In just one year, one unspayed cat can give birth to 16 kittens and an unspayed dog can produce 12 puppies. Please help us stem the animal-homelessness crisis by supporting your local spay-and-neuter initiatives.

The Goddess of Pop is also a goddess to pups. When Cher tweeted, asking for information from PETA on how to help dogs left to face the harsh winter weather alone outdoors, many of her fans responded, and PETA sent her information on our "Angels for Animals" doghouse sponsorship program.

Elsewhere on Twitter, Miley Cyrus showed us some puppy love, Sam Simon spoke out for dolphins, and Olivia Munn helped us celebrate our victory for three soon-to-be-released elephants.

Charlotte Bobcats and Kentucky Wildcats fans already knew that the NBA's youngest player, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (MKG), is also a really kind person, and now MKG is proving it to animal advocates, too. When the gentle giant was ready to share his home with a new dog, he adopted a puppy who had been abandoned in the parking lot of the Humane Society of Charlotte.

Maybe fellow rescued-dog parent Chelsea Handler will invite Michael and his new pup on her show. Her conversations with guests often do turn to animal issues—like when Marion Cotillard stopped by and she and Chelsea both shared their disdain for SeaWorld. 

You'll never catch our buddy Christian Serratos at SeaWorld, either—but you will catch her gracing the list of the 50 Brightest Latino Stars Under 25, with fellow PETA pals Daniella Monet and Marlen Esparza. 

Awards abound for animal advocates this week: Paul McCartney, Pink, Carrie Underwood, Steve Aoki, Ellen DeGeneres, Trent Reznor, and Tegan and Sara have all been nominated for Grammys! 

E!'s Catt Sadler lifted her voice for animals this week, too. She openly joined the ranks of the fur-free and fabulous in her piece "Real Stars Who Love Fake Fur," in which she name-dropped our friends Eva Mendes and Charlize Theron. 

To keep up with what all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.

When PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP) fieldworkers first met the sickly Lab mix they had received a call about, her condition broke their hearts. She was covered with fleas and ticks, was malnourished from too many days of going hungry, and was limping because of an injured back leg. Her owner had skipped town, pausing just long enough to tell his neighbor that he was leaving his dog behind and that the neighbor could "have her."

Instead, the neighbor phoned PETA for help. It wasn't CAP's first encounter with the dog's owner. He had let her have a litter of puppies and had called PETA asking us to find homes for them all. Fieldworkers had taken the puppies to the Virginia Beach SPCA for adoption, and now they were meeting the pups' mother. Despite all that she had been through, the sweet dog nuzzled her head under their hands and happily wagged her tail, grateful to be getting a bit of affection.

Back at PETA's Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters, a veterinarian determined that the dog was suffering from heartworm disease and that she had been shot in the leg months ago but was never treated for the injury. She would require heartworm treatment and extensive surgery on her leg. Fortunately, the dog with the dark past and the bright eyes had already captured a PETA Foundation staffer's heart. Robin had just lost one of her dogs, and something about this little girl's soulful eyes spoke to her. Within a few hours of the pup's arrival at PETA, she had a new home.

She also had a new name—Maggie—and four new canine siblings with whom she instantly bonded. Robin got her in to see her vet right away, and after hearing Maggie's story, he decided to help Robin out with the expensive treatments that Maggie would require. A bone graft, two rods, two screws, and a cast later, Maggie was on the mend.

With heartworm treatment and good food, she gained 20 pounds, and Robin reports that she can practically see herself in Maggie's shiny coat. Now she is a joyous, bouncy girl who loves to swim, go to the dog park, and "review" her guardians' DVDs (she gave Harry Potter two paws down—but it tasted delicious!). After likely getting no affection her entire life, Maggie soaks it up now, and she will gladly play from sunup to sundown.

Maggie's life, like her bowl, was once empty. Now her cup runneth over. 

Update: Midnight has been adopted! Her gloomy past behind her, this free-spirited gal has now been renamed Indie. Her new family reports that she is relishing the safe, comfortable indoor life and that she acts like she has known her canine sister, River, who is also a PETA rescue, for years. Indie has discovered catnip, and she is so photogenic that her new family has started an all-Indie scrapbook. If you are interested in adopting a PETA rescue, e-mail us at Adopt@peta.org.

Originally posted September 20:

Midnight the cat had been trapped in a tree for 10 terrifying days. Her owners couldn't be bothered to lift a finger to help her. She had likely been frightened up the tree and didn't know how to get back down, which should have been apparent after the first few hours. A concerned construction worker reported the stranded, distressed cat to PETA.

Seeing as the people responsible for her seemed not to care one bit, one of our Community Animal Project fieldworkers climbed about 35 feet up the tree, secured Midnight in her arms, and made the slow, careful descent. After 10 days without food or water, Midnight was lucky to be alive and was shaken and severely dehydrated, but once on the ground, the grateful cat began to purr. Her owners never allowed Midnight inside and had no plans to do so now, even after her brush with death, but they agreed to allow the fieldworker to find her a new home where she would be safe indoors.

Now Midnight is settling in at PETA's Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters and is waiting patiently for the right adoptive family. She will be microchipped and spayed before adoption. If you are ready to make a lifetime commitment and give Midnight the safe, loving home that every cat deserves, please e-mail Adopt@peta.org.