Waiting until 6 months to spay or neuter a cat may be too late. Feline Fix by Five, a national campaign observed each February during National Spay/Neuter Awareness Month, urges cat owners to sterilize pets by five months of age, and veterinary research supports early spay and neuter.

Week after week, potential adopters scroll past the rescue brown and black dogs posted online. At the shelter, visitors walk past kennels with no kennel cards displaying engaging photos that would make them stop and take a second look.

Australian Shepherds did not originate in Australia. The breed was shaped in the American West by ranchers who needed dogs that could handle long days, rough terrain, and large flocks. In the nineteenth century, ranchers imported sheep from Australia, and the dogs that came with those flocks may have influenced the name. The herding dogs bred on American soil proved themselves in the field and gradually became known as Australian Shepherds. These dogs wake up ready for action