TailsInc.com

Melissa McDaniel is a Philadelphia-based photographer specializing in animal portraiture. Melissa is founder of the Photo Book Projects, a series of photo books, notecards, calendars (and more!) designed to raise awareness about certain issues affecting companion animals, especially those animals that are mistreated or misunderstood, and help promote pet rescue and adoption.
A portion of the proceeds is donated to animal rescues.

See more of Melissa’s work at ThePhotoBooks.com—267.968.9973

In a victory for the State of Ohio and all dogs in Ohio, the governor, John Kasich, signed HB 14 on February 21, 2012 and repealed the state’s breed discrimination law.

Thanks to pet advocates and members of Change.org, Best Friends Animal Society and the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, a petition that garnered almost 19,000 signatures succeeded in influencing the governor to change the unfair law. Read the rest of this entry →

While many of us have to get creative when money is tight, it’s hard to deny our pets the care they need regardless of the cost. Let’s face it–veterinarian care can get pricey, especially without pet insurance.

There are ways to save on pet health costs, and most are pretty common maintenance care that in the lifetime of your pet will save money on medical bills.  Read the rest of this entry →

Photo credit: Sue Yellen

Happy Wednesday pet lovers! We want to see your pets dressed to the nines for Wordless Wednesday! Post your photos on our Facebook wall and you could be featured on our site!

Last week’s winner for mischievous pets is Sue Yellen with “No Toilet Paper Roll is Safe!”

Photo credit: Mariana Figueroa

On February 16, the Michigan Humane Society joined forces with Michigan legislators Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills), Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) and Steve Bieda (D-Warren) to announce the The Puppy Protection Act legislation being put forth in the state of Michigan.

This is great news for the State of Michigan and its animals. TAILS encourages all Michiganders to contact their legislators to ask him or her to sign the Puppy Protection Act and keep puppy mills out of Michigan!

And who said partisan politics got in the way of great legislation?!

Charlie, last week's featured story. Photo courtesy of: Julia Pheifer

We love happy tales about pet adoption! Each Tuesday, TAILS is asking for your stories on your adopted pets. We will then feature the chosen story on our website. Please email your pet adoption stories (and photo, if available) to:  online@tailsinc.com.

Thanks to the wonderful world of Pinterest TAILS is finding new and wonderful ways to enjoy pet photos!

While many of us are attempting to shed some pounds this year, it’s apparent we’re not doing so well helping our furry friends do the same. A recent survey conducted by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) revealed that more than half (54 percent) of all pets in the U.S. are overweight or obese. While this may shock many TAILS readers, it doesn’t shock veterinarians who see these overweight pets every day and deal with the resulting health problems.

“The most distressing finding in this year’s study was the fact that more pet [parents] are unaware their pet is overweight.” comments APOP founder Dr. Ernie Ward. “22 percent of dog [parents] and 15 percent of cat [parents] characterized their pet as normal weight when it was actually overweight or obese. This is what I refer to as the ’fat pet gap‘ or the normalization of obesity by pet parents. In simplest terms, we’ve made fat pets the new normal (PetObesityPrevention.com, 2012).”

What most pet parents don’t realize is the true cost of the obesity. By feeding pets too much food, high-calorie food or just plain bad-for-them food we are setting them up for a host of preventable diseases and medical conditions like type II diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, kidney problems and shortened life expectancy. So, not only is veterinary health care more costly, but you could potentially lose quality time with your pet!

There are things that can be done to help your pet children. A good, quality food is one way to help provide the right nutrients. Another is exercise—the same things people need to get and remain healthy. Check out our post from earlier in the year about a pet weight loss challenge for some ideas.

It’s up to us to help our pets stay healthy and while it can seem overwhelming, small steps yield big results!

TAILS wants to send out a big congratulations to our good friend Seth Casteel! Seth has had his photos grace the cover of TAILS more than a few times. His work has always been wonderful, but the incredible photos of dogs diving into the water that have gone viral over the last week are absolutely breathtaking.

We just wanted to congratulate Seth on his success and wish him so much more—he certainly deserves it!

Check out more of Seth’s work here.

Photo credit: Vincent DeWitt for the Boston Globe

Since January 12, 2012, 178 dolphins have stranded on Cape Cod. Of the 178, 107 have been found dead and scientists and researchers have no idea why the dolphins have stranded or what is killing them.

Researchers and biologists have been working tirelessly to help the surviving dolphins to find their way out and back to the ocean, but it’s been a challenging process of analyzing environmental data like wind, currents and sea surface temperatures as well as guiding the lives ones back to the ocean. Read the rest of this entry →