The Food and Drug Administration just lowered the age at which girls can get the Plan B oral contraceptive without a prescription to 15. Critics argue that that's too young, but PETA insists that birth control should start as early as 8 weeks—for puppies and kittens. It's called "prepubescent sterilization," and to illustrate our point, we're planning to place this billboard in Oklahoma, which has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country: 

iStockphoto.com/Kati Neudert

Animals can't unwrap a condom, open a package of birth control pills, or walk into a pharmacy and request Plan B. So responsible animal guardians should start their young charges off on the right paw—by spaying and neutering them as soon as possible. This prevents "oops" litters before guardians realize that the animals are sexually mature. Cats, for example, can become pregnant as young as 4 months old.

Sterilization ensures that your animal companions won't contribute to the animal-overpopulation crisis. Just one unaltered female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in only six years. In seven years, one female cat and her offspring can produce 370,000 kittens.

Early spaying and neutering has health benefits, too: It reduces animals' risk of some forms of cancer and other diseases. A study by the University of Georgia found that spayed and neutered dogs live an average of about a year and a half longer than unaltered animals.

Don't let your animal companions qualify for the next Teen Mom cast: Spay and neuter them. 

He might have been burned, either by accident or intentionally by a cruel person. Or he might have been hit by a car and dragged. No one knew exactly how the feral cat had gotten so horrifically injured, but it was clear that the huge, severely infected wound—with dead and dying flesh—that covered most of his side would spell a slow, agonizing death.

The woman who had spotted him on her wooded property in rural Virginia called her county animal control office for help but was told that it handled only dogs. The officer suggested that she call PETA—and she did.

A PETA fieldworker went to the residence the same day to set a humane live trap. Within hours, the suffering cat was caught and mercifully freed from suffering.

This cat suffered for a very long time before someone alerted PETA. We urge all guardians to keep their own cats safely indoors and to get immediate help for those they see who are suffering.

Update: Good news! We love James Cromwell even more than we already did because of his willingness to face arrest to help bring attention to cruel brain experiments on cats at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and now we love that local prosecutors have declined to bring criminal disorderly conduct charges against him—as well as against the PETA staff member who was arrested with him—for pointing out that the experiments are unethical and must be stopped. The pair have instead been cited for noncriminal county ordinance violations—similar to a traffic ticket.

The USDA's documentation confirms that pain was inflicted on cats—including Double Trouble—who suffered from chronic life-threatening infections after having holes drilled into their skulls and metal coils implanted in their eyes and being constantly starved to force them to obey commands. Please join James Cromwell today in urging the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to stop these cruel and deadly experiments.

The following was originally posted on February 7, 2013:

Members of the University of Wisconsin (UW) System Board of Regents sat stunned as actor James Cromwell entered their meeting to challenge them over experiments on cats. Likely the last thing the board expected today was to have an Academy Award nominee rush in, holding a grisly picture of a cat with a large metal post protruding from her head, and exclaim, "This is not science! This is torture! Shame on you!" But James, a longtime PETA supporter, felt that it was high time the board got personally called out for UW-Madison's abuse of cats. Campus police arrested him and a PETA staff member but not before the board had to stare into the face of just one of the many cats who had been tormented and killed in UW-Madison's disturbing brain and ear experiments. 

The orange tabby cat whose image has become synonymous with the cruel cat laboratories is Double Trouble. Experimenters screwed a steel post to her skull so that they could immobilize her head and planted electrical devices deep inside her ears. They allowed her massive, bloody head wound to become severely infected, and they then starved her for days at a time so that she would cooperate with them in exchange for a morsel of food to eat. Finally, calling the experiment a failure, they killed and decapitated her.

PETA has repeatedly asked UW-Madison to end its abusive experiments on cats but has received no response. Please e-mail UW's Board of Regents and urge the members to listen to James and the hundreds of thousands of other compassionate people who want the school to end these cruel cat laboratories and switch to modern, superior, non-animal research methods.

Following a complaint filed by PETA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed PETA's allegations of rampant abuse of cats in a taxpayer-funded brain experiment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW), where actor James Cromwell was arrested during a protest last month. The USDA also cited UW for violating federal animal protection laws by burning a cat named Broc so badly with a heating pad that she required surgery.

In a scathing report just obtained by PETA, a federal inspector found "a pattern of recurring infections" and that all the cats whom PETA profiled in its complaint had been "diagnosed with chronic infections" after having steel posts screwed into open wounds on their heads and metal coils implanted into their eyes.

The USDA noted that some cats, including Slinky, have died because of these infections and that one cat named NJ even had to have her eye removed after the metal coil became the site of frequent serious infections.

The government report includes never-before-seen heartbreaking photographs of NJ, Broc, and the five other mutilated cats who are still alive in the laboratory. We now know the faces of the other victims of this laboratory besides Double Trouble.

All these new revelations confirm what PETA has been saying for months: UW tortures animals and doesn't mind twisting the truth about it. Even though it knew it wasn't true, in interviews and statements UW has shamelessly claimed that the government had not substantiated any of PETA's allegations and that it wasn't cited for its abuse of cats. In fact, during the same period it was claiming it had been cleared, UW was trying in vain to appeal the government's citation.

What You Can Do

The cats in UW's labs are suffering miserably, and they don't have time for more evasions and excuses—now exposed as deceptive spin. Please urge the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to put an immediate halt to these cruel experiments.

As the BP oil-spill civil case unfolds in New Orleans, we thought this would be a good time to update you on some of the companion animals PETA rescued as people fled the region in the wake of the catastrophe. 

Disasters such as the one in the Gulf flood animal shelters with dogs and cats whose families lose their jobs or see their businesses go bust. With support from the fabulous Pamela Anderson, PETA workers drove a Winnebago carrying more than 40 homeless dogs and nearly 30 special-needs cats from New Orleans–area shelters to Virginia, where they were placed in permanent homes, including three who live in PETA's Norfolk headquarters, the Sam Simon Center. 

It's a testament to their resilient spirits that these animals have rebounded from abandonment and are now thriving in their new homes. Here's where some of them are now:

• Daisy: At 4 months old, this Chihuahua mix found her forever home in Washington, D.C., and will celebrate her third birthday next month. She instantly bonded with Chloe—another dog PETA rescued—and loves to play fetch and snuggle under the blankets.

• Duke and Buttercup: These Chihuahuas act like shadows of their new guardian, Amber, following her everywhere she goes and meeting her at the door every evening after work. Both dogs delight in the companionship of Amber's two children and Nikita, a mutt rescued by PETA during another disaster, Hurricane Irene. 

• Bubbles, Brandi, and Marshall: These three have become the beloved feline residents of the Sam Simon Center. Bubbles' expertise is in intercepting tossed balls of paper, while Brandi proudly carries around a rubber lizard. And although Marshall is missing a leg, that doesn't stop him from playing "King of the Castle" with the other two on their multistory cat tree.

PETA's rescue work is made possible by the support of kind people like you. To help PETA save animals in danger, become a member today.

Pelusa's guardian was frantic. The little cat had darted up a tree in Patillas, Puerto Rico, after being frightened by dogs and had been trapped there for nearly a week. Because the young cat was so high up—about 35 feet—her guardian couldn't get her down on her own. The cat was clearly too scared to come down herself, so her guardian appealed to the local fire-and-rescue department for help—but nothing was happening.

Glen Venezio with Animal Concerns Puerto Rico put pressure on fire-and-rescue officials and persuaded them to act. But by the time that they finally arrived on the scene, a local 17-year-old boy who is an expert climber had scaled the tree and managed to carry Pelusa down by himself after carefully placing her in a sack.

A PETA cruelty caseworker then coordinated with another local activist to arrange for Pelusa to be taken to a veterinarian to get a checkup and, after recovering her strength, an all-important spay surgery. She's now "fixed" and back at home with her grateful guardian.

Pelusa's close call serves as a reminder of why cats are always safest indoors—and why you should never give up when an animal is in peril. You might have to make several calls before you obtain results, but don't give up!

We all love hearing those three little words: "Have some chocolate." I jest, of course (kind of), but on Valentine's Day, love often takes the form of candy in a heart-shaped box. And PETA's box of confections won't just satisfy your loved one's sweet tooth. Since it's cruelty-free and the purchase price helps fund PETA's vital work, it will also satisfy a desire to be sweet to animals.

Because everyone—animals included—enjoys displays of affection.

Cats head-butt the ones they love as a sign that they feel comfortable and secure. And dog guardians know that, as Bill Maher put it, "The reason I love my dog so much is because when I come home, he's the only one in the world who treats me like I'm The Beatles." 

© iStockPhoto.com/djgunner 

Sheep love to cuddle and nuzzle, male rats sing love songs to females, fish rub against one another, and geese mate for life. 

Get your melt-in-your-mouth vegan chocolates before they're gone. Your valentine will likely prefer them to an enthusiastic head-butt.

With the approach of holiday travel, drivers nationwide are anticipating pain at the pump—but it will sting a bit more for some motorists in Madison, Wisconsin, where  gas stations in high-traffic areas are now displaying PETA ads with a shocking photo taken inside a University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) laboratory in which dozens of cats were abused and killed as part of a continuing taxpayer-funded experiment.

Truth Will Out

The ads show a gentle tabby named Double Trouble restrained in a bag with a steel post screwed into her skull. It's just one of the photos that PETA obtained following a three-year legal battle against UW. They were taken by the experimenters as part of an appalling project in which cats also have steel coils implanted in their eyes and electrodes inserted into their brains, are starved for days at a time, and are intentionally deafened.

Following complaints by PETA and a former UW veterinarian, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are investigating apparent violations of federal animal welfare regulations and misuse of federal funding related to these horrible experiments. After UW officials fought for years to keep the photographic evidence of Double Trouble's wretched life and protracted death secret, PETA's ads are showing their friends and neighbors exactly how cats are tormented and killed behind the school's laboratory doors.

What You Can Do

Learn more about UW's shameful secrets, and please urge the federal government to stop funding this primitive and lethal experiment.

It seems as if every other week there's another horror story about an animal who has died or gone missing during airline travel. The most recent one involves Xiaohwa, a frightened cat who bolted when an employee opened her crate at John F. Kennedy International Airport—she is still lost inside the building. 

It's just not a good idea to entrust our beloved animals to a system that we barely trust with our shampoo and underwear.

 Although some airlines do allow a limited number of small animals to ride inside the cabin, many still think that animals should be treated like baggage. The cargo hold of a plane is a loud, terrifying—and often deadly—place. Because it isn't  climate-controlled, it can quickly become sweltering or freezing, putting animals at risk of dying from heatstroke or exposure. 

So as the holiday season approaches, many animal guardians are opting to take the scenic route and drive to their destinations. Here are our top tips for traveling with animals to help make the trip smooth sailing:

1. Toting no-spill travel bowls makes it easy to keep everyone hydrated en route.
2. To keep cats calm in the car, some people may consider tranquilizing them, but tranquilizers can be dangerous and actually upset and disorient cats. Catnip or stress-reducers such as Feliway or Rescue Remedy are gentler ways to calm cats.
3. For dogs who are prone to losing their lunch in the car, ginger capsules (found at health-food stores) may help, or veterinarians can prescribe medication.
4. Cats can turn into escape artists on the road, so it's safest to keep them in sturdy, roomy carriers that are lined with a towel and equipped with a small litter tray.
5. Carriers made of hard plastic provide much better protection in an accident than soft-sided or disposable cardboard carriers.
6. Dogs should never be transported in the bed of a truck—an abrupt stop can eject them from the vehicle.
7. Schedule frequent stops. Just like human travelers, dogs appreciate the chance to stretch their legs, have a snack, and hit the bathroom every couple of hours.
8. Animals should always be put on a leash or in a carrier whenever a car window or door is going to be opened. Countless dogs and cats have been lost at tollbooths, gas stations, and rest stops when they unexpectedly darted out an open door or window. 

Some people find that it's easier on animals if they're allowed to stay at home in the care of trusted family members, friends, or sitters. When your animal companions are staying at home, you will want to do the following:

• Put everything that caregivers may need to know in writing, including your temporary contact information, cell phone number, veterinarian's phone number, and emergency numbers.
• Leave extras of all animal supplies that caregivers may need, just in case your return is delayed.
• Check in regularly to give caregivers a chance to ask any questions that they might not have felt comfortable calling about.

Happy holidays to you and all your family members!

We owe it to our animal companions to learn a little "dogese" or "catish," so here are the meanings of some of the most common animal behaviors:

Now that you're fluent in your animals' language, read up on how to be a great guardian.